Open Access

ARTICLE

Topology Optimization of Two Fluid Heat Transfer Problems for Heat Exchanger Design

by Kun Yan¹, Yunyu Wang², Jun Yan^3,*

1 School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China
2 Jianghuai Advanced Technology Center, Hefei, 230000, China
3 State Key Laboratory of Structural Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, International Research Center for Computational Mechanics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, China

* Corresponding Author: Jun Yan. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Structural Design and Optimization)

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2024, 140(2), 1949-1974. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmes.2024.048877

Received 21 December 2023; Accepted 26 February 2024; Issue published 20 May 2024

Abstract

Topology optimization of thermal-fluid coupling problems has received widespread attention. This article proposes a novel topology optimization method for laminar two-fluid heat exchanger design. The proposed method utilizes an artificial density field to create two permeability interpolation functions that exhibit opposing trends, ensuring separation between the two fluid domains. Additionally, a Gaussian function is employed to construct an interpolation function for the thermal conductivity coefficient. Furthermore, a computational program has been developed on the OpenFOAM platform for the topology optimization of two-fluid heat exchangers. This program leverages parallel computing, significantly reducing the time required for the topology optimization process. To enhance computational speed and reduce the number of constraint conditions, we replaced the conventional pressure drop constraint condition in the optimization problem with a pressure inlet/outlet boundary condition. The 3D optimization results demonstrate the characteristic features of a surface structure, providing valuable guidance for designing heat exchangers that achieve high heat exchange efficiency while minimizing excessive pressure loss. At the same time, a new structure appears in large-scale topology optimization, which proves the effectiveness and stability of the topology optimization program written in this paper in large-scale calculation.

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Keywords

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