Thermohydraulics of Laminar Flow Through Rectangular and Square Ducts With Transverse Ribs and Twisted Tapes

2006 ◽  
Vol 128 (10) ◽  
pp. 1070-1080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debashis Pramanik ◽  
Sujoy K. Saha

The heat transfer and the pressure drop characteristics of laminar flow of viscous oil through rectangular and square ducts with internal transverse rib turbulators on two opposite surfaces of the ducts and fitted with twisted tapes have been studied experimentally. The tapes have been full length, short length, and regularly spaced types. The transverse ribs in combination with full-length twisted tapes have been found to perform better than either ribs or twisted tapes acting alone. The heat transfer and the pressure drop measurements have been taken in separate test sections. Heat transfer tests were carried out in electrically heated stainless steel ducts incorporating uniform wall heat flux boundary conditions. Pressure drop tests were carried out in acrylic ducts. The flow was periodically fully developed in the regularly spaced twisted-tape elements case and decaying swirl flow in the short-length twisted tapes case. The flow characteristics are governed by twist ratio, space ratio, and length of twisted tape, Reynolds number, Prandtl number, rod-to-tube diameter ratio, duct aspect ratio, rib height, and rib spacing. Correlations developed for friction factor and Nusselt number have predicted the experimental data satisfactorily. The performance of the geometry under investigation has been evaluated. It has been found that on the basis of both constant pumping power and constant heat duty, the regularly spaced twisted-tape elements in specific cases perform marginally better than their full-length counterparts. However, the short-length twisted-tape performance is worse than the full-length twisted tapes. Therefore, full-length twisted tapes and regularly spaced twisted-tape elements in combination with transverse ribs are recommended for laminar flows. However, the short-length twisted tapes are not recommended.

2004 ◽  
Vol 127 (9) ◽  
pp. 966-977 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Saha ◽  
D. N. Mallick

Abstract The present paper reports the results of an experimental investigation of the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of laminar flow of viscous oil through horizontal rectangular and square plain ducts and ducts inserted with full-length twisted tapes, short-length twisted tapes, and regularly spaced twisted-tape elements. Isothermal pressure drop measurements were taken in acrylic ducts. Heat transfer measurements were taken in electrically heated stainless-steel ducts imposing uniform wall heat flux boundary conditions. The duct aspect ratios AR were 1, 0.5, and 0.333. The twist ratios of the twisted tapes were y=2.692, 5.385, 2.597, 5.193, 2.308, and 4.615. Short-length tapes were 0.9, 0.7, and 0.5 times the duct length. The space ratios were s=2.692, 5.385, 2.597, 5.193, 2.308, and 4.615. Both friction factor and Nusselt number increase with decreasing y and AR for AR⩽1 and increasing Re, Sw, and Pr. As the tape-length decreases, both friction factor and Nusselt number decrease. Friction factor increases as s decreases, and Nusselt number increases as s increases. Isothermal friction factor correlation and comprehensive Nusselt number correlation have been developed to predict data reasonably well in the entire range of parameters. Performance evaluation says that short-length twisted tapes are worse and regularly spaced twisted-tape elements are better than the full-length twisted tapes.


2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sujoy Kumar Saha

The heat transfer and the pressure drop characteristics of laminar flow of viscous oil (175<Pr<538) through rectangular and square ducts with combined internal axial corrugations on all the surfaces of the ducts and with twisted-tape inserts with and without oblique teeth have been studied experimentally. The axial corrugations in combination with both twisted tapes with and without oblique teeth have been found to perform better than either axial corrugations or twisted-tape inserts acting alone. The heat transfer and the pressure drop measurements have been taken in separate test sections. Heat transfer tests were carried out in electrically heated stainless steel ducts incorporating uniform wall heat flux boundary conditions. Pressure drop tests were carried out in acrylic ducts. The flow friction and thermal characteristics are governed by duct aspect ratio, corrugation angle, corrugation pitch, twist ratio, space ratio, length, tooth horizontal length and tooth angle of the twisted tapes, Reynolds number, and Prandtl number. Correlations developed for friction factor and Nusselt number have predicted the experimental data satisfactorily. The performance of the geometry under investigation has been evaluated. It has been found that based on constant pumping power, up to 45% heat duty increase occurs for the combined axial corrugation and twisted-tape insert case compared with the individual axial corrugation and twisted-tape insert cases in the measured experimental parameters space. On the constant heat duty basis, the pumping power has been reduced up to 30% for the combined enhancement geometry than the individual enhancement geometries.


