Abstract: Plate heat exchanger (PHE) is simulated based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. A 1 000 mm-order-of-magnitude calculation model is established for fluid flow and heat transfer in cold and hot flow channels of a chevron-type PHE. The flow pattern and heat transfer effect of the cold and hot fluids are analyzed under the water-to-water heat transfer condition in the central heating system by using the simulation software, FLUENT; At the same time, the 200 mm×200 mm double-channel calculation models of the local computation domains for the PHE are simulated at different corrugated inclination angle β and pitch λ. The corrugation parameters are optimized according to their influences on the fluid flow and heat transfer. The results show that an obvious non-uniformity of the flow distribution exists in the whole plate named LPM77. The flow rate of the fluid is low at the sharp point of the chevron-type and at the edge of the flow channel, which leads to the low degree of turbulence and poor heat transfer effect; with the rise of the corrugated inclination angle β, the heat transfer ability and the pressure drop both increase at first and then decrease. The heat transfer ability reaches the extreme point around the value of 60° for β. While the extreme point of the pressure drop appears after the value of 60°. Therefore, in general working condition of the PHE the corrugated inclination angle β should be set at 60° when taking both heat transfer and pressure drop into consideration; Along with increase of the corrugated pitch λ, the heat transfer ability and the pressure drop both decrease. Besides, the influence of the corrugated pitch λ on the pressure drop is stronger than that of the corrugated inclination angle β.

Key words: corrugation parameters optimization, double-channel, numerical simulation, plate heat exchanger (PHE)