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_
_
_ A
h
c
h
h
h
i
_
_
_
_ f 6
where
A
NTU
ic
1 H
2
H
3
NTU
ic
NTU
ic
H
2
NTU
i
h
R
2
NTU
i
h
R
2
1 H
2
NTU
i
h
R
2
H
1
NTUR
1
i
i
R
2
NTUR
1
H
1
i
i
R
2
NTUR
1
i
i
R
2
H
2
H
1
_
_
_
and f =
NTUH
3
ha
ic
0
0
_
_
_
_
This system of differential equations is solved using the method
of decoupling transformations.
A is diagonalised as x
1
A x = D where D is a diagonal matrix con-
taining the Eigen values of A and x contains the Eigenvectors of A.
The Eigen values and Eigenvectors are directly computed using in-
built functions in MATLAB.
i.e.,
D
D
1
0 0
0 D
2
0
0 0 D
3
_
_
_
_ and x
x
11
x
12
x
13
x
21
x
22
x
23
x
31
x
32
x
33
_
_
_
_
Eq. (6) is written as
x
1
d
dX
h
c
h
h
h
i
_
_
_
_ Dx
1
h
c
h
h
h
i
_
_
_
_ x
1
f
d
dX
z
1
z
2
z
3
_
_
_
_ D
z
1
z
2
z
3
_
_
_
_ g 7
where
z
1
z
2
z
3
_
_
_
_ x
1
h
c
h
h
h
i
_
_
_
_ and x
1
f
g
1
g
2
g
3
_
_
_
_ 8
Eq. (7) represents a set of 1st order linear equations which can be
solved by simple integration.
We have
dz
i
dX
D
i
z
i
g
i
D
i
_ _
where i = 1, 2, 3 from which we get
z
i
e
D
i
XC
i
g
i
D
i
9
Boundary Conditions:
h
c;in
0 at X
1ic
2
h
h;in
1 at X
1i
h
2
h
i;in
any value between 0 1 at X
1i
i
2
_
_
10
In this paper the value of h
i,in
has been taken to be 0.5 to compare
the results with those published by Ameel and Shrivastava [12].
From Eq. (8) we have
x
z
1
z
2
z
3
_
_
_
_
h
c
h
h
h
i
_
_
_
_ 11
Substituting for z from Eq. (9) and incorporating boundary condi-
tions from Eq. (10) into Eq. (11) we get a system of linear equations
with three variables e
D
1
C
1
; e
D
2
C
2
& e
D
2
C
2
which are solved to give
;
;
1
;
2
;
3
_
_
_
_
e
D
1
C
1
e
D
2
C
2
e
D
3
C
3
_
_
_
_
i.e.,
C
i
1
D
i
ln ;
i
12
Substituting Eq. (12) and (9) in Eq. (11) we get the temperature pro-
le equations for the three uids:
h
c
3
i1
x
1i
e
D
i
Xln;
i
g
i
D
i
_ _
h
h
3
i1
x
2i
e
D
i
Xln;
i
g
i
D
i
_ _
h
i
3
i1
x
3i
e
D
i
Xln;
i
g
i
D
i
_ _
This method is applicable when the three eigen values D
1
, D
2
and D
3
are different from each other. Combinations of design parameters
which give multiple eigen values have little importance in real
world problems [12] and hence this has not been considered.
4. Finite element method
The heat exchanger is discretized into a number of elements. A
linear variation is assumed for the hot, intermediate and the cold
uids in a single element. The uid temperature at any point, for
co-current arrangement Case 1, is given by the following
equations:
h
h
N
1
h
h;in
N
2
h
h;out
13
h
i
N
1
h
i;in
N
2
h
i;out
14
h
c
N
1
h
c;in
N
2
h
c;out
15
where N
1
and N
2
are the shape functions and given by
Fig. 3. Effect of H
2
on the hot uid temperature prole for a three uid HX with no
ambient heat in leak. Comparison of Present values (Analytical & FEM values) with
Shrivastava and Ameels values [12]. Values of other non dimensional parameters:
H
1
= 1.5, R
1
= 2, R
2
= 1.25, NTU = 1, h
i,in
= 0.5.
5462 V. Krishna et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 54595470
N
1
1 X and N
2
X: 16
For the counter ow arrangement of Case 2, the equations for h
i
and
h
c
do not change. However, the equation for h
h
changes and is given
by:
h
h
N
1
h
h;out
N
2
h
h;in
17
Using the Galerkins method of minimizing the weighted residual
(Lewis et al. [17]), the governing equations are reduced to a set of
algebraic equations. The discretized governing equations are writ-
ten in matrix form for each element as:
Kfhg ff g 18
where [K] is known as the stiffness matrix and it is a (6 6) matrix
for each element, {h} is the non-dimensional temperature vector
and {f} gives the loading terms. The expressions for [K], {h} and {f}
for Case 2 are provided in the Appendix. The stiffness matrix is
assembled for all the elements in the solution domain to get the glo-
bal stiffness matrix. The boundary conditions are enforced and the
system of equations is solved by MATLAB to get the dimensionless
temperatures along the heat exchanger.
