Flow felid and heat transfer enhancement investigations by using a combination of corrugated tubes with a twisted tape within 3D circular tube based on different dimple configurations

Different dimple geometrical configurations with a combination of corrugated tubes and twisted tape are numerically investigated. Water is used as a working fluid for constant heat flux heat transfer conditions at the pipe wall. The dimensionless diameter of the dimples (d/D) used in this study is 0.09, 0.18, 0.27, and 0.36. However, the corrugation configuration diameter is 1 mm. The numerical simulations are carried out at the Reynolds number in the range of 1500–14,000. The outcomes reveal that the friction factor (f) and Nu number are augmented as the dimple diameter increases. The Nu number ratio of 1.25 is found for a dimple pipe tube with a diameter of 4 mm. The numerical outcome presented more mixing, secondary, and vortex produced in the main flow direction and near the pipe wall to the rotating flow induced by twisted tape. Moreover, mixed, secondary vortices and rotational flow originate behind and near the dimple, twisted tape, and corrugation surfaces. These rotational and vortices can promote mixing in flow between the thermal boundary layer and velocity boundary flow layer. So, increase the heat transfer enhancement. The improved pipes with different dimple diameters produce a maximum performance evaluation factor of is more than 1.25.     

Analysis of the flow field,thermal performance,and heat transfer augmentation in circular tube using different dimple geometrical configurations with internal twisted-tape insert

In this study, a numerical investigation for the fluid flow field analysis using different configuration dimple parameters in conjunction with an internal type insert in pipe is carried out. The effects of the dimple diameters with a center twisted tape on the flow pattern, pressure drop, friction factor, and heat transfer characteristics are investigated. The influence of the latter device on heat performance and thermal-hydraulic performance evaluation factor (PEF) were carried out in a pipe for fully developed flow with range for fully developed flow with range of Reynolds number (Re) of 1573 and 23 592. Experiments with numerical models are performed using different dimpled dimeters by inserting twisted tapes. The outcomes observe that the qualitative analysis for flow fields such as static pressure, dynamic pressure, velocity magnitude, wall shear stress, and turbulent kinetic energy as well as the quantities analysis for pressure drop, heat transfer coefficient friction factor, and Nu number in dimpled pipe fitted with twisted tape are greater than plain pipe. This is because using these devices cause more secondary flow, swirl flow, and flow mixing that lead to higher turbulence, which, in turn, enhance the overall heat transfer. The results indicated that the lower and higher values of thermal PEF are about 0.78 and 1.6, respectively, at the dimple dimmers of 1 mm.     

Analysis of coiled-tube heat exchangers to improve heat transfer rate with spirally corrugated wall

Steady heat transfer enhancement has been studied in helically coiled-tube heat exchangers. The outer side of the wall of the heat exchanger contains a helical corrugation which makes a helical rib on the inner side of the tube wall to induce additional swirling motion of fluid particles. Numerical calculations have been carried out to examine different geometrical parameters and the impact of flow and thermal boundary conditions for the heat transfer rate in laminar and transitional flow regimes. Calculated results have been compared to existing empirical formulas and experimental tests to investigate the validity of the numerical results in case of common helical tube heat exchanger and additionally results of the numerical computation of corrugated straight tubes for laminar and transition flow have been validated with experimental tests available in the literature. Comparison of the flow and temperature fields in case of common helical tube and the coil with spirally corrugated wall configuration are discussed. Heat exchanger coils with helically corrugated wall configuration show 80–100% increase for the inner side heat transfer rate due to the additionally developed swirling motion while the relative pressure drop is 10–600% larger compared to the common helically coiled heat exchangers. New empirical correlation has been proposed for the fully developed inner side heat transfer prediction in case of helically corrugated wall configuration.     

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.     

