Title: The criteria of convergence in conjugated simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer in the channel formed by tube bank fins

Authors: Mei Su, Zhi-Min Lin, Ye Wang, Ke-Wei Song, Liang-Bi Wang

Addresses: Key Laboratory of Railway Vehicle Thermal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education of China. ' Key Laboratory of Railway Vehicle Thermal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education of China. ' Key Laboratory of Railway Vehicle Thermal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education of China. ' Key Laboratory of Railway Vehicle Thermal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education of China. ' Key Laboratory of Railway Vehicle Thermal Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Ministry of Education of China

Abstract: The criteria of convergence of many reported numerical studies of conjugate heat transfer in tube bank fin heat exchangers have not been clearly addressed. In this paper, the criteria are addressed clearly. The results show that when the relative error of any field variable or characteristic number is less than certain value is chosen as convergence criterion, the balance between the heat transferred from and to the fins cannot achieve. This implies that in numerical method using conjugated method, the physical requirement of the studied problem must be enforced in choosing the criteria of convergence.

Keywords: conjugate heat transfer; numerical simulation; tube bank fins; heat exchangers; convergence criteria; heat balance; fluid flow.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2011.041023

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2011 Vol.11 No.3/4, pp.226 - 236

Published online: 28 Jun 2011 *

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