Numerical and Analytical Research of a Perforated Plate Thermal and Fluid Flow Process

The need for compact heat exchangers has led to the development of many types of surfaces that enhance the rate of heat transfer, among them and perforated plate heat exchangers. The perforated plate heat exchangers consist of a series of perforated plates that are separated by a series of spacers. In this paper, numerical simulations were done in order to define heat transfer coefficient of a perforated plate with square arranged cylindrical perforations. Three parameters were varied in the study: plate porosity, hole-based Reynolds number, and the working fluid. Plate porosity was varied in the range from 10 to 50%, while perforation diameter and plate thickness were kept constant. The Nusselt number was correlated as the function of Reynolds number, Prandtl number, and geometric parameters. A comparison was done with other authors correlations and the difference was found to be acceptable. In the second part of the paper, a pressure drop was analyzed on the basis of well know analytical relations. The analysis showed that friction coefficient depends strongly on geometry parameters.