Numerical model of a cross-flow heat exchanger with non-uniform flow of media

This paper presents thermal-hydraulic analyses of finned cross flow heat exchangers working in media flow maldistribution conditions. The authors postulate a possibility of performing such analyses through the use of CFD models of recurrent segments of the heat exchangers. Media inflow to each recurrent segment may be individually defined and thus the flow maldistribution in the whole heat exchanger could be considered. The methodology of creating these models, running calculations and results of very initial experimental validation is presented in the paper.