Numerical Analysis of Turbulent Flow around Tube Bundle by Applying CFD Best Practice Guideline

In this study, the numerical analysis of a turbulent flow around both a staggered and an inline tube bundle was conducted using ANSYS CFX V.13, a commercial CFD software. The flow was assumed to be steady, incompressible, and isothermal. According to the CFD Best Practice Guideline, the sensitivity study for grid size, accuracy of the discretization scheme for convection term, and turbulence model was conducted, and its result was compared with the experimental data to estimate the applicability of the CFD Best Practice Guideline. It was concluded that the CFD Best Practice Guideline did not always guarantee an improvement in the prediction performance of the commercial CFD software in the field of tube bundle flow.