Turbulent forced convection flow inside inward-outward rib corrugated tubes with different rib-shapes

The thermal and hydrodynamic behaviors of forced convection turbulent flow inside the corrugated tube are investigated numerically. The ribs of corrugated tube are distributed in inward-outward arrangement simultaneously and alternately (referred as IOCT). Three roughness shapes of the corrugated tube are examined; rectangular, semicircular, and trapezoidal ribs. The computational model is validated through comparison with the predicted results with correlated and experimental ones of related works. The performance of IOCT is compared thermally and hydrodynamically with that of the inward-rib corrugated tube (ICT), outward-rib corrugated tube (OCT) and smooth tubes. The results reveal that the heat is exchanged effectively by employing IOCT than utilizing OCT but with extra pumping power losses. At the maximum Re, it is found that the heat transfer of IOCT is 17.7% higher than that of OCT, and utilizing IOCT instead of ICT results in a reduction of friction factor by about 27.2%. Also, IOCT exhibits a lower friction factor and pressure drop penalty than that imposed by ICT. Also, roughness shapes have an insignificant effect on the thermal and hydrodynamic performances of IOCT for the same rib geometrical parameters. Furthermore, the influence of variation pitch-to-diameter ratio is also examined for various rib shapes of IOCT.     

Numerical study of flow and heat transfer characteristics in outward convex corrugated tubes

The flow and heat transfer characteristics in convex corrugated tubes have been investigated through numerical simulations in this paper. Two kinds of tube types named as symmetric corrugated tube (SCT) and asymmetric corrugated tube (ACT) are modeled and studied numerically based on the k-ε model. The heat transfer working fluid at shell and tube sides are nitrogen and helium gases respectively. 2D axisymmetric model is adopted to simplify 3D model in order to reduce the computation cost greatly. Numerical simulation results for flow and heat transfer performances in SCT and ACT with various geometrical parameters, including corrugation pitch, corrugation height and corrugation trough radii are systematically analyzed. The mechanisms behind the improvement of overall performances of the simulated outward convex corrugated tube are discussed through investigating the details of turbulent velocity fields at both tube and shell sides. Compared to SCT, ACT exhibits 8–18% higher overall heat transfer performance.     

A geometric study on shell side heat transfer and flow resistance of a six-start spirally corrugated tube

Heat transfer enhancement is of great importance for energy efficiency improvement. The utilization of spirally corrugated tubes is one of the efficient ways to strengthen heat transfer. In this article, based on a validated numerical model, the effects of geometric parameters of a six-start spirally corrugated tube, including the pitch p and the corrugation depth e, on the shell side heat transfer and flow resistance performance are numerically investigated, in high Reynolds number conditions ranging from 10,000 to 60,000. The shell side secondary flow velocity distribution, longitudinal vortex distribution, and temperature distribution of a six-start spirally corrugated tube are presented, respectively. In addition, the heat transfer and flow resistance characteristics are evaluated by comparing the Nusselt number and the flow resistance coefficient with these of smooth tubes. Results show that the utilization of six-start spirally corrugated tubes can enhance the heat transfer performance at the expense of an increase of the flow resistance. However, with the same geometric parameters, the Nusselt number increases and the flow resistance coefficient decreases as Reynolds number increases. With the pitch increasing, the Nusselt number and the flow resistance coefficient decrease at a fixed Reynolds number. In contrast, as the corrugation depth increasing, the Nusselt number changes irregularly, and the flow resistance coefficient increases. Finally, correlations for the shell side Nusselt number and flow resistance coefficient of the six-start spirally corrugated tube are established. This work is of significance for engineers and scientists focusing on the heat transfer and the flow resistance characteristics of spirally corrugated tubes and their applications.     

Simulation of compressible flow in high pressure buried gas pipelines

The aim of this work is to analyze the gas flow in high pressure buried pipelines subjected to wall friction and heat transfer. The governing equations for one-dimensional compressible pipe flow are derived and solved numerically. The effects of friction, heat transfer from the wall and inlet temperature on various parameters such as pressure, temperature, Mach number and mass flow rate of the gas are investigated. The numerical scheme and numerical solution was confirmed by some previous numerical studies and available experimental data. The results show that the rate of heat transfer has not a considerable effect on inflow Mach number, but it can reduce the choking length in larger f_DL/D values. The temperature loss will also increase in this case, if smaller pressure drop is desired along the pipe. The results also indicate that for f_DL/D = 150, decreasing the rate of heat transfer from the pipe wall, indicated here by Biot number from 100 to 0.001, will cause an increase of about 7% in the rate of mass flow carried by the pipeline, while for f_DL/D = 50, the change in the rate of mass flow has not a considerable effect. Furthermore, the mass flow rate of choked flow could be increased if the gas flow is cooled before entrance to the pipe.     

