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Finite Element Modeling of Heat Exchangers

Chapter · January 1998

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Finite Element Modeling of Heat Exchangers
J.-M. Bergheau S. Lalot
Systus International EIPC
Le Discover Campus de la Malassise
84 Bd Vivier Merle BP 39
F-69485 LYON Cedex 03 F-62967 Longuenesse Cedex
France France
jm.Bergheau@framasoft.fr slalot_eipc@campus-malassise.org

Abstract
This paper presents a new finite element used to model heat exchangers and
implemented in SYSTUS+. The fluid is represented by a set of one-dimensional
elements, and the wall of the pipe, in which the fluid flows, by 2D elements. One
element in the fluid is connected with several wall elements. It is well known
that the usual Galerkin method for the finite element modeling of
diffusion-convection problems leads to spatial oscillations for high Peclet
numbers, typically, with first order elements, when the Peclet number is higher
than 2. To avoid these oscillations, the formulation in the fluid uses a
Petrov-Galerkin method involving discontinuous test functions. The heat transfer
computation is based on the average fluid temperature (as the usual correlations
do) but on the local wall temperature. All these elements are fully coupled with
the other elements of the studied structure for conduction, standard convection
and radiation. The computation of the heat transfer coefficient uses various
models. All these models represent the generalization of well known
correlations. It is possible to simulate free convection, forced convection, mixed
convection and change of phase. The efficiency of this approach is discussed on
numerical applications concerning : a condenser, a counterflow heat exchanger, a
1-2 heat exchanger, natural convection over a radiating surface. Very accurate
results are obtained in all the cases.

Heat Transfer’98 Page 1

I Introduction
A lot of industrial problems involve conduction and convection and need
the use of numerical methods to be solved. For example it is quite
impossible to calculate analytically the evolution of the temperature of a
fluid in a heat exchanger, taking temperature dependent fluid
characteristics into account.
In order to accurately model the complex heat exchange conditions in
pipes, a special macro-element has been developed in SYSTUS+ [1]. The
fluid is represented by a set of 1D elements, and the wall of the pipe, in
which the fluid flows, by 2D elements. The usual Galerkin method for the
finite element modeling of diffusion-convection problems leads to spatial
oscillations for high Peclet numbers, typically, with first order elements,
when the Peclet number is higher than 2. This limitation is too severe for
the simulation of heat exchangers and has led us to use a Petrov-Galerkin
formulation involving discontinuous test functions for fluid elements.

Set of skin elements

Fluid element

Macro-element

Figure 1 : Description of the pipe

II Theoretical background
II-1 General assumptions

A pipe is divided into macro-elements (Figure 1). Each macro-element

includes :
• a one-dimensional 2-nodes fluid element,
• a set of skin elements (2D elements) that support the heat exchange
conditions between the fluid and the solid structure.

The mathematical formulation of the macro-element rests upon the

following general assumptions :

Heat Transfer’98 Page 2

 A1 : The fluid flow is supposed to be one dimensional, the flow
direction being given by the fluid element direction.
A2 : The fluid mass flow rate is constant through the pipe.
A3 : Inside each macro-element, the heat transfer only takes place
between the fluid element and the set of skin elements which are
associated with the macro-element. The heat flux locally received
by the wall (i.e. a skin element) may be expressed as :

(1)

where , T f and h respectively represent the local wall temperature

computed at each integration point of the skin elements, the average
temperature of the fluid in the fluid element and the convection
coefficient between the fluid and the wall. The expression of h
depends on the heat transfer conditions (natural, forced or mixed
convection) and may be a function of Tw and T f .

II-2 Mathematical formulation in the fluid

Considering assumptions A1 and A2, the energy equation in the fluid,

under steady state assumption, may be written as:

(2)

with adequate boundary conditions.

In equation (2), s represents the curvilinear abscissa along the fluid flow,
S f , the section of the pipe, C f , the specific heat and λ f , the thermal
conductivity of the fluid. q is the volumetric heat flux received by the
fluid from the wall and is assumed to be constant within each fluid
element.
The use of classical Galerkin method to formulate finite elements from
equation (2) leads to spatial oscillations when the Peclet number is higher
than 2. To avoid these oscillations, a streamline-upwind procedure based
on a Petrov Galerkin formulation has been used. This approach leads to
the following finite elements equations in the fluid :

(3)

Heat Transfer’98 Page 3

where :

A
[K f ] = fluid [K ] represents the classical thermal conductivity matrix,
e
f
elements

{Tf } represents the vector of fluid unknowns,

A [U ef ] , [Df ] = fluid
[U f ] = fluid A [Def ] and {Q f } = fluid
A {Q } are defined by :
e
f
elements elements elements

(4)

(5)

(6)

and respectively represent the shape function and the

perturbation function, associated with node i of the element e, as
proposed by Hughes and Brooks [2]. We can notice that for 2-nodes
elements with constant conductivity, [Df ] = 0 .