4.1. Boundary conditions
The boundary conditions for the four different ow conditions
are provided in the Table 1. It can be noticed that in each case three
boundary conditions are specied. These are enforced in the global
stiffness matrix before solving the equations.
5. Effectiveness
Cooling of the hot uid has been identied as the objective of
the three uid HX adopted for analysis. Cooling effectiveness of
the hot uid for any three uid HX can be dened based on its tem-
perature effectiveness or its ability to release thermal energy to the
other two streams [13]. Cooling temperature effectiveness m
h
may
be dened as the ratio of the actual temperature difference be-
tween the hot uid inlet and outlet to the maximum possible tem-
perature difference that the hot uid stream can attain.
m
h
T
h;in
T
h;out
T
h;in
T
c;in
19
In the normal sense, cooling thermal effectiveness of the hot uid
may be dened as the ratio of the actual heat transferred from
the hot uid to the maximum possible heat that can be transferred.
h
Q
h;actual
Q
h;max
20
Q
h;actual
C
h
T
h;in
T
h;out
21
When the thermal capacity of the hot uid is greater than the ther-
mal capacities of the other two uids and when the hot uid is ow-
ing counter to the other two streams, the maximum heat transfer
from the hot uid is given by
Q
h;max
C
c
T
h;in
T
c;in
C
i
T
h;in
T
c;in
22
For all other possible combinations of thermal capacities of the three
uids, the maximum heat transfer from the hot uid is given by
Q
h;max
C
h
T
h;in
T
c;in
23
On the same lines it is possible to arrive at expressions for the effec-
tiveness of the cold and intermediate uids [13].
6. Degradation factor
Degradation factor, s, is dened to evaluate the extent of dete-
rioration in the performance of the heat exchanger due to heat in
leak from the ambient to the cold uid. The degradation factor
for the hot uid is dened as the ratio of the loss in thermal effec-
tiveness due to ambient heat in leak to the thermal effectiveness
under no loss conditions and given by
s
h
e
h;no loss
e
h;with loss
e
h;no loss
24
7. Results and discussion
7.1. Validation of the present methodology
The model of the three uid HX proposed in this paper is a gen-
eral model and can be applied for all three uid, single pass, parallel
ow heat exchangers considering all possible thermal interactions
and ow arrangements. In the present paper, the governing equa-
tions have been solved for the ow arrangement in Case (2) with
the objective of determining the deviation in the behaviour of the
hot uid due to the effect of ambient heat in leak to the cold uid.
For the ow arrangement in Case (2), the directional constants take
the values i
h
= 1, i
c
= +1 and i
i
= +1. The equations have been
solved by both the analytical method and FEM. Both the methods
give matching results with no deviations. These have been shown
in Table 2. The results have been further validated by comparison
with similar models on heat exchangers reported previously. The
comparisons have been made by selecting appropriate values for
the non-dimensional parameters to simulate the conditions exist-
ing in the models chosen for comparison. The FEManalysis has been
made by increasing the number of elements while adopting the
Galerkins method. It has been observed that the results converged
Table 1
Boundary Conditions for different ow arrangements.
Flow arrangement Case 1
X h
h
h
c
h
i
0 1 0 h
i,in
1
Flow arrangement Case 2
X h
h
h
c
h
i
0 0 h
i,in
1 1
Flow arrangement Case 3
X h
h
h
c
h
i
0 0
1 1 h
i,in
Flow arrangement Case 4
X h
h
h
c
h
i
0 1 0
1 h
i,in
Table 2
Comparison of FEM and Analytical values for temperature proles of hot, cold and
intermediate uids for a three uid heat exchanger with ambient heat-in-leak.
(Values of non dimensional parameters: H
1
= 1.5, H
2
= 2, H
3
= 0.1, R
1
= 2, R
2
= 1.25,
NTU = 1, h
i,in
= 0.5, h
c,in
= 0, h
1
= 1).
X h
h
h
c
h
i
FEM Analytical FEM Analytical FEM Analytical
0.0 0.4354 0.4354 0.0000 0.0000 0.5000 0.5000
0.2 0.5104 0.5104 0.1861 0.1861 0.3809 0.3809
0.4 0.6138 0.6138 0.3067 0.3067 0.4188 0.4188
0.6 0.7314 0.7314 0.4120 0.4120 0.5060 0.5060
0.8 0.8601 0.8601 0.5170 0.5170 0.6120 0.6120
1.0 1.0000 1.0000 0.6268 0.6268 0.7303 0.7303
V. Krishna et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 54595470 5463
for 128 elements. As such, all values presented have been obtained
with 128 elements along the length of the HX.
