Introduction

Heat exchanger is a device which is used to transfer the heat from one liquid to other liquid and
some applications use more than two liquids. One liquid is cold, and the other is hot that are
comparative amounts (Kakac, etal, 2012). Heat exchange liquids, for example, oil, water, ethylene
glycol and minerals are assumed a key part in numerous industry forms inclusive generate energy,
synthetic procedures, cooling and heating forms, microelectronics, transportation, and other small
applications (Duangthongsuk and Wongwises. 2009). The lack of properties in heat transfer of
these liquids are compared with most of solids materials are the essential burden of high
efficiency and It could be reduced in the shape of the heat exchanger by rising the efficiency of the
heat exchanger ’s performance (Duangthongsuk and Wongwises. 2009).

In term of economic perspective, the designers spend huge time and money for practical
experiments based on iterative procedure to obtain reasonable design. In this assignment ANSYS
will be used to design a double-pipe counter flow heat exchanger bases on various constraints to
satisfy solution and meet the optimum design specifications in term of high performance and low
cost.

Problem Statement
Within the problem, a double-pipe, a counter flow heat exchanger design will be analysed by
calculations then the best design will be determined in terms of high performance and low cost.
After that ANSYS simulations will be used to compare the results with analysis calculations and
make sure that the outlet temperature of the outer fluid should be reminded below 60℃ for both
the analysis calculations and ANSYS simulations. The design will be made according to various
constraints.
1. Parameters

figure (1) shows a sketch for the double-pipe counter flow heat exchanger that has been selected
in advance as a first plan that will be used for this task.

Figure (1) Design parameters

Where
The inlet tempruetre of oil engin is Th,i = 150℃ .
The inlet tempruetre of water engin is Tc,i = 20℃ .
The mass flow rate of the Oil engine is 𝑚ℎ = 0.02 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑠
The mass flow rate of the water is 𝑚𝑐 = 0.2 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑠
The ambient air temperature of the three bends is 𝑇∞ = 30℃.
The convective heat transfer rate of the tree bends is h=20℃.
The flowing table (1) and table (2) show the parameters of engine oil and water as well as the
material data of water tube which are being considered in designing process:

2
 Price Density Thermal conductivity
Material [£/kg] [kg/m^3] [W/m.K]

Copper 9.25 8900 400

Aluminium 2.60 2700 240
Table 1 Material data of water tube

The calculations
Before starting the calculations, some assumptions will be made for some number of variables:

 The value of the oil outlet temperature assumed by 58℃ based on the design constraints
that outlet temperature of the oil does not exceed 60℃.
 Negligible kinetic and potential energy changes
 Fluid properties for water and oil assumed as constant
 Negligible the convection coefficient of outer tube and assumed as insulation
 The bend length equal to (0.025𝜋)

Analytical calculations
A Microsoft Excel file will be executed in order to sort few presumed variables and other variables
which are already given. Also, it will be used for calculating several requirements to find the
optimum tube length by iteration and to reach a desired hot fluid outlet temperature.
The following table shows the main calculated parameters which achieve the requirements of the
problem

PARAMETERS Symbol Engine oil Water Unit

Inlet Temperature Tin 150 20 °C
Outlet Temperature Tout 58 24.69 °C
Specific Heat
Cp 2131 4178 J kg-1 K-1
Capacity
Viscosity µ 3.25E-02 7.25E-04 Pa s
Thermal
k 0.138 0.625 W m-1K-1
Conductivity
Prandtl Number Pr 501 4.85
Mass Flow Rate 𝑚̇ 0.02 0.2 kg s-1
Inner tube Diameter di 0.022 m
Outer tube Diameter do 0.026 m
Oil Diameter D 0.028 m
Table 2 parameter of Engine oil and Water

The following calculations being started backward because the engine oil outlet temperature and
the water inlet temperature are known. The first requirement is obtaining heat transfer rate
which, can be calculated from the overall energy balance for the hot fluid equation number (1).
q = ṁh Cp,h ( Th,i − Th,o ) (1)

q = 42.62 ∗ (150 ∗ 58) = 3921.04 W

Reynolds number for flow in a circular tube for both the inner and outer liquids that can be
calculated from the equation (2),
3
 4∗𝑚̇
𝑅𝑒𝐷 = (2)
𝜋 𝐷𝜇

4×0.2
𝑅𝑒𝐷,𝑐 = = 15965.38,
𝜋×0.022×0.000725

the water flow is turbulent, thus, the Nusselt number can be calculated by equation (4)
4×0.02
𝑅𝑒𝐷,ℎ = = 27.98,
𝜋×0.026×0.000725

the oil flow is laminar, thus, the Nusselt number can be obtained by equation (6)
The Nusselt number for turbulent flow can be calculated through equation (3), however, it may
result an error up to 25%. Gnielinski correlation (equation, 4) might reduce the error by 10% and it
is valid for smooth tube over a large Reynolds number range including the transition region
(Incropera, 2011, p.545).

