Term of Award

Fall 2017

Degree Name

Master of Science in Applied Engineering (M.S.A.E.)

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Committee Chair

David Calamas

Committee Member 1

Marcel ILie

Committee Member 2

Mosfequr Rahman

Abstract

Double-pipe heat exchangers are the simplest type of heat exchanger and are widely utilized in industrial applications. The effectiveness of double-pipe heat exchangers can be increased by using various heat transfer enhancement techniques. Passive heat transfer enhancement methods are desirable as they do not require moving components and are easy to manufacture and maintain. The focus of this study is to implement a passive heat transfer enhancement method and to investigate how thermal performance is impacted. Specifically, the inner pipe in a heat exchanger will be modified to have a cross-section in accordance with the Koch snowflake fractal pattern. The Koch snowflake fractal pattern, when utilized in the heat exchanger, results in an increase in surface area. A validated and verified model of a double-pipe heat exchanger will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of double-pipe heat exchangers inspired by the first three iterations of the Koch snowflake fractal pattern. The performance of the fractal heat exchangers will be compared to a traditional double-pipe heat exchanger operating under identical conditions. It was found that a double-pipe heat exchanger with a cross-section in accordance with the second iteration of the Koch snowflake fractal pattern resulted in an increase in the overall heat transfer coefficient and heat transfer rate of 18% and 75% respectively when compared with a traditional double-pipe heat exchanger with a circular cross-section.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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