Numerical evaluation of the heat transfer in a shell and corrugated coil tube heat exchanger with three various water-based nanofluids

In this paper, turbulence heat transfer and nanofluid flow in a shell and corrugated coil tube heat exchanger are evaluated numerically. The three-dimensional numerical simulations have been done by finite volume method using a commercial computational fluid dynamics code. The spatial discretization of mass, momentum, turbulence dissipation rate, and turbulence kinetic energy equations has been achieved by a second-order upwind scheme. A SIMPLE algorithm has been used for velocity–pressure coupling. To calculate gradients, Green-Gauss cell-based method has been utilized. The cross-section of the coil tube is lobe shaped. First, the impact of corrugated tube cross-section type and then, the impact of utilizing different types of nanofluid on thermal performance are investigated. The outcomes indicate that at high Reynolds number, utilizing a five-lobe cross-section causes augmentation in Nusselt number and pressure drop by about 4.8% and 3.7%, respectively. However, the three-lobe type shows the highest thermal performance. Moreover, water/CuO has the most thermal performance. As the volume concentration of the nanofluid increases, the thermal performance declines.     

Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer of α-Al2O3/Water Nanofluid in Double Pipe and Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers

This research presents an experimental and numerical study on the heat transfer of α-Al₂O₃/water nanofluid flowing through the double pipe and shell and tube heat exchangers, under laminar flow conditions. Effects of important parameters such as hot and cold volume flow rates, nanofluid temperature, and nanoparticles concentration on the heat transfer characteristics are investigated. The results indicated that the heat transfer performance of both double pipe and shell and tube heat exchangers increases with increasing the hot and cold volume flow rates, as well as the particle concentrations and nanofluid inlet temperature. Compared with pure water, the results indicated that the heat transfer coefficients of nanofluid in the double pipe and shell and tube heat exchangers are higher than those of water by 13.2% and 21.3%, respectively. Also, the heat transfer performance of nanofluid in a shell and tube heat exchanger is 26.2% higher than the double pipe heat exchanger. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technique was used for heat transfer simulation in the previously mentioned heat exchangers. Computed overall heat transfer coefficients of the nanofluids are in good agreement with the experimental data.     

3D Numerical study on the flow topology and heat transfer characteristics of turbulent forced convection in spirally corrugated tube

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a numerical analysis on flow configurations and heat transfer characteristics of turbulent forced convection in spirally corrugated tubes. The influences of corrugation depth (DR = 0.02–0.16), pitch ratio (PR = 0.10–1.00), and Reynolds number (Re = 5,000–20,000) on flow structure and heat transfer characteristics are described. Comparisons between the full length and periodic domains are also reported. The results show that spirally corrugated tubes induced vortex flows which helped to increase heat transfer due to enhanced fluid mixing. The maximum thermal enhancement factor of 1.16 was obtained by using the spirally corrugated tube with DR = 0.06, PR = 0.25 at Re = 5,000.     

Numerical investigation of heat transfer and pressure drop in enhanced tubes

This study investigates passive heat transfer enhancement techniques to determine the distribution of temperature and static pressure in test tubes, the friction factor, the heat flux, the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet fluid temperatures, the pressure drop penalty and the numerical convective heat transfer coefficient, and then compares the results to the experimental data of Zdaniuk et al. It predicts the single-phase friction factors for the smooth and enhanced tubes by means of the empirical correlations of Blasius and Zdaniuk et al. This study performed calculations on a smooth tube and two helically finned tubes with different geometric parameters also used in the analyses of Zdaniuk et al. It also performed calculations on two corrugated tubes in the simulation study. In Zdaniuk et al.'s experimental setup, the horizontal test section was a 2.74 m long countercurrent flow double tube heat exchanger with the fluid of water flowing in the inner copper tube (15.57–15.64 mm i.d.) and cooling water flowing in the annulus (31.75 mm i.d.). Their test runs were performed at a temperature around 20 °C for cold water flowing in the annulus while Reynolds numbers ranged from 12,000 to 57,000 for the water flowing in the inner tube. A single-phase numerical model having three-dimensional equations is employed with either constant or temperature dependent properties to study the hydrodynamics and thermal behaviors of the flow. The temperature contours are presented for inlet, outlet and fully developed regions of the tube. The variations of the fluid temperature and static pressure along tube length are shown in the paper. The results obtained from a numerical analysis for the helically tubes were validated by various friction factor correlations, such as those found by Blasius and Zdaniuk et al. Then, numerical results were obtained for the two corrugated tubes as a simulation study. The present study found that the average deviation is less than 5% for the friction factors obtained by the Fluent CFD program while Blasius's correlation has the average deviation of less than 10%. The corrugated tubes have a higher heat transfer coefficient than smooth tubes but a lower coefficient than helically finned tubes. The paper also investigates the pressure drop penalty for the heat transfer enhancement.     