NuD = 0.023Re0.8
D ∗ Pr
0.4
(3)
𝑓⁄
8×(𝑅𝑒𝐷 −1000)×𝑃𝑟
𝑁𝑢𝐷 = 2 (4)
𝑓 0.5
1+12.7×( ⁄8) ×(𝑃𝑟3 −1)

Where friction factor can be obtained by equation (5)

𝑓 = (0.79 ln 𝑅𝑒𝐷 − 1.64)−2 (5)
𝑓 = 27.72 × 10−3
NuD,c = 218.63

The Nusselt number for laminar flow (engine oil) in a circular tube can be calculated by following
equation
hD
NuD,h = = 4.36 (6)
k

The convection coefficient can be calculated for both inner and outer liquids may be calculated
through the equation (7)
k
h = NuD 𝐷 (7)

k 0.625
hi = NuD = 218.63 ∗ = 6210.8 W.m-2.K-1
di 0.022

𝑘 0.138
ℎ𝑜 = 𝑁𝑢𝐷 𝑑 = 4.36 ∗ 0.028−0.026 = 300.84 W.m-2.K-1
𝑜

Furthermore, the total heat transfer coefficient for a double pipe heat exchanger could be
calculated by using the next equation (8):

1
𝑈𝑜 = 𝑑𝑜 (8)
𝑑 1 𝑑𝑜 ln
( 𝑜∗ )+ 𝑑𝑖 + 1
𝑑𝑖 ℎ𝑐 2𝑘 ℎ𝑜

1
𝑈𝑜 = 0.026 = 283.8 W.m-2.K-1
0.026 1 0.026∗ln0.022 1
+ +
0.022∗6210.8 2∗240 300.84

4
The length of double tube heat exchange can be calculated trough the flowing equation:
𝑞
𝐿 = 𝑈∆𝑇 (9)
𝑙𝑚𝑡𝑑 π𝑑𝑜

where 𝐴 = 𝜋𝑑𝑜

Equation (1) is suitable to calculate 𝑇𝑐, 𝑜

𝑞
𝑇𝑐, 𝑜 = + 𝑇𝑐, 𝑖 = 24.69℃
𝑚̇𝑐 𝐶𝑝𝑐

The long mean temperature difference and the heat coefficient should be obtained first to
calculate the length of the tube by next equation:
(𝑇ℎ, 𝑖 − 𝑇𝑐, 𝑜) − (𝑇ℎ, 𝑜 − 𝑇𝑐, 𝑖)
∆𝑇𝑙𝑚 = (10)
(𝑇ℎ, 𝑖 − 𝑇𝑐, 𝑜)
𝐿𝑛 [ ]
(𝑇ℎ, 𝑜 − 𝑇𝑐, 𝑖)
(150 − 24.69) − (58 − 20)
∆Tlmtd = = 73.37
ln[(150 − 24.69)/(58 − 20)]

3921.04
L= = 2.31 𝑚
(283.8 × π × 0.026 × 73.37)
𝐿
The length for each tube between flange = 3 = 0.77 𝑚

Bends calculation
Equation (11), (12) and (13) will be used to calculate the engine oil and the water temperature
inlet and outlet for any pipes as well as the water temperature inlet and outlet for any bends.
𝑇ℎ𝑜,𝑥 −𝜀𝑇𝑐𝑖,𝑥
Thi,x = (11)
1−𝜀

Tco,x = 𝑇𝑐𝑖,𝑥 + 𝐶𝑟 (𝑇ℎ𝑖,𝑥 − 𝑇ℎ𝑜,𝑥 ) (12)

𝐶𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑚̇ 𝐶𝑝 42.62
Where; initial x represent the pipe number, 𝐶𝑟 = ⁄𝐶 = 𝑚̇ℎ 𝐶𝑝ℎ = 835.6 = 0.051, where 𝐶𝑟
𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑐 𝑐
is the capacity rate which the calculation and the temperature profiles presented indicate that the
stream with the smaller thermal capacity limits the amount of heat that can be transferred in this
case 𝐶ℎ < 𝐶𝑐 . Thus, the engine oil would experience the larger temperature change and would be
cooled to the inlet temperature of the water.

