Integrated Approach for Life Prediction of Complex Thermal Systems

Many engineering thermal systems involve a high degree of technical risk. Their deterioration could be induced by the flow of high temperature fluids. A high-fidelity assessment tool is presented which enables the simulation of a wide array of thermal systems. It is based on linking multiple computational tools to deal with complex thermal systems. These systems may involve fluid-structure interactions. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Finite Element Method (FEM), and Fatigue tools are integrated within this approach. The CFD part of the method is first applied to an existing model, where the internal and external heat transfer coefficients are determined, and then compared to the manually-computed coefficients. The results showed good agreement between the two methods. Next, the process is applied to a simple cylindrical ring model, where CFD simulation is first performed to determine the heat transfer parameters that are needed for the transient FEM simulation. The FEM analysis results in the maximum thermal stress whereby the fatigue life of the component is computed. Finally, the effect of varying the turbulence intensity on heat transfer coefficients, thermal stress, and fatigue life is investigated.