Numerical study of hydrodynamics and mass transfer on in-line fiber arrays in laminar cross-flow

In this paper the hydrodynamics and shell side mass transfer of laminar flow across in-line tube arrays is studied numerically. The hydrodynamics of a five-tube array were described by the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations, employing the stream function-vorticity method. After a converged solution of the hydrodynamics had been found, a transport equation for the concentration was solved. The numerical grid of the investigated geometries consists of a number of basic cells, which are generated with a domain decomposition method combined with orthogonal grid generation. The hydrodynamics and mass transfer were analysed for Reynolds = 2-200, Peclet = 10-300 and pitch-to-diameter ratios of 1.5, 1.85 and 2.0. It is shown that the strength of the recirculation occuring between the adjacent tubes increases with increasing Reynolds number, and with decreasing pitch-to-diameter ratio.