Simulation of supercritical methane flow and heat transfer characteristics in printed circuit heat exchanger

As a new type of high-efficiency micro-channel heat exchanger, printed circuit heat exchanger (PCHE) has great potential for its application in floating LNG storage and gasification unit (FSRU). The flow and heat transfer characteristics of supercritical methane in the PCHE channel were simulated. The simulation results show that the heat transfer coefficient first increases and then decreases with temperature, and reaches a peak near the pseudocritical temperature (202—212 K). The pressure drop first remains unchanged with the temperature, then rises sharply near the pseudocritical temperature, and then increases with the temperature. When the temperature is near the pseudocritical temperature, increasing the heat flux under low mass flux density will deteriorate heat transfer coefficient. The heat transfer coefficients under different pressures all reach the peak at the pseudocritical temperature under each pressure. When the temperature is lower than the pseudocritical temperature, the influence of pressure on the pressure drop is negligible, and when the temperature is higher than the pseudocritical temperature, the pressure drop increases with the pressure. When the pressure is increased from 6.4 MPa to 8.5 MPa, the heat transfer coefficient is reduced by 32.5% and the pressure drop is reduced by 28.5%. The average errors of the developed heat transfer and pressure drop correlation equations are 5.6% and 4.2%, respectively. © 2021, Editorial Board of CIESC Journal. All right reserved.