Three-dimensional numerical study on fin-and-oval-tube heat exchanger with longitudinal vortex generators

Three-dimensional numerical study was performed for heat transfer characteristics and fluid flow structure of fin-and-oval-tube heat exchangers with longitudinal vortex generators (LVGs). For Re (based on the hydraulic diameter) ranges from 500 to 2500, it was found that the average Nu for the three-row fin-and-oval-tube heat exchanger with longitudinal vortex generators increased by 13.6–32.9% over the baseline case and the corresponding pressure loss increased by 29.2–40.6%. The results were analyzed on the basis of the field synergy principle to provide fundamental understanding of the relation between local flow structure and heat transfer augmentation. It was confirmed that the reduction of the intersection angle θ between the velocity field and the temperature field was one of the essential factors influencing heat transfer enhancement. Three geometrical parameters – placement of LVGs (upstream and downstream), angles of attack (α = 15°, 30°, 45° and 60°) and tube-row number (n = 2, 3, 4 and 5) – were also investigated for parameter optimization. The LVGs with placement of downstream, angles of attack α = 30° and minimum tube-row number provide the best heat transfer performance. The effects of the three geometrical parameters on heat transfer enhancement were also analyzed from the view point of the field synergy principle and it was found that the results can be well explained by the field synergy principle.     

The field synergy (coordination) principle and its applications in enhancing single phase convective heat transfer

In this paper the concept of field synergy (coordination) principle is briefly introduced first, and then its numerical verification is presented. A dimensionless number, field synergy number Fc, is defined as an indication of the synergy degree between velocity and temperature field for the entire flow and heat transfer domain. It is found that for the ideal case, this number should equal one, and for most of the engineering heat transfer cases, its value is far from being equal to one, showing a large room for the heat transfer enhancement study. Then the applications of the principle are discussed, with focusing being paid on the application for developing new type of enhanced techniques. Three examples are provided to demonstrate the importance and feasibility of the field synergy principle.     

Numerical investigations of curved square channel from the viewpoint of field synergy principle

A curved square channel in laminar flow is numerically investigated based on the classical Navier–Stokes equations from the viewpoint of the field synergy principle. The field synergy principle may accurately describe the curved channel has higher convective heat transfer rate in the case that the heat transfer surface is specified on the outer wall, rather than on the inner wall. The field synergy principle could also be responsible for that the curved channel can enhance the convective heat transfer significantly at the cost of the slight increase of the flow resistance. The field synergy number represents the degree of the synergy between the temperature gradient and the velocity vector, the higher field synergy number leads to the higher convective heat transfer rate under the same Reynolds number and Prandtl number. The field synergy number plays the same positive role in the convective heat transfer whether the fluid is heated or cooled.     

Field synergy analysis and optimization of decontamination ventilation designs

The field synergy principle has been validated to be an effective tool for enhancing convective heat transfer capability. Since convective mass transfer is analogous to convective heat transfer, the field synergy principle has been extended to convective mass transfer analyses to enhance the overall decontamination rate of indoor ventilation systems. According to the field synergy principle, the overall decontamination capability and the utilization efficiency of the air are both influenced by the synergy between the velocity vectors and the contaminant concentration gradients. Furthermore, in order to derive a method to improve the synergy based on the essence of convective mass transfer, the mass transfer potential capacity dissipation function is defined, and then the convective mass transfer field synergy equation is obtained by seeking the extremum of the mass transfer potential capacity dissipation function for a set of specified constraints. The convective mass transfer field synergy equation can be solved to find the optimized air velocity distribution to increase the field synergy and the overall decontamination capability. The optimized air velocity field provides guidance for optimizing ventilation system designs.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of thermal -hydraulic performance in wavy fin-and-flat tube heat exchangers

To the more deeply understand the enhancement heat transfer mechanism and optimization design for wavy fin-and-flat tube heat exchangers, three-dimensional numerical simulations and experimental investigation of air flow and heat transfer characteristics over the wavy fin heat exchangers are presented in this study. The numerical simulation results compared with the wind tunnel test data, the results show that the numerical simulation results are in good with the test. The experimental results show that, in the range of Re = 1000–5500, the standard k-ε mode (SST) is more suitable to predict the air flow and heat transfer of wavy fin. The waviness amplitude has the distinct effect on the heat transfer and pressure drop of wavy fin, while the wavy fin profile (Triangular, Sinusoidal and Triangular round corner) has little effect on the heat transfer performance. In additional, the enhancement heat transfer mechanism of wavy fin is explained in view of field synergy principle. Reduction the synergy angle between velocity and temperature gradient will induce to the heat transfer coefficients increase of wavy fin.     

