AERODYNAMICS AND HEAT EXCHANGE OF SINGLE END TUBE DURING EXTERNAL FLOW
Authors: Chyrkova A.P. , Khalatov A.A. , Oliynik V.S. , Shikhabutinova O.V. 
Published: December 2021

In Ukraine, the safety of modern thermal power plants depends on the reliable operation of the equipment installed on them. Unfortunately, the technical condition of the chimneys is not properly maintained. Of course, the modernization of basic equipment (boilers, switching to another type of fuel) leads to a decrease in the temperature of the exhaust gases. An important aspect to maintain the condition of the chimneys is to maintain the moisture of the exhaust gases.

An important feature of the external flow of chimneys are large Reynolds numbers Re = wd/n, which reach 106 and more. In the thermal calculation only the average heat transfer coefficient on the outer surface of the pipe is usually determined, and the features of aerodynamics and local heat transfer due to the conicity of the pipe are not taken into account.

The work is devoted to the study of aerodynamics and heat transfer in the air flow of a single conical chimney. The method of computer modeling with numerical integration of equations of motion and energy was used in the research. At the first stage, the single pipe with the uniform flow profile is considered. Further, the influence of the surrounding infrastructure on the aerodynamics and heat transfer of a single conical tube is studied.

The single conical vertical pipe with 40 m height, 1.7 m diameter at the base and 0.85 m in the mouth was used for the calculation. The computer model was calculated in the ANSYS2020-R1 program. The model is developed in a homogeneous area with the air environment. In order to obtain reliable results, the study was conducted to obtain the optimal set of the grid parameters for the heat transfer conditions. The grids with parameters that affect the distance of the first node from the cylinder wall (options a, b, c, d) and the rate of increase in the size of the elements as they move away from the area of interest (Growth rate GR) were studied. The type of the cylindrical pipe with constant diameter of 1.7 m has been chosen to analyze the sensitivity and to check the grid.

The turbulence model has been choosen as the following: RNG k-ε model which is common for the tasks of this class, the Enhanced Wall Function, the solution algorithm for the connection of the velocity pressure in stable flows Simplex. It is determined that in case if the distance between the first node from the cylinder wall and the area of interest (Growth rate GR) is more than 8 mm, instability and deviation of the obtained data from the values of the average coefficient of more than 20% appears. As a result of the research, the parameter grid area matching to the “2d” option of table 1 has been selected, i.e.: GR = 1.1, h = 8 mm. In the study of aerodynamics and heat transfer, the conical tube is conventionally divided into 22 sections (with 1 m height each). The case of uniform flow velocity in front of the pipe has been considered.

As seen, the maximum value of the heat transfer coefficient is in the Zone(21-22). The research shows that oncoming flow velocity of 25 m/s causes the average value of heat transfer coefficient of the conical pipe 62.5 W/m2K, and 61.1 W/m2K according to the known formula . This indicates a small effect of taper on the average heat transfer of the entire pipe.

In the calculations, three types of surrounding areas are considered: A - open coasts of seas, lakes and reservoirs, rural areas, including buildings less than 10 m high; B - urban areas, forests and other areas, evenly covered with obstacles higher than 10 m; C - urban areas with dense buildings with buildings higher than 25 m. Thus, the wind speed profiles for different types of terrain are nonlinear.

The wind speed profile in front of the pipe (type of terrain) has a significant effect on the heat transfer coefficient. This confirms the need to take into account the type of terrain and the velocity profile in front of the pipe for local heat transfer.