2001 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Saha ◽  
A. Dutta

Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics in a circular tube fitted with twisted tapes have been investigated experimentally. Laminar swirl flow of a large Prandtl number 205<Pr<518 viscous fluid was considered. The swirl was generated by short-length twisted-tape inserts; regularly spaced twisted-tape elements with multiple twists in the tape module and connected by thin circular rods; and smoothly varying (gradually decreasing) pitch twisted-tapes. The heat transfer test section was heated electrically imposing axially and circumferentially constant wall heat flux (UHF) boundary condition. Reynolds number, Prandtl number, twist ratio, space ratio, number of tuns in the tape module, length of the twisted-tape and smoothness of the swirling pitch govern the characteristics. Friction factor and Nusselt number are lower for short-length twisted-tape than those for full-length twisted-tape. On the basis of constant pumping power and constant heat duty, however, short-length twisted-tapes are found to perform better than full-length twisted-tapes for tighter twists. Thermohydraulic performance shows that twisted-tapes with multiple twists in the tape module is not much different from that with single twist in the tape module. Friction factor and Nusselt number are approximately 15 percent lower for twisted-tapes with smooth swirl having the average pitch same as that of the uniform pitch (throughout) twisted-tape and the twisted-tapes with gradually decreasing pitch perform worse than their uniform-pitch counterparts.


2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Saha ◽  
P. Langille

Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics in a circular tube fitted with full-length strip, short-length strip, and regularly spaced strip elements connected by thin circular rods have been investigated experimentally. The strips have been rectangular, square and crossed in cross-section with different aspect ratio. Laminar flow of water and other viscous liquids was considered. The rod diameter and length of the strip-rod assembly and the length of the strips were varied. Isothermal friction factor data has been generated. The heat transfer test section was heated electrically imposing axially and circumferentially constant wall heat flux (UWHF) boundary condition. Reynolds number, Prandtl number, strip length, strip ratio, space ratio, and rod-diameter govern the characteristics. Smaller rod-diameter in the strip-rod assembly or “pinching” of the strips in place rather than connecting the strip elements by rods performs better thermohydraulically. Short-length strips (upto a limited fraction of the test section tube length) perform better than the full-length strip. The friction factor correlation and the correlation for Nusselt number under UWHF condition for full-length strip have been modified to make them suitable for short-length strip as well as regularly-spaced strip elements. Thermal entrance length in the correlations is represented by Graetz number. Friction factor and Nusselt number correlations for short-length strips as well as regularly-spaced strip elements, in the limit, reduce to their full-length counterparts.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashis K. Mazumder ◽  
Sujoy K. Saha

The thermohydraulic performance of turbulent flow of air through rectangular and square ribbed ducts with twisted-tape inserts has been experimentally studied. The performance is influenced by the twisted-tape-generated swirl flow and the boundary layer separation, reattachment, and flow recirculation due to the ribs. Correlations developed for friction factor and Nusselt number satisfactorily predict the experimental data. The performance of the ribbed ducts with full-length twisted-tape inserts is found to be better than only ribbed ducts and ducts with only twisted-tape inserts. The regularly spaced twisted-tape elements in specific cases significantly perform better than their full-length counterparts. However, the short-length twisted-tape performance is worse than the full-length twisted tapes.