Two energy conservation principles in convective heat transfer optimization

Improving heat transfer performance is very beneficial to energy conservation because heat transfer processes widely existed in energy utilization systems. In this contribution, in order to effectively optimize convective heat transfer, such two principles as the field synergy principle and the entransy dissipation extremum principle are investigated to reveal the physical nature of the entransy dissipation and its intrinsic relationship with the field synergy degree. We first established the variational relations of the entransy dissipation and the field synergy degree with the heat transfer performance, and then derived the optimization equation of the field synergy principle and made comparison with that of the entransy dissipation extremum principle. Finally the theoretical analysis is then validated by the optimization results in both a fin-and-flat tube heat exchanger and a foursquare cavity. The results show that, for prescribed temperature boundary conditions, the above two optimization principles both aim at maximizing the total heat flow rate and their optimization equations can effectively obtain the best flow pattern. However, for given heat flux boundary conditions, only the optimization equation based on the entransy dissipation extremum principle intends to minimize the heat transfer temperature difference and could get the optimal velocity and temperature fields.     

Three-dimensional numerical study of wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers and field synergy principle analysis

In this paper, 3-D numerical simulations were performed for laminar heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of wavy fin-and-tube heat exchanger by body-fitted coordinates system. The effect of four factors were examined: Reynolds number, fin pitch, wavy angle and tube row number. The Reynolds number based on the tube diameter varied from 500 to 5000, the fin pitch from 0.4 to 5.2 mm, the wavy angle from 0° to 50°, and the tube row range from 1 to 4. The numerical results were compared with experiments and good agreement was obtained. The numerical results show that with the increasing of wavy angles, decreasing of the fin pitch and tube row number, the heat transfer of the finned tube bank are enhanced with some penalty in pressure drop. The effects of the four factors were also analyzed from the view point of field synergy principle which says that the reduction of the intersection angle between velocity and fluid temperature gradient is the basic mechanism for enhance convective heat transfer. It is found that the effects of the four factors on the heat transfer performance of the wavy fin-and-tube exchangers can be well described by the field synergy principle.     

Numerical study on a slit fin-and-tube heat exchanger with longitudinal vortex generators

A 3-D numerical simulation is performed on laminar heat transfer and flow characteristics of a slit fin-and-tube heat exchanger with longitudinal vortex generators. Heat transfer enhancement of the novel slit fin mechanism is investigated by examining the effect of the strips and the longitudinal vortices. The structure of the slit fin is optimized and analyzed with field synergy principle. The result coincides with the guideline ‘front coarse and rear dense’. The heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of the slit fin-and-tube heat exchanger with longitudinal vortex generators are compared with that of the heat exchanger with X-shape arrangement slit fin and heat exchanger with rectangular winglet longitudinal vortex generators. It is found that the Colburn j-factor and friction factor f of the novel heat exchanger with the novel slit fin is in between them under the same Reynolds number, and the factor j/(f^1/3) of the novel heat exchanger increased by 15.8% and 4.2%, respectively.     

Investigation on laminar convection heat transfer in fin-and-tube heat exchanger in aligned arrangement with longitudinal vortex generator from the viewpoint of field synergy principle

3-D numerical simulation results are presented for laminar flow heat transfer of the fin-and-tube surface with vortex generators. The effects of Reynolds number (from 800 to 2000), the attack angle (30° and 45°) of delta winglet vortex generator are examined. The numerical results are analyzed from the viewpoint of field synergy principle. It is found that the inherent mechanism of heat transfer enhancement by longitudinal vortex can be explained by the field synergy principle, the second flow generated by the vortex generators results in the reduction of the intersection angle between the velocity and fluid temperature gradient. In addition, the heat transfer enhancement of delta winglet with the attack angle of 45° is larger than that of 30°, while the delta winglet with the attack angle of 45° results in an increase of the pressure drop, however, the delta winglet with the attack angle of 30° results in a slight decrease.     

Numerical study of fluid flow and heat transfer in a flat-plate channel with longitudinal vortex generators by applying field synergy principle analysis

Three dimensional numerical simulations are performed on laminar heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of a flat-plate channel with longitudinal vortex generators (LVGs). The effects of two different shaped LVGs, rectangular winglet pair (RWP) and delta winglet pair (DWP) with two different configurations, common-flow-down (CFD) and common-flow-up (CFU), are studied. The numerical results indicate that the application of LVGs effectively enhances heat transfer of the channel. According to the performance evaluation parameter, (Nu/Nu₀)/(f/f₀), the channel with DWP has better overall performance than RWP; the CFD and CFU configurations of DWP have almost the same overall performance; the CFD configuration has a better overall performance than the CFU configuration for RWP. The basic mechanism of heat transfer enhancement by LVGs can be well described by the field synergy principle.     

