Thermal processes
General - In the field of process engineering, thermal problems exist in very different forms. Beside the mixture of differently tempered fluids or the heat transfer in heat exchangers as two of the most simple cases, more complicated problems arise in complex systems with multiple chemical reactions and/or phase change and multiphase fluid flows.
Aim of the process design or optimisation may be for example the reduction of the required energy, the increase of the rate of yield or the improvement of the product quality.
Applying the methods of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the following thermal processes and properties can be considered in the system simulation:
- boiling, evaporation and condensation
- endothermal and exothermal chemical reactions
- heat and mass transfer processes for all combinations of solid, liquid and gaseous phases in multiphase flows
- thermal processes (including heat conduction and heat storage in solids) in fixed and packed bed reactors with or without special internals
- free and forced convection
- buoyant fluid flow induced by temperature or/and density differences
- temperature-dependent fluid properties and reaction kinetics
For plant components, having to meet advanced specifications regarding reliability and functionality, the thermal and/or flow induced stresses and deformations can be assessed by FEM analyses (Link).
The simulation results of the partially very complex steady-state or transient processes are visualised by 3D plots of vectors, contours, streamlines, isosurfaces and/or isovolumes, including descriptive animations. Thereby, they offer detailed insights into the processes enabling a purposive optimisation.
