Numerical Investigations of Supercritical Hydrogen Flow and Heat Transfer in Curved Tube

In order to investigate the flow and heat transfer characteristics of the supercritical hydrogen running through the nozzle throat, this paper simulated the supercritical hydrogen flow in a 180° curved tube by ANSYS FLUENT, and obtained the velocity profiles and the wall temperature at various interested positions. It was found that the centrifugal force forced the hydrogen flow shift radially outward in the bend and induced the secondary flow perpendicular to the main flow, making the flow velocity on the inner side lower than that of the outer side. Furthermore, because of the non-uniform flow distribution along the circumferential tube wall, the heat transfer on the outer wall of the bend was strengthened, while deteriorated on the inner side. Based on the operating conditions in the current paper, the inner wall close to the exit of the curved section has the highest wall temperature, with the most notable heat transfer deterioration.