纵向涡强化换热的优化设计及机理分析

对带纵向涡发生器的椭圆管翅片换热器空气侧表面的换热和流动特性进行了三维数值模拟.深入分析了纵向涡对流场和温度场的影响,并通过场协同原理揭示了纵向涡强化换热的根本机理,即减小了速度和温度梯度之间的夹角,改善了速度场和温度场的协同性.在此基础上,对纵向涡发生器的布置位置(上游布置和下游布置)和纵向涡发生器的攻角α(15°,30°,45°,60°)进行了优化设计.结果表明:当纵向涡发生器布置于换热管下游时,具有更好的强化换热能力;在纵向涡发生器采用下游布置的前提下,当纵向涡发生器的攻角α=30°时,具有最佳的强化换热能力.     

Roughness enhanced mechanism for turbulent convective heat transfer

The mechanism of turbulent convective heat transfer enhancement was experimentally investigated by measuring the heat transfer in two dimensional roughness tubes with different roughness heights at various Reynolds numbers. The results show that there is a maximum Nusselt number ratio (Nu/Nu₀) for a fixed roughness height with increasing Reynolds numbers. For water as working fluid, heat transfer can hardly be increased when the roughness height is lower than the thickness of the viscous sublayer, and both heat transfer and flow friction begin to increase when the roughness height is higher than the viscous sublayer. When the roughness height is more than five times of the viscous sublayer thickness, the flow friction begins to increase sharply but heat transfer is slowly enhanced. So the best heat transfer enhancement for a given pumping power is reached when the roughness height is about three times of the viscous sublayer thickness. The Prandtl number influences to the turbulent heat transfer enhancement by roughness were also analyzed.     

Numerical study on laminar convection heat transfer in a rectangular channel with longitudinal vortex generator. Part A: Verification of field synergy principle

This study presents numerical computation results on laminar convection heat transfer in a rectangular channel with a pair of rectangular winglets longitudinal vortex generator punched out from the lower wall of the channel. The effect of the punched holes and the thickness of the rectangular winglet pair to the fluid flow and heat transfer are numerically studied. It is found that the case with punched holes has more heat transfer enhancement in the region near to the vortex generator and lower average flow frictional coefficient compared with the case without punched holes. The thickness of rectangular winglet can cause less heat transfer enhancement in the region near to the vortex generator and almost has no significant effect on the total pressure drop of the channel. The effects of Reynolds number (from 800 to 3000), the attack angle of vortex generator (15°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90°) were examined. The numerical results were analyzed from the viewpoint of field synergy principle. It was found that the essence of heat transfer enhancement by longitudinal vortex can be explained very well by the field synergy principle, i.e., when the second flow generated by vortex generators results in the reduction of the intersection angle between the velocity and fluid temperature gradient, the heat transfer in the present channels will be enhanced. Longitudinal vortices (LVs) improve the synergy between velocity and temperature field not only in the region near LVG but also in the large downstream region of longitudinal vortex generator. So LVs enable to enhance the global heat transfer of channel. Transverse vortices (TVs) only improve the synergy in the region near VG. So TVs can only enhance the local heat transfer of channel.     

Discussion on the convective heat transfer and field synergy principle

The convective “heat” transfer is actually mainly carried out by the motion of hotter or colder particles from one system into another system. Therefore, the best convective “heat” (strictly speaking, internal energy) transfer is the case where velocity vectors are always perpendicular to the isothermal surfaces (or isotherm in 2D cases). This conclusion has been named “field synergy principle”. In this paper, some field synergy exact solutions are presented to further develop the principle. The concrete physical meanings of the derived analytical solutions are analyzed. The method of separating variables with addition and other extraordinary approaches are adopted in the derivation.     

