Sensitivity analysis and numerical experiments on transient test of compact heat exchanger surfaces

Abstract

A single-blow transient testing technique considering the effect of longitudinal heat conduction is suggested for determining the average convection heat transfer coefficient of compact heat exchanger surface. By matching the measured outlet fluid temperature variation with similar theoretical curves, the dimensionless longitudinal conduction parameter ?_l, the time constant of the inlet fluid temperature ?⁺, and the number of heat transfer units N_tu can be determined simultaneously using the Levenberg-Marquardt nonlinear parameter estimation method. Both sensitivity analysis and numerical experiments with simulated measurements containing random errors show that the method in the present investigation provides satisfactory accuracy of the estimated parameter N_tu, which characterizes the heat transfer performance of compact heat exchanger surfaces.

Keywords

engineering thermophysics / compact heat exchanger / transient testing technique / sensitivity analysis / inverse heat transfer / nonlinear parameter estimation