Title: CFD modelling study of heat transfer in a coiled agitated vessel

Authors: V.T. Perarasu; M. Arivazhagan; P. Sivashanmugam

Addresses: Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli – 620 015, India ' Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli – 620 015, India ' Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli – 620 015, India

Abstract: Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling of heat transfer studies in a helical coiled agitated vessel with varying heat input has been carried out using commercial CFD code FLUENT (Version 6.3.26). The study using two agitators namely propeller and disk turbine is proposed to evaluate the CFD predictions of heat transfer performances as well as to provide a detailed insight into the process. The simulations have been performed for the three-dimensional and time-independent flow. The standard k-ε model was adopted to capture the turbulent nature. The temperature contours in both axial and radial directions are also discussed. The CFD predicted Nusselt number agrees well with the experimentally reported value and the discrepancy is found to be less than ±7%.

Keywords: agitated vessels; CFD modelling; heat transfer; helical coil; Nusselt number; varying heat input; computational fluid dynamics; propellers; disk turbines; simulation; turbulence modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2014.062426

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2014 Vol.14 No.3, pp.177 - 188

Published online: 31 Jul 2014 *

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