Abstract:In view of the freeze due to the uneven heat transfer of the fourrowtube direct aircooled condenser, the idea of using variable diameter finnedtube bundles was put forward. Using the method of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the numerical simulation of heat transfer characteristics of a variable diameter finnedtube bundles was conducted. It is found that the comprehensive performance and heat transfer uniformity of variable diameter finnedtube bundles are improved compared with the equivalent diameter finnedtube bundles. At the same time, in order to improve the poor thermal performance of this type of heat exchanger, the condenser performance increases but heat transfer uniformity does not change significantly when finnedtube bundles changes from nearly equilateral arrangement to nearly isokinetic arrangement. Moreover, the comprehensive performance of aircooled condenser is further improved and the sensitivity of heat transfer uniformity to Reynolds number changes after the addition of vortex generator.