BOSfluids 7.0: New heat exchanger element type

BOSfluids comes with a comprehensive collection of element types that can be used to model devices and equipment that are commonly present in piping systems. This collection has been extended with a new element type for modeling shell and tube heat exchangers.

The Heat Exchanger element can model both the flow through the shell and the flow through the tubes. When it is passed to the flow solver, it is converted to a regular pipe element with a cross-sectional flow area that accounts for the area of the tube bundle. A minor loss coefficient can be specified to account for pressure losses due to baffle plates (when modeling the shell side) and other flow restrictions. Alternatively, you can specify a rated pressure drop across the heat exchanger at a rated flow rate. In this case, the total flow resistance is determined by a friction factor that is calculated automatically by the flow solver.