The effect of corrugated angle β on the performance of circular plate and shell heat exchangers

The lubricating oil coolers are important auxiliary equipments for nuclear power plant. As one of lubricating oil coolers, Circular plate and shell heat exchanger oil cooler will have a good prospect. So CFD numerical simulation is used to study the effect of corrugated angle β on its flow and heat transfer characteristics during low Reynolds number range (about from 10 to 50). And experimental data are used to verify the simulation results. The researching results show that in the study condition range, the flow pattern keeps zig-zag flow with changing corrugated angle; When 15° ≤ β ≤ 60°, heat transfer capability and pressure drop increase with β; When β ≥ 60°, heat transfer capability on longer increases with β, and pressure drop still increase with β. So β = 60° can be the optimal design value of heat transfer enhancement. The result provides the necessary theoretical basis for the design of heat exchangers. (authors)