[marauder]

Hi,
I have an air duct with a heat transfer equipment mounted in the air path. What I wanted to do was to analyze two ducts taking air from same source but one mounted with heat transfer equipment and the other without it and they both join at the other end.

I just needed to simulate the flow pattern and see the system resistance to the flow.I don't want to complicate the 3d model and meshing by actually drawing and meshing the heat transfer section. I know the pressure drop through this section for a particular flow so that I can co-relate it to any other flow.

Is there a way where I can avoid complicating the things and just add some other boundary condition or something to simulate the pressure drop I want at this section?

Thanks.

[marauder]

At least few suggestions please??

[Bionico]

Hi marauder,
con you post some picture and data you have about this simulation, please?

Regards

[marauder]

Well I'm trying to learn Fluent. This is one problem I faced when trying to solve a simple problem. I'll try to explain with the rough figure I provided below.

While the problem is two ducts (C & E in figure) take input flow from the same source (B). Let us assume that Duct C has a heat transfer section or some equipment (D in figure) in its flow path which causes pressure drop. Both ducts connect to same outlet (A) through duct (F). If inlet is at some higher pressure and outlet at some low pressure I want to know if positive flow occurs at all points or not for a given pressure drop in D section.

What boundary condition or material type can I choose for D so that I can ensure the pressure drop I want in that section?

I know this is a stupid question and can be done by simple hand calculations but just curious how it can be solved in fluent as I have some experience with it.

Thanks!

[marauder]

Can I use a porous media or a radiator instead for inducing pressure drop? If yes how can I control the pressure drop??

Any suggestions anyone?

[Bionico]

Hi marauder,
I have never tried heat exchanger model, but I'm sure that in your case you need a porous media.
Fluent offers 2 methods: porous media if you want to model a volume (3-D), or porous-jump if it's enough to model the pressure-jump across a surface (2-D).
I suggest referring to Fluent Manuals

Regards

[marauder]

Originally Posted by Bionico

Hi marauder,
I have never tried heat exchanger model, but I'm sure that in your case you need a porous media.
Fluent offers 2 methods: porous media if you want to model a volume (3-D), or porous-jump if it's enough to model the pressure-jump across a surface (2-D).
I suggest referring to Fluent Manuals

Regards

Thanks! Was going through Fluent manual before writing previous comment and found the pressure drop equation used by fluent for it which was directly proportional to velocity head. I calculated the proportionality constant by giving req velocity velocity , pressure drop and entered same into Fluent. It worked!!