Characterization of Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer of Expanded Metal Meshes for Catalytic Processes

Abstract

In this work, three raised expanded metal meshes (EMMs) differing in mesh size were tested experimentally with regard to their flow and transport properties. Empirical equations for the Nusselt number and Fanning friction factor were developed. Alongside the experiments, simple computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models were used to simulate the pressure drop and heat transfer coefficients within EMMs. Finally, the Performance Efficiency Criterion (PEC) was applied to compare EMMs with other reactor packings.

Keywords

• heat transfer
• flow resistance
• expanded metal mesh
• structured reactor
• CFD modelling