Transient analysis of multipass crossflow heat exchangers

By means of both the discrete and continuous approaches, this paper proposes dynamic simulation algorithm of multipass crossflow heat exchangers with arbitrary rows per pass. Heat capacities of both fluids and of the core wall as well as conduction resistance of the wall are taken into account. Effect of the possible tubeside flow maldistribution is described with the dispersed plug-flow model. Furthermore, the simulation solution based on the conventional plug-flow model is developed. Transient temperature profiles are obtained by numerical inversion of the Laplace transform. Some examples are calculated and discussions are made.