Experimental Observations on the Flow through Tube Banks by Turbulent Cross Flow

Prof. Dr. Sergio V. Möller, Dr.-Ing. (guest lecturer), Full Professor of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil

Banks of tubes or rods are found in the nuclear and process industries, being the most common geometry used in heat exchangers. Tube banks are the usual simplification in the study of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. Geometric characterization of a tube bank is made by the tube arrangement and the P/D-ratio, being D the tube diameter and P, the distance between the centerlines of adjacent tubes. In general, fluid flow loads in a tube bank (and any other structure submitted to a flow) can be classified in static and dynamic. The former due to the mean pressure variation along the flow through the bank and the latter due to pressure and velocity fluctuations of the turbulent flow, which characteristics are strongly influenced by the geometry of the bank. Analysis is made by statistical, spectral and wavelet tools as well as flow visualizations in a water channel.
In this presentation, about 30 years of research with measurements with hot wires and pressure transducers of the cross flow through tube banks are summarized. 

The presentation begins with a brief introduction to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory.

CV Prof. Dr. Sergio V. Möller, Dr.-Ing.
Mechanical Engineer, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, 1976
Master of Sciences, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 1979
Doktor-Ingenieur, University of Karlsruhe, Germany, 1988
From 1977 to 1989 worked at the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission, with several delegations to the Research Centers of Jülich and Karlsruhe, Germany
Since 1990, coordinator of the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
Since 1993, member of IASMiRT, the International Association of Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology
Since 1993, member of ABCM, the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
From 2013 to 2017, President of ABCM, the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering
From 2017 to 2023, Editor of the magazine ABCM Engenharia