A numerical study to investigate the effect of turbulators on thermal flow and heat performance of a 3D pipe

To reduce the heat exchanger's costs in a highly competitive industry, thermal performance enhancement of the heat exchangers has successfully gained attention in the last few decades. Among different engineering approaches, the application of the enhanced pipes provides a key solution to improve heat performance. In this paper, the investigation develops a numerical study based on the commercially available computational fluid dynamics codes on the turbulent flow in three-dimensional tubular pipes. Various concavity (dimple) diameters with corrugation and twisted tape configurations are investigated. The study has shown that perforated geometrical parameters lead to a high fluid mixing and flow perturbation between the pipe core region and the walls, hence better thermal efficiency. Moreover, a model of concavity (dimple) with a 4 mm diameter allows the highest heat transfer enhancement among other designs. In addition, the study shows that due to the disturbance between the pipe core region and the pipe wall, the transverse vortices and swirl flow generated are forceful, which leads to better heat transfer enhancement compared with the conventional (smooth) pipes. As the Reynolds number (Re) rises, the mixing flow, secondary, and separation flow extend to become higher than the values in a smooth pipe, allowing a higher value of performance evaluation factor to be achieved for a dimple diameter of 1mm at the low Re values. This study, therefore, shows the promising potential of the enhanced pipes in the heat transfer enhancement of heat exchangers that is crucial in industrial applications to save more energy.     

波节管纵向逆流换热性能的三维数值模拟研究

本文基于k-ε模型,针对波节管高效换热元件中纵向逆流换热的传热特性和阻力特性进行三维数值模拟研究。传热工质在管程和壳程分别为氦气和氮气,管束采用三角形布置。本文首先分析了不同波距及雷诺数下对换热量影响。为了体现高效换热元件比光管的优越性,随后分析了不同波距及雷诺数对Q/Q0(波节管与光管的换热量比)与Δp/Δp0(波节管与光管的压力降比)。最后得出结论,波距L的增加使高效换热元件的传热性能和阻力性能有所降低,但提高了其综合传热性能。雷诺数的增加会大幅提高换热量,但同时综合传热效率也大幅降低。     

Effect of corrugated plates in an in-phase arrangement on the heat transfer and flow developments

In the present study, the numerical results of the heat transfer and flow developments in the corrugated channel under constant heat flux conditions are presented. The test section is the channel with two opposite corrugated plates which all configuration peaks lie in an in-phase arrangement. The corrugated plates with three different corrugated tile angles of 20°, 40°, and 60° are tested with the height of the channel of 12.5 mm. The model was simulated for the Reynolds number and heat flux in the ranges of 400–1600 and 0.5–1.2 kW/m², respectively. The flow and heat transfer developments are simulated by using the k-ε standard turbulent model. A finite volume method with the structured uniform grid system is employed for solving the model. The predicted results are validated by comparing with the measured data. There is reasonable agreement from the comparison between the numerical data and experimental data. Effects of relevant parameters on the heat transfer and flow developments are discussed. Due to the breaking and destabilizing in the thermal boundary zone, the corrugated surface has significant effect on the enhancement of heat transfer and pressure drop.     

工业供热中汽汽再热器换热强化数值研究

为了强化工业供热中的汽汽换热,通过CFD技术对不同类型换热管的流动及换热特性进行了研究。结果显示：光滑壁面时管壁两侧的高、低温蒸汽的温度梯度沿着流向逐渐变化,对流换热逐渐增强;相比于光滑管,采用内波节管和内螺纹波节管时,高温蒸汽侧的温度梯度增大,而低温蒸汽侧的壁面温度梯度明显增大;采用壁面异型结构能够改变管壁内温度梯度,采用内螺纹波节管尤甚。采用内波节管和内螺纹波节管的平均Nu相比于光滑管显著提高,最大值分别提高了26%和30%。     

Numerical study on heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of fluid flow in an inserted coiled tube type three fluid heat exchanger

