Numerical simulation of flow field and temperature separation in a vortex tube

A numerical analysis of flow field and temperature separation in a uni-flow vortex tube type is described. Effects of the turbulence modeling (k–ε model and ASM), numerical scheme (hybrid, upwind and second-order upwind) and grid density on calculation of energy separation in the vortex tube are also conducted. It is found that the calculated results are in reasonably good agreement with the experimental data for both the static and total temperatures; the use of the ASM improves slightly the accuracy of the predictions than that the k–ε model. It is also observed that larger temperature gradients appear in the outer regions close to the tube wall for the static temperatures and the separation effect or the difference of the total temperature is high in the core region near the inlet nozzle. The maximum total temperature in the field is visible at the axis location of x/D_o between 0.5 and 1.0 for the ASM.     

Turbulent heat transfer enhancement in a heat exchanger using helically corrugated tube

The augmentation of convective heat transfer in a single-phase turbulent flow by using helically corrugated tubes has been experimentally investigated. Effects of pitch-to-diameter ratio (P/D_H = 0.18, 0.22 and 0.27) and rib-height to diameter ratio (e/D_H = 0.02, 0.04 and 0.06) of helically corrugated tubes on the heat transfer enhancement, isothermal friction and thermal performance factor in a concentric tube heat exchanger are examined. The experiments were conducted over a wide range of turbulent fluid flow of Reynolds number from 5500 to 60,000 by employing water as the test fluid. Experimental results show that the heat transfer and thermal performance of the corrugated tube are considerably increased compared to those of the smooth tube. The mean increase in heat transfer rate is between 123% and 232% at the test range, depending on the rib height/pitch ratios and Reynolds number while the maximum thermal performance is found to be about 2.3 for using the corrugated tube with P/D_H = 0.27 and e/D_H = 0.06 at low Reynolds number. Also, the pressure loss result reveals that the average friction factor of the corrugated tube is in a range between 1.46 and 1.93 times over the smooth tube. In addition, correlations of the Nusselt number, friction factor and thermal performance factor in terms of pitch ratio (P/D_H), rib-height ratio (e/D_H), Reynolds number (Re), and Prandtl number (Pr) for the corrugated tube are determined, based on the curve fitting of the experimental data.     

Heat transfer and turbulent flow friction in a circular tube fitted with conical-nozzle turbulators

The paper deals with an experimental study of the influence of conical-nozzle turbulator inserts on heat transfer and friction characteristics in a circular tube. In the present work, the turbulators are placed in the test tube section with two different types: (1) diverging nozzle arrangement (D-nozzle turbulator) and (2) converging nozzle arrangement (C-nozzle turbulator). The turbulators are thoroughly inserted inside the tube with various pitch ratios, PR = 2.0, 4.0, and 7.0. The Reynolds number based on the bulk average properties of the air is in a range of 8000 to 18,000 and the experimental data obtained are compared with those obtained from the plain tube and from the literature. The experimental results reveal that increasing the Reynolds number at a given pitch ratio of the turbulators leads to the significant increase in Nusselt number indicating enhanced heat transfer coefficient due to rising convection as the flow increases. However, the friction factor at a given Reynolds number considerably increases with the reduction of pitch ratio and Reynolds number. The D-nozzle arrangement, creating stronger reverse/turbulence flow, provides higher the heat transfer rate and friction factor than the C-nozzle arrangement. The heat transfer rates obtained from using both nozzle-turbulators, in general, are found to be higher than that from the plain tube at a range of 236 to 344%, depending on Reynolds number and the turbulator arrangements. In addition, proposed correlations from the present experimental data for Nusselt number and friction factor are also presented.     

Heat transfer behaviors in a tube with combined conical-ring and twisted-tape insert

Heat transfer, friction factor and enhancement efficiency characteristics in a circular tube fitted with conical-ring turbulators and a twisted-tape swirl generator have been investigated experimentally. The heat transfer test section is heated electrically imposing axially and circumferentially constant wall heat flux boundary conditions. In the experiments, two enhancement heat transfer devices are applied. One is the conical-ring used as a turbulator and placed in the tested tube and the other is the twisted-tape swirl generator placed at the core of the conical-ring. Air as the tested fluid is passed both enhancement devices in a Reynolds number range of 6000 to 26,000. Two twisted-tapes of different twist ratios, Y = 3.75, and 7.5, are introduced in each run. The experimental results reveal that the tube fitted with the conical-ring and twisted-tape provides Nusselt number values of around 4 to 10% and enhancement efficiency of 4 to 8% higher than that with the conical-ring alone. A maximum heat transfer rate of 367% and enhancement efficiency of around 1.96 is found for using the conical-ring and the twisted-tape of Y = 3.75. For all the devices used, the enhancement efficiency tends to decrease with the rise of Reynolds number and to be nearly uniform for Reynolds number over 16,000. In addition, correlations for Nusselt number, friction factor and performance evaluation criteria to assess the real benefits in using the turbulator and swirl generator of the enhanced tube are determined.     

3D numerical study on flow structure and heat transfer in a circular tube with V-baffles☆

A 3D numerical investigation has been carried out to examine periodic laminar flow and heat transfer character-istics in a circular tube with 45° V-baffles with isothermal wal . The computations are ba...     

