Thermo-hydraulic engineering using first principles (a data-oriented approach to thermal equipment design)

A generic concept for detailed thermal calculations of heat transfer equipment is presented. It uses models for streams and walls, which fully implement the conservation laws. All physical quantities that logically belong to these models are contained in their data structures (data orientation). Wall and stream models can be combined into arbitrary thermal networks by connecting them by means of heat transfer models. This thermal network can represent heat transfer equipment in great detail. Ordinary engineering correlations for heat transfer and friction pressure drop are used. Results are equivalent to those of traditional engineering tools. However, the present approach is flexible with respect to geometry and correlations. The wall, stream and heat transfer models exchange the relevant physical data just by pointing to each other. This is only possible because of the data orientation and it greatly simplifies the modelling effort. All models are parameterized with straightforward engineering data. The models are full engineering strength and allow rigorous, easy and flexible modelling. The resulting differential equations are solved in the time domain using a direct sparse solver.