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How can I better represent the weld spots of a pillow plate heat exchanger in a 2D CFD model

Posted Oct 21, 2026, 4:46 a.m. EDT Fluid & Heat, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Geometry Version 6.4 0 Replies

Brent Scharff

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Hey all,

I am currently working on a fluid flow simulation of a pillow plate heat exchanger, see link:https://heat-exchanger-world.com/the-versatility-of-pillow-plate-heat-exchangers/. I have a 3D model of a segment of the pillow plate to study the flow pattern inside the channel. Since the 3D geometry is quite complex and has a long simulation time, I decided to develop a simplified 2D model. I understand that a 2D model cannot capture all the three-dimensional flow effects, but I have managed to get reasonably far with the simplification.

However, I am still struggling to reproduce the flow pattern around the weld spots. When I compare the velocity fields in the xy-plane of my 3D model with those of my 2D model, I notice that the flow in the 3D model is considerably more constricted around the weld spots. I suspect this is caused by the interaction between the weld spot geometry and the wavy channel walls.

So my question is, is there a way to represent the effect of the weld spots more accurately in a 2D model? Maybe a COMSOL setting or a modification in the model?

Thank you in advance!

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