Study on three-dimensional numerical simulation of shell and tube heat exchanger of the surface ship under marine conditions

Shell-and-tube heat exchanger (STHX) is widely used by virtue of its simple structure and high reliability, especially in a space-constrained surface ship. For the STHX of the surface ship, roll, pitch and other motion of the ship will affect the heat transfer performance, resistance characteristics and structural strength of the heat exchanger. Therefore, it is urgent to carry out numerical simulation research on three-dimensional thermal hydraulic characteristics of surface ship STHX under the marine conditions. In this paper, the numerical simulation of marine shell and tube heat exchanger of surface ship was carried out using the porous media model. Firstly, the mathematical physical model and numerical method are validated based on the experimental data of a marine engine cooling water shell and tube heat exchanger. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results. The prediction errors of pressure drop and heat transfer are less than 10% and 1% respectively. The effect of marine conditions on the heat transfer characteristics of the heat exchanger is investigated by introducing the additional force model of marine condition to evaluate the effect of different motion parameters on the heat transfer performance of the heat exchanger. This study could provide a reference for the optimization of marine heat exchanger design.