1993 ◽  
Vol 115 (4) ◽  
pp. 890-896 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Manglik ◽  
A. E. Bergles

Thermal-hydraulic design correlations are developed to predict isothermal f and Nu for in-tube, turbulent flows with twisted-tape inserts. Experimental data taken for water and ethylene glycol, with y = 3.0, 4.5, and 6.0, are analyzed, and various mechanisms attributed to twisted tapes are identified. Tube blockage and tape-induced vortex mixing are the dominant phenomena that result in increased heat transfer and pressure drop; for loose- to snug-fitting tapes, the fin effects are insignificant. The limiting case of a straight tape insert correlates with the hydraulic-diameter-based smooth tube equation. Tape twist effects are thus isolated by normalizing the data with the asymptotic predictions for y = ∞, and the swirl effects are found to correlate with Re and l/y. The validity of the final correlations is verified by comparing the predictions with previously published data, which include both gases and liquids, under heating and cooling conditions and a wide range of tape geometries, thereby establishing a very generalized applicability. Finally, correlations for laminar (presented in the companion Part I paper) and turbulent flows are combined into single, continuous equations. For isothermal f, the correlation describes most of the available data for laminar-transition-turbulent flows within ±10 percent. For Nu, however, a family of curves is needed due to the nonunique nature of laminar-turbulent transition.


1996 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 584-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. Chakroun ◽  
S. F. Al-Fahed

A series of experiments was conducted to study the effect of twisted-tape width on the heat transfer and pressure drop with laminar flow in tubes. Data for three twisted-tape wavelengths, each with five different widths, have been collected with constant wall temperature boundary condition. Correlations for the friction factor and Nusselt number are also available. The correlations predict the experimental data to within 10 to 15 percent for the heat transfer and friction factor, respectively. The presence of the twisted tape has caused the friction factor to increase by a factor of 3 to 7 depending on Reynolds number and the twisted-tape geometry. Heat transfer results have shown an increase of 1.5 to 3 times that of plain tubes depending on the flow conditions and the twisted-tape geometry. The width shows no effect on friction factor and heat transfer in the low range of Reynolds number but has a more pronounced effect on heat transfer at the higher range of Reynolds number. It is recommended to use loose-fit tapes for low Reynolds number flows instead of tight-fit in the design of heat exchangers because they are easier to install and remove for cleaning purposes.


Author(s):  
Sujoy Kumar Saha ◽  
Bikash Kumar Barman ◽  
Soumitra Banerjee

The experimental friction factor and Nusselt number data for laminar flow through a circular duct having wire coil inserts and fitted with center-cleared twisted tape have been presented. Predictive friction factor and Nusselt number correlations have also been presented. The thermohydraulic performance has been evaluated. The major findings of this experimental investigation are the center-cleared twisted tapes in combination with wire coil inserts perform better than the individual enhancement technique acting alone for laminar flow through a circular duct up to a certain amount of center-clearance.


Symmetry ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1652
Author(s):  
Mehdi Ghalambaz ◽  
Ramin Mashayekhi ◽  
Hossein Arasteh ◽  
Hafiz Muhammad Ali ◽  
Pouyan Talebizadehsardari ◽  
...  

This paper investigates the convective heat transfer in a heat exchanger equipped with twisted tape elements to examine effects of the twisted tape truncation percentage, pitch value, position and Reynolds number using 3D numerical simulation. A symmetric heat flux is applied around the tube as the studied heat exchanger. Based on the influences in both heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop, the performance evaluation criterion (PEC) is utilized. Inserting twisted tape elements and reducing the pitch value significantly augment the Nusselt number, friction coefficient and PEC number compared to the plain tube. For the best case with a Reynolds number of 1000, the average Nusselt number increases by almost 151%, which is the case of fully fitted twisted tape at a pitch value of L/4. Moreover, increasing the twisted tape truncation percentage reduces both heat transfer and pressure drop. Furthermore, the highest heat transfer rate is achieved when the truncated twisted tape is located at the entrance of the tube. Finally, it is concluded that for P = L, L/2, L/3 and L/4, the optimum cases from the viewpoint of energy conservation are twisted tapes with truncation percentages of 75, 50, 50 and 0%, in which the related PEC numbers at a Reynolds number of 1000 are almost equal to 1.08, 1.24, 1.4 and 1.76, respectively.


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