Fluid–structure interaction numerical simulation of thermal performance and mechanical property on plate-fins heat exchanger

A numerical simulation and experimental study of heat transfer, fluid flow and fins mechanical property on plate-fin heat exchanger has been presented in this paper. The methods used in this study are experiment, CFD analysis, fluid–structure interaction and finite element method. An air–oil wind tunnel is established for this experiment. The temperature difference, pressure drop, streamlines are obtained in overall model, and the heat transfer coefficient, j/f factor, temperature and stress distribution of plate-fin body are obtained in different fin thickness and fin offset. The prediction from the CFD simulation shows reasonably good agreement with the experimental results.