1−exp(−𝑁𝑇𝑈(1−𝐶𝑟 ))
𝜀=
1−𝐶𝑟 exp(−𝑁𝑇𝑈(1−𝐶𝑟 ))
, the effectiveness 𝜀 is the actual heat transfer may be computed by
calculating either the energy lost by the hot fluid or the energy gained by the cold fluid.

𝑈𝐴𝑠 1 1 ln(𝑟𝑜 ⁄𝑟𝑖 ) 1

𝑁𝑇𝑈 = 𝐶 , 𝑈𝐴𝑠 = 𝑅 , 𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑢𝑏𝑒 = + +
𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑢𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑖 𝐴𝑖 2𝜋𝐾𝐿𝑏 ℎ𝑜 𝐴𝑜
A= p*Lt where Lt represents the length of the single pipe between flange equal to (0.77) m which
is calculated from equation (9).
𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑢𝑏𝑒 = 55.98 × 10−3 , 𝑈𝐴𝑠 = 17.86 , 𝑈𝑇𝑁 = 0.4191, 𝜀 = 0.3398
5
At the bends part, there is convection with ambient temperature where the water gain heat due
to the difference in temperature which the water outlet temperature from the bend can be
calculated by following formula,
∆𝑇𝑜 𝑇∞ −𝑇𝑐𝑜𝑦 1
= = exp (− 𝑚̇ ) (13)
∆𝑇𝑖 𝑇∞ −𝑇𝑐𝑖𝑦 𝑐 𝐶𝑝𝑐 ∗𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑑

Where initial y represents the water temperature inlet and out at the 1st and 2nd bend,
1 ln(𝑟𝑜 ⁄𝑟𝑖 ) 1
𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑑 = ℎ 𝐴 + + = 7.82374 W.K-1,
𝑖 𝑖 2𝜋𝐾𝐿𝑏 ℎ∞ 𝐴𝑜

A= p*Lb where Lb represents the length of the bend which equal to (0.025𝜋) m.
The calculation for the 3rd pipe as follows
𝑇ℎ𝑜,𝑝3 −𝜀𝑇𝑐𝑖,𝑝3 58−0.3398×20
From equation (11) 𝑇ℎ𝑖,𝑝3 = 1−𝜀
= 1−0.3398
= 77.558℃

From equation (12) 𝑇𝑐𝑜,𝑝3 = 𝑇𝑐𝑖,𝑝3 + 𝐶𝑟 (𝑇ℎ𝑖,𝑝3 − 𝑇ℎ𝑜,𝑝3 ) = 20 + 0.051(77.558 − 58) = 20.9975℃

rearranging equation (13) to calculate water outlet temperature from the 2nd bend,
1
𝑇𝑐𝑜𝑏2 = 𝑇∞ − (𝑇∞ − 𝑇𝑐𝑖𝑏2 )exp(− ), where 𝑇∞ = 30℃, 𝑇𝑐𝑜,𝑝3 = 𝑇𝑐𝑖𝑏2 = 20.9975℃
𝑚̇𝑐 𝐶𝑝𝑐 𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑑

1
𝑇𝑐𝑜𝑏2 = 30 − (30 − 20.9975) exp (− 6537.517) = 20.9988℃, there is very small change in water
temperature due to bend area very small.
Similarly, the calculation for 2nd and 3rd pipe and 1st bend will apply to obtain the water and engine
oil temperature. Additionally, the engine oil inlet temperature at the 3rd pipe equal to the outlet
temperature from 2nd pipe i.e. 𝑇ℎ𝑖,𝑝3 = 𝑇ℎ𝑜,𝑝2, similarly for the 1st pipe 𝑇ℎ𝑖,𝑝2 = 𝑇ℎ𝑜,𝑝1. Also, water
inlet for 2nd pipe equal to water outlet temperature from the 2nd bend i.e. 𝑇𝑐𝑖,𝑝2 = 𝑇𝑐𝑜𝑏2 .

The calculation for the 2nd pipe as follows

𝑇ℎ𝑜,𝑝2 − 𝜀𝑇𝑐𝑖,𝑝2 77.558 − 0.3398 ∗ 20.9988
𝑇ℎ𝑖,𝑝2 = = = 106.669 ℃
1−𝜀 0.6602

𝑇𝑐𝑜,𝑝2 = 𝑇𝑐𝑖,𝑝2 + 𝐶𝑟 (𝑇ℎ𝑖,𝑝2 − 𝑇ℎ𝑜,𝑝2 ) = 20.9988 + 0.051(106.669 − 77.558) = 22.4834℃