The present model was at the outset compared with a standard
two-uid single pass parallel, co-current and counter-current
model with no thermal interaction with the ambient. The results
obtained for effectiveness were compared with those obtained
from the standard 2 NTU formulae provided in Eqs. (25) and
(26). Concurrent results were obtained with no deviations. For
two-uid parallel co-current ow
1 e
NTU1R
min
1 R
min
25
For two-uid parallel counter-current ow
1 e
NTU1R
min
1 R
min
e
NTU1R
min
26
Aulds and Barron [8] have presented predictions for a three uid HX
model involving three thermal communications. The ow arrange-
ment they have chosen is the same as Case (2) presented in this
paper. They have assumed that the HX is completely insulated with
no thermal interaction with the ambient. The model presented in
this paper was compared with that presented by Aulds and Barron
[8], by neglecting the effect of the ambient, and closely matching re-
sults were obtained. Sekulic and Shah [1] have predicted the non-
dimensional outlet temperatures for various NTU values for the
ow arrangement of Case (1), with no thermal interaction with
the ambient. The results obtained from the model presented in this
paper, have compared perfectly with those presented by Sekulic
and Shah [1] and have been shown in Table 3. Shrivastava and
Ameel [12,13] have presented results for a three-uid, single pass,
parallel ow HX model with three thermal communications which
considers all possible thermal interactions and ow arrangements.
They have presented results for the ow arrangement of Case (2)
showing the effect of various non-dimensional design parameters
such as R
1
, R
2
, H
1
, H
2
, NTU and h
i,in
on the non-dimensional temper-
ature distributions of the three streams and the different effective-
nesses. They have also assumed that the HX is completely insulated
with no thermal interaction with the ambient. The present model
has been compared with that of Shrivastava and Ameel [12,13] by
neglecting the effect of the ambient. The comparisons have been
shown for non-dimensional temperature distribution of the hot
uid in Fig. 3 and they match perfectly. Gupta and Atrey [14] have
presented results for a two-uid counter-ow, coiled, tube-in-tube
HX, considering the effect of heat in leak from the ambient and lon-
gitudinal heat conduction through the wall separating the two u-
ids, separately and together. Their results have been presented in
terms of the degradation factor, dened earlier. One of their results
includes only ambient heat-in-leak while neglecting the effect of
longitudinal heat conduction through the wall. Degradation values,
obtained from the present model, have been compared with their
results, to account for ambient heat-in-leak, for two different values
of ambient temperature and presented in Fig. 4. The comparisons
show that for h
amb
= 4.67, a maximum deviation of 0.04% is
observed at a C
c
/C
h
value of 2.0, where s
h
= 0.32% from their meth-
odology while s
h
= 0.36% from our methodology. For h
amb
= 1.0, a
maximum deviation of 0.01% is observed at a C
c
/C
h
value of 1.6,
where s
h
= 0.09% from their methodology while s
h
= 0.10% from
our methodology. From the comparisons shown and the close
match of the present results with those published earlier, the pres-
ent methodology has been validated.
7.2. Effect of ambient heat in leak
The effect of ambient heat in leak to the cold uid is to increase
the temperature of the cold uid. The ambient heat in leak is ac-
counted for by the parameter H
3
which is given by:
H
3
U
4
P
4
U
1
P
1
1
U
1
P
1
_ _
1
U
4
P
4
_ _
1
2
NTU
6R
2
NTUH
2
6R
2
_ _
NTUH
2
6R
2
_ _
NTU
6R
2
_ _
1
2
NTU
3R
2
NTUH
2
3R
2
_ _
NTUH
2
3R
2
_ _
NTU
3R
2
_ _
NTUH
2
R
1
6R
2
_ _
1
2
NTUH
1
R
1
6R
2
NTUH
2
R
1
6R
2
_ _
NTUH
1
R
1
6R
2
_ _
NTUH
2
R
1
3R
2
_ _
1
2
NTUH
1
R
1
3R
2
NTUH
2
R
1
3R
2
_ _
NTUH
1
R
1
3R
2
_ _
NTU
6
_ _
NTUH
1
6
_ _
1
2
NTU
6
NTUH
1
6
NTUH
3
6
_ _
NTU
3
_ _
NTUH
1
3
_ _
1
2
NTU
3
NTUH
1
3
NTUH
3
3
_ _
1
2
NTU
3R
2
NTUH
2
3R
2
_ _
NTUH
2
3R
2
_ _
NTU
3R
2
_ _
1
2
NTU
6R
2
NTUH
2
6R
2
_ _
NTUH
2
6R
2
_ _
NTU
6R
2
_ _
NTUH
2
R
1
3R
2
_ _
1
2
NTUH
1
R
1
3R
2
NTUH
2
R
1
3R
2
_ _
NTUH
1
R
1
3R
2
_ _
NTUH
2
R
1
6R
2
_ _
1
2
NTUH
1
R
1
6R
2
NTUH
2
R
1
6R
2
_ _
NTUH
1
R
1
6R
2
_ _
NTU
3
_ _
NTUH
1
3
_ _
1
2
NTU
3
NTUH
1
3
NTUH
3
3
_ _
NTU
6
_ _
NTUH
1
6
_ _
1
2
NTU
6
NTUH
1
6
NTUH
3
6
_ _
_
_
_
_
fhg
h
h;out
h
i;in
h
c;in
h
h;in
h
i;out
h
c;out
_
_
_
_
ff g
0
0
NTU H
3
h
1
h
i;in
h
c;in
h
h;in
_
_
_
_
V. Krishna et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 55 (2012) 54595470 5469
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