II-3 Coupling between the fluid and the structure

From assumption A3 and equation (1), the heat balance inside the kth
macro-element gives :

(7)

where represents the volume of the fluid element. Equation (7)

couples fluid and structure problems and, combined with equation (6),
gives the right hand side of the matrix equation (3).

Finite element equations in the structure may be written as :

(8)

where [K s ] is the thermal conductivity matrix, {Ts } , the vector of

structure unknowns and {Q s }, the load vector. The heat received by any
node i connected to the skin elements may be expressed as :

Heat Transfer’98 Page 4

 (9)

Inside each skin element, Tw is given by the classical finite element

approximation : (where T j is the temperature of the

jth node connected to element e), and is given by :

(where the are the temperatures of the two nodes connected to the
fluid element).

The non linear coupled problem constituted by equations (3) and (8) can
be solved using a Newton-Raphson procedure. First, equations (3) and (8)
are re-written as :

Then, at each iteration, until the residual becomes less than a

prescribed precision, a better solution is obtained solving :

Where the contribution of each macro-element to the tangent matrix

[K T ] may be expressed as :
⎡ ∂Q s ∂Q s ⎤
⎢K s − ∂T −
∂Tf ⎥
[K T ] = ⎢ ∂Q s ⎥
∂Q f ⎥
⎢ − f
K f + U f + Df −
⎢⎣ ∂Ts ∂Tf ⎥⎦

where ∂Q s , ∂Q s , ∂Q f and ∂Q f are deduced from equations (6), (7)

∂Ts ∂Tf ∂Ts ∂Tf
and (9). We can notice that [K T ] is non symmetric.

II-4 Examples of available models

We give here the main models that are available. They represent :

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 b7
⎡ b5 b6 ⎤
⎛ ⎞
- natural convection : Nu = b1 Pr Gr ; Nu = ⎢b1 + b2 Ra b3 + ⎜1 + ⎛⎜ b4 ⎞⎟ ⎟ ⎥
b2 b3

⎢ ⎜ ⎝ Pr ⎠ ⎟ ⎥
⎣ ⎝ ⎠ ⎦
- forced convection : Nu = b1 Pr b2 Re b3 ; Nu = b1 + b2 Pr b3 Gr b4 + b5 Pr b6 Gr b7
[
- mixed convection : Nu = b1 b2 Re b3 + Gr b4 ]
b5
Pr b6

Other models are available for change of phase, critical heat flux
calculation, natural convection, forced convection, user defined model
(via a FORTRAN subroutine).

III Validation
III-1 Study of a condenser

A condenser can be considered as a heat exchanger in which a fluid is

heated by a wall kept at a constant temperature by the condensing fluid.
The main characteristics of the condenser we study here, are :

Inlet Fluid Wall Wall Inner Length

temperature flow temperature thickness diameter
20°C 1.5 kg/s 100°C 0 mm 25 mm 1m

Firstly, we study the case where all the fluid characteristics are constant.
In this case we have (INCROPERA and DE WITT [3]) :

The convection coefficient is calculated from the Colburn

correlation (GOSSE [4]) :
Nu = 0.023 Re 0.8 Pr 1 / 3
If we take into account the inlet characteristics of the water
(INCROPERA and DE WITT [3]), we find that the outlet temperature of
the water is about 28°C. So we have to take into account the
characteristics of the water at 24°C :

Specific Thermal Density Viscosity

heat conductivity

Heat Transfer’98 Page 6

4180.2 J/kg.K 0.6088 W/m.K 997.606 kg/m3 9.174 10-4 Pa.s

We can now compare the calculated water temperature to the computed

water temperature. In SYSTUS+, the fluid is supported by one beam
divided in 10 1D elements, the wall is represented by a surface divided in
400 2D elements, we use the model 20, and we obtain :

z (m) 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

Calculated T(z) (°C) 20 20.89 21.77 22.64 23.50 24.35
Computed T(z) (°C) 20 20.89 21.77 22.64 23.50 24.35

z (m) 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Calculated T(z) (°C) 25.20 26.03 26.85 27.67 28.47
Computed T(z) (°C) 25.19 26.02 26.84 27.66 28.46

The calculated convection coefficient is 8934.9 W/m².K and the

computed one is 8935 W/m².K. In SYSTUS+, we can take into account
the variation of the characteristics of the fluid. To do so, we just have to
fill the tables corresponding to the characteristics of the fluid. In this case
we have :

z (m) 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

Computed T(z) (°C) 20 20.85 21.70 22.55 23.40 24.25
z (m) 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Computed T(z) (°C) 25.10 25.95 26.80 27.65 28.49

We can also give the evolution of the convection coefficient :

z (m) 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

Computed h(z) (W/m².K) 8545 8641 8738 8826 8916
z (m) 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Computed h(z) (W/m².K) 9009 9104 9201 9298 9385

This shows that, in this case, SYSTUS+ gives very accurate results, even
if the Peclet number is about 2 106.