𝑇𝑐𝑜,𝑝2 = 𝑇𝑐𝑖𝑏1

1
𝑇𝑐𝑜𝑏1 = 𝑇∞ − (𝑇∞ − 𝑇𝑐𝑖𝑏1 ) exp (− ) = 22.4845℃,
𝑚̇𝑐 𝐶𝑝𝑐 𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑑

The calculation for the 1st pipe as follows

𝑇ℎ𝑜,𝑝1 − 𝜀𝑇𝑐𝑖,𝑝1 106.669 − 0.3398 ∗ 22.4845
𝑇ℎ𝑖,𝑝1 = = = 149.99 ℃ ≈ 150℃
1−𝜀 0.6602

𝑇𝑐𝑜,𝑝1 = 𝑇𝑐𝑖,𝑝1 + 𝐶𝑟 (𝑇ℎ𝑖,𝑝1 − 𝑇ℎ𝑜,𝑝1 ) = 22.4834 + 0.051(150 − 106.669) = 24.693℃

The Cost

6
The cost of the double-pipe heat exchanger is the key element for choosing the best size in terms
of the economic side. The total material cost of the inner tube will depend on the two elements
which are the length (L) and the thickness of the inner tube. The cost could be calculated by the
following formula for both materials:

COSTinnertube = ρ ∗ Vtube ∗ Pricematerial (14)

Where

Vtube : is the volume of the inner tube, which could be calculated by the next equation
2 2 2 2
Vtube = π ∗ 𝐿𝑝 (rc,o − rc,i ) + π ∗ 𝐿𝑏 (rc,o − rc,i ) (15)
Where

L: is the length of the inner tube

𝑟𝑐,𝑜 ∶ 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑢𝑏𝑒

𝑟𝑐,𝑖 ∶ is the inner radius of the inner tube

Vtube = π ∗ 2.31 ∗ (0.0132 − 0.0112 ) + 𝜋 2 ∗ 0.025 ∗ (0.0132 − 0.0112 ) = 3.92 ∗ 10−4 m3

COST Aluminium= 2700 × 3.92 ∗ 10−4 × 2.6 = 2.75 £

COST Copper= 8900 × 3.92 ∗ 10−4 × 9.25 = 32.26 £

Specification of the chosen shape

According to the analytical solution the Aluminium cheaper than Copper thus the design will use
Aluminium material, the design was selected based on the design requirements in a term of the
length of each water pipe measured horizontally from flange to flange should not exceed 3 meters
and constraints also take the cost on the account. All specifications of the design and other results
are shown below:
specifications of the design
Engine oil Water Unit
Heat Transfer Q 3921.04 3921.04 W
Heat Transfer Surface
As 1.888E-01 0.16 m2
Area
Reynolds Number Re 27.98 15965.39
Nusselt Number Nu 4.36 218.63
Heat Transfer Coefficient h 300.84 6210.958 W m-2K-1
Outlet Temperature 𝑇𝑜 58 24.69 ℃
Effectiveness 𝜀 33.98%
Inner tube Diameter di 0.022 m
Outer tube Diameter do 0.026 m
Oil Diameter D 0.028 m

Table 3 Result and design specification

7
Solidworks part
After finished the calculations and selected the design the next stage to draw the design in
Solidworks, the next figure (2) shows the sketch of the design, the water part divided into five
parts to obtain the better quality of mesh as shown in the figure.

Figure 2 Design sketch (dimensions in mm)

ANSYS part
After the design of a double tube heat exchanger has finished the next step is to analyse the design
for approving the results. On account of double tube heat exchanger, the flow liquids through the
pipe must be analysed, this stage ANSYS software has used to compare the results analytical heat
exchanger analysis with the results of ANSYS simulation.

Procedures in ANSYS
There are some settings should be done in ANSYS to have correct results, the settings are
consecutively listed below in order they want to be followed to have finish the assignment
successfully.
Geometry:
Double tube Heat exchanger is designed in SOLIDWORKS as shown in figure (3).After that, in
ANSYS workbench the fluid flow (fluent) module is selected from toolbox and the geometry is
imported as type ‘igs’.the design modeller opens a new window as the geometry is double clicked.
Table (5) shows the state type of each part in the model.

Part Part of The State Type

Model
1 Tube Solid

2 Water_flow Fluid

3 Engine oil_flow Fluid

Table 4 Part of The Model

8
Mesh generation process
Generate mesh is a very important element that can be the effect the result in a negative way if
the quality of mesh is not good. Thus, selecting an appropriate mesh generation requires
consideration of criteria and an entire examination, this assignment will validate the design by
showing that there is no effect of mesh on solution results. The first stage used (Face meshing and
Edge sizing for multi-block geometry) and change Relevance enter to Fine from Sizing.
The mesh details for the first stage view gave the following information:

Table 5 Mesh details

Figure 3 Mesh

9
 Figure 4 mesh metric quality

Setup
After The mesh is finished and quality of the mesh is achieved. The next step to is double click to
Setup
Models
Set the energy to on and Viscous mode to K-epsilon (2 eqn) and K-epsilon mode to Realizable

Materials
Click to create/edit option to add Engine Oil and Water liquids and then change the parameters of
Engine Oil, water liquids and Aluminium solid from table (1) and (2).

