HEAT TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT FOR TURBULENT FLOWS IN CORRUGATED TUBES

Heat transfer rate and pressure drop of turbulent flows of water in a smooth-wall tube and five corrugated tubes at Reynolds numbers between 7,500 and 50,000 are studied using the commercial software FLUENT. The corrugated tube is constructed by placing protruded ridges evenly along a tube. Depending on the different design of corrugated tubes, our numerical simulation results show that the use of corrugated tubes can improve heat transfer rate by a factor of 1.5 to 2 at Reynolds numbers between 7,500 and 12,000 when compared to a smooth-wall tube. However, the rate of enhancement gradually decreases to a factor of 1.1 to 1.5 as flow Reynolds number increases to 50,000. We further studied the pressure drop and friction factors of the corrugated tube. For the corrugated tube with the highest heat transfer enhancement, we found the pressure drop increases by a factor of 3 to 4 compared to a smooth-wall tube, while the friction factor increases by a factor of 3.5 to 4.4. These findings can be very useful in the design of more efficient heat exchangers.