EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF CONVECTIVE HEAT TRANSFER INSTABILITIES IN TRANSIENT RESPONSE ALONG A COUNTERCURRENT HEAT EXCHANGER

This article deals with experimental investigations to reveal the effect of combined natural and forced convection in a horizontal tubular countercurrent heat exchanger in both transient and steady states. In transient response, the temperature profiles of hot fluid in a cross section of the inner tube show the influence of buoyancy forces and radial conduction. These profiles are distorted in time and lead to the appearance of oscillating temperature along the inner tube of the heat exchanger. The transient Richardson dimensionless number is calculated to show these effects. Also, a spectral analysis using the discrete Fourier transform has been performed to characterize these temperature instabilities. Using this technique, the influence of flow rates of hot and cold fluids is investigated.