Logmeantemperaturedifference
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Thelogmeantemperaturedifference(alsoknownbyitsinitialismLMTD)isusedtodeterminethetemperaturedrivingforceforheat
transferinflowsystems,[Link]
[Link],[Link]
straightforwardlyfromtheanalysisofaheatexchangerwithconstantflowrateandfluidthermalproperties.
Contents
1Definition
2Application
3Derivation
4AssumptionsandLimitations
5References
6Externallinks
Definition
Weassumethatagenericheatexchangerhastwoends(whichwecall"A"and"B")atwhichthehotandcoldstreamsenterorexitoneither
sidethen,theLMTDisdefinedbythelogarithmicmeanasfollows:
whereTAisthetemperaturedifferencebetweenthetwostreamsatendA,andTBisthetemperaturedifferencebetweenthetwostreams
atendB.
Thisequationisvalidbothforparallelflow,wherethestreamsenterfromthesameend,andforcountercurrentflow,wheretheyenterfrom
differentends.
Athirdtypeofflowiscrossflow,inwhichonesystem,usuallytheheatsink,hasthesamenominaltemperatureatallpointsontheheat
[Link],initsdependenceontheLMTD,exceptthatacorrectionfactorFoftenneedstobe
includedintheheattransferrelationship.
TherearetimeswhenthefourtemperaturesusedtocalculatetheLMTDarenotavailable,andtheNTUmethodmaythenbepreferable.
Application
Oncecalculated,theLMTDisusuallyappliedtocalculatetheheattransferinanexchangeraccordingtothesimpleequation:
WhereQistheexchangedheatduty(inwatts),Uistheheattransfercoefficient(inwattsperkelvinpersquaremeter)andAistheexchange
[Link].
Derivation
Assumeheattransferisoccurringinaheatexchangeralonganaxisz,fromgenericcoordinateAtoB,betweentwofluids,identifiedas1and
2,whosetemperaturesalongzareT1(z)andT2(z).
ThetemperaturedifferencesareT(A)atpointAandT(B)atpointB,havingdefinedT(z)=T2(z)T1(z).
Notethatthedirectionoffluidflowdoesnotneedtobeconsidereditisalsounimportantwhichstreamisthehotandwhichisthecoldone,
[Link]
AandB,itisdefinedbythefollowingformula:
Assumption
Therateofchangeofthetemperatureofthetwofluidsisproportionaltothetemperaturedifferencebetweenthem:
Thisgives:
whereK=ka+kb.
WecannowexpressdzasafunctionofT:
SubstitutingthisexpressionbackintoourformulaforLMTD,wecanremovedzfromit:
[Link],andfinallygives:
AssumptionsandLimitations
Ithasbeenassumedthattherateofchangeforthetemperatureofbothfluidsisproportionaltothetemperaturedifferencethis
assumptionisvalidforfluidswithaconstantspecificheat,whichisagooddescriptionoffluidschangingtemperatureoverarelatively
[Link],ifthespecificheatchanges,theLMTDapproachwillnolongerbeaccurate.
AparticularcasewheretheLMTDisnotapplicablearecondensersandreboilers,wherethelatentheatassociatedtophasechange
makesthehypothesisinvalid.
Ithasalsobeenassumedthattheheattransfercoefficient(U)isconstant,[Link],the
LMTDapproachwillagainbelessvalid
TheLMTDisasteadystateconcept,[Link],iftheLMTDweretobeappliedona
transientinwhich,forabrieftime,thetemperaturedifferentialhaddifferentsignsonthetwosidesoftheexchanger,theargumenttothe
logarithmfunctionwouldbenegative,whichisnotallowable.
References
KayJM&NeddermanRM(1985)FluidMechanicsandTransferProcesses,CambridgeUniversityPress
Externallinks
Categories: Heattransfer
Thispagewaslastmodifiedon7February2012at15:28.
[Link]
fordetails.
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