Cell zone conditions

Set the parts from Edit and select the right material one each part.

Boundary conditions

10
Set the Water inlet and oil outlet to mass-flow-inlet from Type and set the mass flow rate and
temperature Frome table (2), and change Direction Specification method to Normal to Boundary

Mesh Interfaces
The inner surface of the engine oil and outer surface of the tube is set as coupled, similarly for the
outer surface of the water flow with the inner surface of the tube.

Solation
From Solation Initialization select Hybrid Initialization and click to Initialize.

Run Calculation
number of iteration is set to 1000.

The Results
The results are showed Frome Graphics, Contour to plot the temperature disruption in the shape and the
average temperatures of both inner and outer fluids from Report as shown in figure (3)

Table 3 First stage results

11
-

Figure 4 Second stage with refine mesh result

According to the results from ANSYS simulations the design is working perfectly which it was
converged after (264) iterations (Appendix figure 6). Also, it achieves the design requirements, the
outlet temperature of the Engen oil did not exceed 60℃ and it remained at 327.82 K (54.67℃). In
addition, the water outlet temperature was 297.56K (24.41℃). In contrast, the results of the second
stage the engine oil outlet temperature was 327.70 K (53.81℃) and 297.57 K (24.42℃) for the water
outlet temperature. Table 6 illustrates comparison between ANSYS and analytical calculation results
in outlet temperatures.
Outlet Temperature differences
Fluid Type Analytical ANSYS difference
2nd stage
1st stage
(refine mesh)
Engine oil 331.15 K 327.82 K 327.70 K -3.45 K
Water 297.84 K 297.653 K 297.57 K -0.27 K
Table 6 Outlet temperature differences between ANSYS and Analytical approach

12
 Figure 5 Temperature variation with length

Discussion and Conclusion

In conclusion, the purpose of this assignment is to find the best design of double-pipe, counter flow
heat exchanger in a team of performance and cost. The results of the analytical calculations compared
with the ANSYS results were well within the error limits. The assignment presented that there is much
different between Aluminium and Copper design in term of economic aspect due to the Aluminium is
cost effective. The simulation in ANSYS was approved out for Engine oil to water heat transfer
characteristics and the design achieved the design requirements that the outlet temperate of Engine oil
was less than 60℃. In addition, the outlet temperature of inner fluid (water) was equal to the
temperature which is done through calculations. Moreover, regarding to ANSYS simulations there is no
much different in the outlet temperatures in the Engine oil and water liquids between two stages with
different meshes.

13
Appendix
Aluminium design calculation
Engine oil Water Unit
Heat Transfer q 3921.04 3921.04 W
Heat Transfer Surface
As 1.888E-01 0.16 m2
Area
Reynolds Number Re 27.98 15965.39
Nusselt Number Nu 4.36 218.63
Heat Transfer Coefficient h 300.84 6210.958 W m-2K-1
Outlet Temperature 𝑇𝑜 58 24.69 ℃
Effectiveness 𝜀 33.98%
Inner tube Diameter di 0.022 m
Outer tube Diameter do 0.026 m
Oil Diameter D 0.028 m
Heat Transfer Surface
As 0.188805062 0.15975813 m2
Area
Reynolds Number Re 27.98 15965.38614
Nusselt Number Nu 4.36 218.6257255
Heat Transfer Coefficient h 300.84 6210.958112 W m-2K-1
Log Mean Temp Diff
TLMTD 73.172 °C
(cocurrent)
Overall Heat Transfer
U 283.82 W m-2K-1
Coefficient
Length L 2.3 m

Figure 7 Scaled Residuals graph

14
References

Duangthongsuk, W. and Wongwises, S., 2009. Heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop
characteristics of TiO 2–water nanofluid in a double-tube counter flow heat
exchanger. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 52(7), pp.2059-2067.
Kakac, S., Liu, H. and Pramuanjaroenkij, A., 2012. Heat exchangers: selection, rating, and thermal
design. CRC press.
L. Bergman, T., S. Lavine, A., P. Incropera, F. and P. Dewitt, D. (2011). Fundamentals of Heat and
Mass Transfer. 7th ed. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, p.545.

15