Simulation of Condensation Flow and Heat Transfer in Spiral Tube Heat Exchangers for Non-Azeotropic Hydrocarbon Mixtures.

Abstract

As a core component of the natural gas liquefaction process, spiral wound heat exchangers play a crucial role in LNG production. To comprehensively understand the condensation flow and heat transfer characteristics of non-azeotropic hydrocarbon mixtures inside spiral tubes. The high-precision numerical investigation in this study is guided by a well-defined workflow, which involves geometry creation via a professional modeling tool, mesh generation via a dedicated meshing software, numerical computation within a commercial solver (incorporating real-time convergence monitoring), and quantitative post-processing. This integrated approach ensures the high fidelity of the resulting numerical model. The maximum deviations from classical experimental data(Neeraas's experimental data) remain below 15% for the heat transfer coefficient and below 10% for the frictional pressure drop gradient. The simulation results reveal that varying the rolling periods and amplitudes yields similar oscillatory trends in the heat transfer process, exhibiting both enhancement and degradation effects. Specifically, the rolling period alters heat transfer performance by ±20%, whereas the rolling amplitude affects it by ±10%.