The paper presents numerical investigations of a three fluid heat exchanger (TFHE), which is an improvement on the double pipe heat exchanger, where a helical tube is inserted in the annular space between two straight pipes. The helical tube side fluid, that is, hot water continuously transfers heat to the outer annulus side fluid and innermost tube side fluid. The heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of the TFHE are assessed for different flow rates and inlet temperatures. With an increment in the volumetric flow rate of the helical tube side fluid and outer annulus side fluid, the overall heat transfer coefficient increases, and the effectiveness decreases for heat transfer from the helical tube side fluid to outer annulus side fluid in both parallel flow and counter flow configurations. It is also observed that with increment in the helical tube side fluid inlet temperature, the overall heat transfer coefficient and effectiveness increases for heat transfer from the helical tube side fluid to outer annulus side fluid in both flow configurations. The parameter, JF factor, has been proposed to evaluate the thermohydraulic behavior of the TFHE, where it is obtained that the behavior of the TFHE is better at a lower helical tube side fluid velocity and higher outer annulus side fluid velocity.     

Experimental and numerical study of convection heat transfer of CO2 at super-critical pressures during cooling in small vertical tube

Convection heat transfer of CO₂ at super-critical pressures during cooling in a vertical small tube with inner diameter of 2.00 mm was investigated experimentally and numerically. The local heat transfer coefficients were determined through a combination of experimental measurements and numerical simulations. This study investigated the effects of pressure, cooling water mass flow rate, CO₂ mass flow rate, CO₂ inlet temperature, flow direction, properties variation and buoyancy on convection heat transfer in small tube. The results show that the local heat transfer coefficients vary significantly along the tube when the CO₂ bulk temperatures are in the near-critical region. The increase of specific heat and turbulence kinetic energy due to the density variation leads to the increase of the local heat transfer coefficients for upward flow. The buoyancy effect induced by density variation leads to a different variation trend of the local heat transfer coefficients along the tube for upward and downward flows. The numerical simulations were conducted using several k–ε turbulence models including the RNG k–ε model with a two-layer near wall treatment and three low-Reynolds number eddy viscosity turbulence models. The simulations using the low-Reynolds number k–ε model due to Yang–Shih has been found to be able to reproduce the general features exhibited in the experiments, although with a relatively large overestimation of measured wall temperatures. A better understanding of the mechanism of properties variation and buoyancy effects on convection heat transfer of CO₂ at super-critical pressures in a vertical small tube during cooling has been developed based on the information generated by the simulation on the detailed flow and turbulence fields.     

Numerical analysis on the fluid flow and heat transfer in the channel with V-shaped wavy lower plate

In the present study, the numerical analysis on the heat transfer and flow developments in the channel with one-side corrugated plate under constant heat flux conditions is presented. The corrugated plate with the corrugated tile angles of 40° is simulated with the channel height of 7.5 mm. The flow and heat transfer developments are simulated by the k-ε standard turbulent model. A finite volume method with the structured uniform grid system is employed for solving the model. Effects of relevant parameters on the heat transfer and flow developments are considered. Breaking and destabilizing in the thermal boundary layer are promoted as fluid flowing through the corrugated surface. Therefore, the corrugated surface has a significant effect on the enhancement of heat transfer.     

新型横纹螺旋盘管强化传热的数值模拟

为了增强螺旋盘管的传热性能,对现有的普通螺旋盘管进行优化设计,提出一种管壁向内凸起形成环肋的异型管,称为横纹螺旋盘管。通过数值模拟方法对横纹螺旋盘管和普通盘管内部流动和传热过程进行模拟。应用场协同原理对其速度场和温度场的协同作用进行分析。实验数据与仿真结果的误差在5%以内,验证了数值模拟方法的正确性。在不同Re(雷诺数)条件下,计算两种盘管的Nu(努塞尔数),进而与Gnielinski(格尼林斯基)修正公式计算结果进行比较,误差在10%以内。结果表明:环肋结构通过工质旋转流动破坏边界层厚度,改善了管内速度场与温度场的协同程度,从而实现了强化传热。在较高的Re范围内,横纹螺旋盘管的Nu为普通盘管的1.29~1.43倍。因此,横纹螺旋盘管具有更好的传热性能,为异型螺旋盘管的研究及工程应用提供一定的理论依据。