Three-dimensional CFD study on thermo-hydraulic behaviour of finned tubes in a heat exchange system for heat transfer enhancement
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Mohit Raje
Abstract
The present study performs a three-dimensional CFD analysis to investigate the hydrodynamic and thermal properties of annular finned tubes in a heat exchange system. All computations are performed in the turbulent flow regime (4330 ≤ Re ≤ 8790), and the Transition SST model is applied for turbulence modelling. The impact of Prandtl number (0.7 ≤ Pr ≤ 50) on the various parameters, such as the heat transfer coefficient, heat transfer rate, and pressure drop, are considered. The results indicate that the thermo-hydraulic behaviour is significantly affected by incrementing both Reynolds and Prandtl numbers. The fin’s surface temperature distribution is examined to get a better insight into its thermal performance, and it is observed that the rear portion of the fin contributes the least to heat transfer. Other important parameters like the fin efficiency and Colburn heat transfer factor are found to significantly impact the performance of the heat exchange system for the above range of settings. The velocity contours show the horseshoe vortex formation near the fin-tube junction, and the channelling effect is observed between consecutive tubes. Different fluids are compared based on the j/f factor for enhanced heat transfer at the minimum possible flow resistance.
Funding source: Science and Engineering Research Board
Award Identifier / Grant number: File No: MTR/2021/000867
Funding source: Science and Engineering Research Board
Acknowledgments
Amit Kumar Dhiman would like to acknowledge the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India (GoI) for the providence of the MATRICS grant (File No: MTR/2021/000867).
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Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
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Research funding: Amit Kumar Dhiman would like to acknowledge Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India (GoI) for the providence of the MATRICS grant (File No: MTR/2021/000867).
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Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding this article.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Tuning of PID controllers for unstable first-order plus dead time systems
- Oxygen excess ratio control of PEM fuel cell: fractional order modeling and fractional filter IMC-PID control
- Proposal and energy/exergy/economic analyses of a smart heat recovery for distillation tower of the Naphtha Hydrotreating Unit of the Petrochemical Plant; designing a low-carbon plant
- Three-dimensional CFD study on thermo-hydraulic behaviour of finned tubes in a heat exchange system for heat transfer enhancement
- A simulation and thermodynamic improvement of the methanol production process with economic analysis: natural gas vapor reforming and utilization of carbon capture
- Optimization of hydrogel composition for effective release of drug
- Mathematical modelling of water-based biogas scrubber operating at digester pressure
- COCO, a process simulator: methane oxidation simulation & its agreement with commercial simulator’s predictions
- Hydrodynamics of shear thinning fluid in a square microchannel: a numerical approach
- Parameter estimation in non-linear chemical processes: an opposite point-based differential evolution (OPDE) approach