Heat Transfer’98 Page 7

III-2 Study of a counterflow heat exchanger

We study here a counterflow, concentric tube heat exchanger that is used

to cool oil with water (INCROPERA and DE WITT [3]). The flow rate of
cooling water through the inner diameter (25 mm) is 0.2 kg/s, while the
flow rate of oil through the outer annulus (45 mm) is 0.1 kg/s. The oil and
water enter at temperatures of 100°C and 30°C, respectively. We make
the following assumptions :
• negligible heat loss to the surroundings
• negligible kinetic and potential energy changes
• constant properties
• negligible tube wall thermal resistance and fouling factors
• fully developed conditions for the water and oil

We know that if the oil has to be at 60°C at the outlet of the exchanger,
the length of the tube is 66.5 meters. The water outlet temperature is then
40.2°C, the convection coefficients are 2250 W/m².K (for the water) and
38.4 W/m².K (for the oil). In SYSTUS+, the water is supported by 50 1D
elements, the oil is supported by 50 1D elements, the wall is represented
by two sets of 2000 2D elements. One set of 2D elements is connected to
the water, the other set is connected to the oil, and each node of one set is
linked to the corresponding node of the other set of elements to get a
unique temperature at each point of the surface. We only have to give the
inlet temperatures, and SYSTUS+ computes the following data :
Water Oil
Outlet Convection Outlet Convection
temperature coefficient temperature coefficient
40.18 °C 2249 W/m².K 60.06 °C 38.36 W/m².K

In this case again, SYSTUS+ computes very accurate results. In this

study, the Peclet numbers are about 3 106 for the water and 3 700 for the
oil.

III-3 Study of a 1-2 heat exchanger

The 1-2 heat exchanger we study here, is 10 meters long, has one pass for
the oil (represented by 20 1D elements) and 2 passes (5 tubes per pass)
for the water (represented by 20 1D elements per tube). Each tube is
represented by 20 two sets of 200 2D elements : one set for the
convection with the water and one set for the convection with the oil. The

Heat Transfer’98 Page 8

nodes of the two sets are linked to get a unique temperature at each point
of the surface. We have to introduce what is called a « mechanism » to
link the inlet temperature of the second pass with the outlet temperature
of the first pass. The fluids have the following characteristics :
oil water
Inlet temperature 70 26
Total mass flow rate 0.6 1
Specific heat 2076 4179
Conductivity 0.139 0.613
-2
Viscosity 5.31 10 855 10-6
Density 859.9 997.00897
Diameter 0.075 0.016
Nusselt number 6

It is possible to compare the calculated results with the computed results :

oil water
Heat transfer calculated 4131.85 29.75
coefficient SYSTUS+ 4132 29.75
Outlet Calculated 65.1376 27.4493
temperature SYSTUS+ 65.16 27.44

We see that, here again, SYSTUS+ gives very accurate results.

III-4 Study of natural convection over a radiating surface

We study here a flat plate. This plate (0.5m x 0.5 m) is heated by one
side, and cooled by the upper side by natural convection and radiation (ε
= 0.7). The temperature of the infinite medium is T∞ = 27 °C . We know
that in this case the surface temperature is the solution of :

If we impose 150 °C on the surface, and if we compute the heat flux

using the fluid characteristics at its own temperature, we find that we
must use the following correlation (GOSSE [4]) : Nu = 0.14 (Gr Pr )1 / 3 .
The heat flux is consequently 1 993 W/m². In SYSTUS+, the surface
consists of two « layers » of 2D elements. One layer is used for radiation,
the other layer is used for the free convection. The nodes of the two
layers are linked to get a unique temperature at each point of the surface.
The fluid is represented by a unique 1D element. But, the fluid has to be

Heat Transfer’98 Page 9

 at a constant temperature, so the fluid flow has to be chosen very high
(100 kg/s). We impose the heat flux on one side of the plate and
SYSTUS+ computes the surface temperature. We obtain here 151.2 °C.
The differential between the computed result and the expected
temperature is less than 1% (in °C) or 0.3% (in K).

IV Conclusion
We have shown that we obtain very accurate results with the new
element. Even if this element has been developed for forced convection
in heat exchangers, we have shown that we still obtain good results for
free convection. We have also tested the element for electrical heaters in
transient states and we have obtained very accurate results (LALOT and
KALUBA [5]). Future studies will concern the transient behavior of heat
exchangers.

Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank VULCANIC company for its technical and
financial support.

References
[1] SYSTUS+ V1.1, User’s manual, SYSTUS International, 1997.

[2] Hughes T.J.R. and Brooks A., A theoretical framework for Petrov-
Galerkin methods with discontinuous weighting functions :
application to the streamline-upwind procedure, Finite Element in
Fluids, Vol. 4, Chap. 3, 1982, R.H. Gallagher Ed.

[3] INCROPERA F. P. and DE WITT D. P., Fundamentals of heat and

mass transfer, Third edition, JOHN WILEY & SONS, 1990.

[4] GOSSE J., Guide technique de thermique, DUNOD, 1981.

[5] LALOT S. and W.J. KALUBA, Study of unstationary states of

electrical heaters, Scientific papers of Kielce University of
Technology, Mechanics vol. 61, 1996, WYDAWNICTWO Ed.

Heat Transfer’98 Page 10

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