Design of a Cross-Counter Flow Channel Architecture using Serpentine Topology

Guan-Hong Xie, Yan-Zuo Chang, Qi-Hong Tang, Jing-Xin Ou, Zi-Rui He, Jie-Zhen Yang, Kai-Ming Chen, Yu-Xuan Chen, Hong-Rui Yang, Yong-Qing Wang

ORC, Piston Expander, CFD, Internal Flow Field Characteristics, Clearance Height

Aiming at the problems of complex internal flow fields and the significant impact of clearance height on performance in Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) waste heat recovery systems, this paper conducted a 3D steady-state numerical simulation study. Selecting the key working phase where the intake valve is fully open, a refined 3D model covering the intake port and the internal fluid domain of the cylinder was established, and ANSYS Fluent software was used for flow field analysis. The research results show that the computational model constructed in this paper has good convergence; after 5500 iterations, the energy residual reached the 10^(-7) level, and the residual curves of various physical quantities tended to be stable. This paper reveals the flow loss mechanism of the key phase of the expander, verifies the effectiveness of steady-state numerical simulation in evaluating the in-cylinder flow field characteristics, and provides theoretical support for further optimizing the intake structure and clearance height.

Received: 20 Feb 2026, Received in revised form: 21 Mar 2026, Accepted: 25 Mar 2026, Available online: 31 Mar 2026

10.22161/ijaers.133.6