Performance simulation and thermal stress analysis of ceramic recuperators formed by SIC and MAS

Abstract

This study conducted performance simulations for ceramic recuperators and performed thermal stress analysis to provide reliable guidance for heat recuperator designers. A numerical simulation was conducted utilizing STAR-CD to predict thermal and pressure flow fields inside two 50W ceramic compact heat exchangers, one made of SiC and the other made of MAS. The predicted temperature and pressure profiles from performance simulations were then used to compute thermal stress analysis of the ceramic plate recuperators. Thus, three issues were discussed-the impact of fluid pressure and the thermal expansion on the ceramic recuperators, the effects of the constraint condition of the model boundary on the ceramic plates, and the different effects of the two different ceramic recuperator cores could made to the outer metal shells.