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.     

Pseudo-interference stiffness estimation, a highly efficient numerical method for force evaluation in contact problems

This paper presents a novel method, Pseudo-Interference Stiffness Estimation (PISE), for evaluating the contact compliance and the contact load in the contacting elastic solids. The PISE method is based on the evaluation of the geometric overlap of two assumedly rigid bodies and estimation of the contact force based on this artificial overlap area (or volume). In this paper, an example of the dynamic simulation of two disk collision problem is solved both by PISE method and finite element contact model. The contact force and velocity changes during impact from both methods are shown to be in good agreement. However, PISE method is, computationally, orders of magnitude (about 3000 times in our numerical simulations) faster than finite element contact analysis. The proposed method will be of practical use in contact force approximation of contacting bodies, such as meshing of spur gear teeth, cam analysis and synthesis, robotic grabbing, and numerous other applications.     

Drying characteristics of peppercorns in a rectangular fluidized-bed with triangular wavy walls

An experimental study on drying kinetics of peppercorns has been conducted in two different drying fluidized-bed configurations: rectangular fluidized-bed (RFB) and rectangular fluidized-bed with wavy walls (RFBW). In the RFBW, two opposite triangular wavy walls with three blockage ratios (e/H) are formed to produce vortex/swirl flows leading to stronger turbulence and longer residence time of the flow in the bed. For each bed, three inlet hot airs (T_in) at 60 °C, 80 °C and 100 °C and two superficial air velocity, U* of 1.2 and 2.0 (U* = U/U_mf) are introduced. The experimental results reveal that the air temperature and air velocity show significant effects on the drying rate of both beds, especially at T_in = 100 °C and U* = 2.0. The RFBW performs much better than the RFB due to shorter drying time. The average drying time of the RFBW with e/H = 0.3125, 0.3750 and 0.4375 is, respectively, around 29%, 36% and 43% less than that of the RFB. In addition, three mathematical drying models are offered for both the beds and the effect of the air temperature and velocity on the drying model constants was determined by fitting the experimental data using regression analysis techniques. The three models satisfactorily described the drying characteristics of peppercorns especially for the Henderson and Pabis model. The RFBW with e/H = 0.4375 is preferable in the study.     

Heat transfer augmentation in a helical-ribbed tube with double twisted tape inserts

Turbulent convective heat transfer characteristics in a helical-ribbed tube fitted with twin twisted tapes have been investigated experimentally. The experiment was carried out in a double tube heat exchanger using the helical-ribbed tube having a single rib-height to tube-diameter ratio, e/D_H = 0.06 and rib-pitch to diameter ratio, P/D_H = 0.27 as the tested section. The insertion of the double twisted tapes with twist ratio, Y, in the range of 2.17 to 9.39 is to create vortex flows inside the tube. The inserted ribbed tube is arranged in similar directions of the helical swirl of the twisted tape and the helical rib motion of the tube (called co-swirl). Effects of the co-swirl motion of the ribbed tube and the double twisted tapes with various twist ratios on heat transfer and friction characteristics are examined. The results obtained from the ribbed tube and the twin twisted tape insert are compared with those from the smooth tube and the ribbed tube acting alone. The experimental results reveal that the co-swirling inserted tube performs much better than the ribbed/smooth tube alone at a similar operating condition. The co-swirl tube at Y ≈ 8 yields the highest thermal performance at lower Reynolds number (Re). In addition, the correlations of Nusselt number and friction factor as functions of Re, Pr and Y are also proposed.