Numerical analysis of a cross-flow compact heat exchanger for vehicle applications

Abstract A numerical thermo-fluid–dynamic study of a compact crossed flows heat exchanger (HX), used to cool the high-pressure oil used in hydraulic circuits of earth-movement industrial vehicles, was performed. The numerical analysis was carried out to verify the influence of the hydrodynamic regimes of the fluids involved in the heat transfer process, induced by fins in the channels, on the performances of the whole HX. The analysis was developed through three steps of increasing complexity. After a simple model built to evaluate the consistent boundary conditions of temperature, a small scale analysis of the fluid–dynamic phenomena inside the HX was carried out, taking into account geometrical periodical units at oil (OS) and at air side (AS). With the results obtained in this way, the HX performances were evaluated on an overall scale, extrapolating the data up to the real dimensions in terms of heat transfer and pressure loss. With the “small scale” approach at the OS the local heat flux and the pressure losses were quantified, using a laminar scheme and a high detail in the geometry description of the turbulence generators. With the “full scale” approach, then, simulations were performed considering a porous media with characteristics set up on the previous analysis. The global heat transfer coefficient and the pressure losses were so accounted for. At the AS, the schematization was limited to two periodic portions of the flow and results allowed to evaluate both local and overall heat transfer coefficients. Results were again extrapolated to the real dimensions of the channels. The results come out from the AS detailed analysis were, then, related to the output of the ones at OS. This was done to obtain crossed confirmations of the overall results in terms of thermo-fluid–dynamic performances of the HX at design conditions.