Experimental and numerical investigation of thermal characteristics of a novel concentric type tube heat exchanger with turbulators

Sahin H. M., Baysal E., Dal A. R.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH, vol.37, no.9, pp.1088-1102, 2013 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 37 Issue: 9
  • Publication Date: 2013
  • Doi Number: 10.1002/er.2919
  • Journal Name: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENERGY RESEARCH
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.1088-1102
  • Keywords: concentric tube heat exchangers, heat transfer enhancement, friction factor, numerical simulation, CFD, TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT, PRESSURE-DROP, TRANSFER BEHAVIORS, FLOW FRICTION, CONICAL-RING, PIPE, PERFORMANCE, ANGLES
  • Gazi University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

In this study, the heat transfer performance and friction characteristics of a novel concentric tube heat exchanger with different pitches of helical turbulators were investigated experimentally and numerically for a Reynolds number range from 3000 to 14 000. An experimental system was established to obtain experimental data. The numerical simulations were performed by using a three dimensional numerical computation technique, a commercial CFD computer code. Then, the heat transfer performance and friction characteristics of several helical turbulators were compared. The experimental, numerical and empirical correlation results were in a good agreement with each others. As a result, the heat transfer enhancements using turbulators were 2.91, 2.41, 2.18 and 1.99 times better than the smooth tube for pitch distances of p=20, 40, 60 and 80 mm, respectively. Copyright (c) 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.