Experimental and numerical investigation of two-phase flow outside tube bundle of liquefied natural gas spiral wound heat exchangers under offshore conditions. (April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yu, Sicong; Chen, Jie; Mi, Xiaoguang; Lu, Laiyun; Ding, Guoliang; Ding, Chao
• Is Part Of: Applied thermal engineering. Volume 152(2019)
• Page Start: 103
• Page End: 112
• Publication Date: 2019-04
• Subjects: Spiral wound heat exchanger -- Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) -- Heat transfer -- Offshore conditions -- Two-phase flow; Heat engineering -- Periodicals; Heating -- Equipment and supplies -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 621.40205
• DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2019.02.051
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-4311

Abstract

Highlights: The proposed numerical model was validated by the experimental data. The heat transfer characteristics for LNG-SWHE under offshore conditions were investigated. The deviations between simulations and experimental data was generally within ±10%. Liquid film acted as a key role during the heat transfer procedure for two-phase flow outside tube bundle under offshore conditions. Abstract: In order to efficiently use spiral wound heat exchangers (SWHEs) in the field of offshore natural gas liquefaction, the heat transfer mechanism in two-phase flow outside tube bundle should be known. In the study, the heat transfer characteristics of two-phase flow were numerically investigated based on the experimental results under offshore conditions using propane as medium. A comparison between the heat transfer of the proposed model and that of experimental data was analyzed. The validation results showed that the trends of simulation results were basically identical to those of the experimental ones, the deviation was generally within ±10%. It obtained that liquid film acted as a key role during the heat transfer procedure for two-phase flow outside tube bundle under offshore conditions, and increases of sloshing frequency would improve the velocity of liquid films escaping from tube surface, which resulted in an adverse effect on heat transfer. Furthermore, heave had the weakest effect on heat transfer procedure as well as the influence of roll was the strongest for the two-phase flow outside tube bundle. The results obtained by the numerical model could be the basis for design of liquefied natural gas spiral wound heat exchangers (LNG-SWHEs) installed on buoyant platforms.