Enhanced heat transfer in rectangular duct with punched winglets

Thermal performance of a heat exchanger duct with punched winglets(PWs) mounted on the upper duct wall has been examined for Reynolds number(Re) ranging from 4100 to 25,500. In the present experiment, two types of PWs: punched delta-and elliptical-winglets(P-DW and P-EW) with four punched-hole sizes were tested at a fixed attack angle, optimal relative pitch and height. Also, data of solid delta-and elliptical-winglets(DW and EW) were included for comparison. The investigation has shown that the P-DW yields higher thermal-performance enhancement factor(η) than the P-EW. Although the solid DW and EW with no punch have the highest heat transfer and friction loss, the PWs yield better η than the solid ones. For PWs, the P-DW with smaller hole size has the peak heat transfer and friction loss around 5.7 and 40 times over the smooth duct, respectively but the optimum η of 2.17 is seen for the one with a certain hole size. The PWs provide η at about 5%–8% above the solid winglets.     

Thermal performance of tubular heat exchanger with multiple twisted-tape inserts

The paper presents an experimental investigation on enhanced heat transfer and pressure loss characteristics by using single, double, triple, and quadruple twisted-tape inserts in a round tube having a uniform heat-fluxed wal . The investigation has been conducted in the heat exchanger tube inserted with various twisted-tape numbers for co-and counter-twist arrangements for the turbulent air flow, Reynolds number (Re) from 5300 to 24000. The typical single twisted-tape inserts at two twist ratios, y/w=4 and 5, are used as the base case, while the other multiple twisted-tape inserts are at y/w=4 only. The experimental results of heat transfer and pressure drop in terms of Nusselt number (Nu) and friction factor (f), respectively, reveal that Nu increases with the increment of Re and of twisted-tape number. The values of Nu for the inserted tube are in a range of 1.15–2.12 times that for the plain tube while f is 1.9–4.1 times. The thermal enhancement factor of the inserted tube under similar pumping power is evaluated and found to be above unity except for the single and the double co-twisted tapes. The quadruple counter-twisted tape insert provides the maximum thermal performance.     

Heat transfer augmentation in a circular tube with winglet vortex generators☆

The article presents the influence of winglet vortex generators (WVGs) placed in the core flow area on ther-mal performance enhancement of a tube heat exchanger. The experiment was carried out in a uniform wall heat-fluxed tube by varying turbulent alrflow for Reynolds number ranging from 5300 to 24000. In the pres-ent work, the WVGs with an attack angle of 30° were inserted into the test tube at four different winglet pitch ratios (RP=P/D) and three winglet-width or blockage ratios (RB=e/D). The experimental results at various RP and RB values were evaluated and compared with those for smooth tube and tubes with twist-ed tape or wire coil. The measurement reveals that the WVGs enhance considerably the heat transfer and friction loss above the plaln tube, wire coil and twisted tape. The Nusselt number and friction factor increase with the increment of RB and Re but with the decreasing RP. The average Nusselt numbers for the WVGs with various RB are in the range of 2.03–2.34 times above the plaln tube. The thermal performance for the WVGs is found to be much higher than that for the wire coil and twisted tape and is in a range of 1.35–1.59. Also, a numerical investigation is conducted to study the flow structure and heat transfer enhancement mecha-nisms in the winglet-inserted tube.     

Laminar periodic flow and heat transfer in a rectangular channel with triangular wavy baffles

This paper presents a numerical analysis of laminar periodic flow and heat transfer in a rectangular constant temperature-surfaced channel with triangular wavy baffles (TWBs).The TWBs were mounted on the opposite walls of the rectangular channel with inline arrangements.The TWBs are placed on the upper and lower walls with attack angle 45?.The numerical is performed with three dif-ferent baffle height ratios (BR=b/H=0.05 0.3) at constant pitch ratio (PR) of 1.0 for the range 100 ≤ Re ≤ 1000.The computational results are shown in the topology of flow and heat transfer.It is found that the heat transfer in the channel with the TWB is more effective than that without baffle.The in-crease in the blockage ratio,BR leads to a considerable increase in the Nusselt number and friction factor.The results indicate that at low BR,a fluid flow is significantly disturbed resulting in inefficient heat transfer.As BR increases,both heat transfer rate in terms of Nusselt number and pressure drop in terms of friction factor increase.Over the range examined,the maximum Nu/Nu0 of 7.3 and f/f0 of 126 are both found with the use of the baffles with BR=0.30 at Re=1000.In addition,the flow structure and temperature field in the channel with TWBs are also reported.     

Heat transfer and pressure drop in a channel with multiple 60° V-baffles

The research work has been conducted to assess turbulent forced convection heat transfer and friction loss behaviors for airflow through a channel fitted with a multiple 60° V-baffle turbulator. Measurements have been carried out for the channel of aspect ratio, AR = 10 and height, H = 30 mm with three different baffle blockage ratios, (e/H = 0.10, 0.20 and 0.30) and three baffle pitch spacing ratios, (PR = P / H = 1, 2 and 3) while the transverse pitch of the V-baffle is set to 2H and kept constant. The air flow rate is in terms of Reynolds numbers based on the inlet hydraulic diameter of the test channel ranging from 5000 to 25,000. The experimental results show that the V-baffle provides the drastic increase in Nusselt number, friction factor and thermal enhancement factor values over the smooth wall channel due to better flow mixing from the formation of secondary flows induced by vortex flows generated by the V-baffle. In addition, substantial increases in Nusselt number and friction factor values are found for the rise in blockage ratio and/or for the decrease in pitch ratio values. Assessing thermal performance of the V-baffled channel, the use of the V-baffle with PR = 1 and e/H = 0.10 leads to maximum thermal enhancement factor of about 1.87 at lower Reynolds number.