Numerical investigation and analysis of heat transfer enhancement in channel by longitudinal vortex based on field synergy principle

3-D numerical simulations were presented for laminar flow and heat transfer characteristics in a rectangular channel with vortex generators. The effects of Reynolds number (from 800 to 3 000), the attack angle of vortex generator (from 15° to 90°) and the shape of vortex generator were examined. The numerical results were analyzed based on the field synergy principle. It is found that the inherent mechanism of the heat transfer enhancement by longitudinal vortex can be explained by the field synergy principle, that is, the second flow generated by vortex generators results in the reduction of the intersection angle between the velocity and fluid temperature gradient. The longitudinal vortex improves the field synergy of the large downstream region of longitudinal vortex generator (LVG) and the region near (LVG); however, transverse vortex only improves the synergy of the region near vortex generator. Thus, longitudinal vortex can enhance the integral heat transfer of the flow field, while transverse vortex can only enhance the local heat transfer. The synergy angle decreases with the increase of Reynolds number for the channel with LVG to differ from the result obtained from the plain channel, and the triangle winglet performs better than the rectanglar one under the same surface area condition.     

Numerical investigation and analysis of heat transfer enhancement in channel by longitudinal vortex based on field synergy principle

3-D numerical simulations were presented for laminar flow and heat transfer characteristics in a rectangular channel with vortex generators. The effects of Reynolds number (from 800 to 3 000), the attack angle of vortex generator (from 15° to 90°) and the shape of vortex generator were examined. The numerical results were analyzed based on the field synergy principle. It is found that the inherent mechanism of the heat transfer enhancement by longitudinal vortex can be explained by the field synergy principle, that is, the second flow generated by vortex generators results in the reduction of the intersection angle between the velocity and fluid temperature gradient. The longitudinal vortex improves the field synergy of the large downstream region of longitudinal vortex generator (LVG) and the region near (LVG); however, transverse vortex only improves the synergy of the region near vortex generator. Thus, longitudinal vortex can enhance the integral heat transfer of the flow field, while transverse vortex can only enhance the local heat transfer. The synergy angle decreases with the increase of Reynolds number for the channel with LVG to differ from the result obtained from the plain channel, and the triangle winglet performs better than the rectanglar one under the same surface area condition. __________ Translated from Journal of Xi’an Jiaotong University, 2006, 40(9): 996–1000 [译自: 西安交通大学学报]     

Field synergy analysis of laminar forced convection between two parallel penetrable walls

In this paper, some exact solutions for 2-D convective heat transfer between two parallel penetrable walls were derived and analyzed based on field synergy theory. They are valuable to further develop the field synergy principle and understand how to improve or to weaken field synergy in practice. In addition, these solutions can be used as benchmarks to verify numerical solutions and to develop numerical schemes, grid generation methods and so forth. All solutions given in this paper can be proven easily by substituting them into the governing equations.     

Experimental Investigations of Flow Resistance and Convection Heat Transfer and Prediction of Cold Heat-Storage Characteristics for a Phase-Change Emulsion in a Coiled Circular Tube

Abstract

This paper introduces emulsion phase change cold heat storage and heat transfer material and its applications and reports its related thermal properties by means of tests and calculations. As a comparison, some available cold heat storage techniques and materials with or without phase change are briefly introduced in respect to their benefits and disadvantages. The paper also investigates flow resistance, heat transfer, and cold heat storage characteristics of the emulsion as both a functional latent heat storage material and a heat transfer enhancement fluid. The reasons for heat transfer enhancement are explained by the “field synergy principle.” Experiments were made with a coiled double-tube heat exchanger. As a result, practical dimensionless correlations were developed to express the relationships among the different dimensionless parameters. In addition, calculations and analyses are made for various factors that influence the heat storage rate.     

Differentially heated cubical cavity using energy pathlines and field synergy

The article deals with the natural convective flow of air in a cubical cavity which is analyzed numerically. Isothermal temperature is maintained on the vertical walls where the temperature of the left wall is more than the right wall and all other walls are assumed to be kept insulated. In this present article, upwind, QUICK, SUPERBEE, and self‐filtered central differencing schemes are compared based on their accuracy and computational time with a numerical example. An attempt has been made to analyze the flow behavior inside the cavity using vortex corelines, streamlines, isotherms energy pathlines, and field synergy by varying the Rayleigh number (Ra) from 10³ to 10⁶. In the vicinity of isothermal vertical walls, the velocity, and temperature boundary layers become thinner as Ra increases. The energy pathlines are in oscillating nature when Ra increases to 10⁵ and above. The field synergy principle implies by improving the synergy between the velocity and temperature, the heat transfer gets enhanced with the less increased flow resistance.     

小尺度涡流发生器强化传热特性及机理

对布置有不同高度的小尺度涡流发生器的矩形槽道进行了数值模拟,对其传热和流动特性进行了对比研究。分析了小尺度涡流发生器强化传热的特点和机理。从流体流动对温度场影响的角度来说明对流换热的物理机制。