A novel investigation of heat transfer characteristics in rifled tubes

Abstract

The experimental investigation of heat transfer of water flowing in a rifled tube was explored at different pressures and at various operating conditions in a rifled tube heat exchanger. The specifications for the inner and outer diameters of the inner tube are 25.8 and 50.6 mm, respectively. The working fluids used in shell side and tube side are cold and hot water. The rifled tube was made of the stainless steel with 4 ribs, 50.6 mm outer diameter, 0.775 mm rib height, 58o helix angle and the length 1500 mm. The effect of pressure, wall heat flux and friction factor were discussed. The results confirm that even at low pressures the rifled tubes has an obvious enhancement in heat transfer compared with smooth tube. Results depicts that the Nusselt number increases with Reynolds number and the friction factor decreases with increase in Reynolds number and the heat transfer rate is higher for the rifled tube when compared to smooth tube, because of strong swirl flow due to centrifugal action. It also confirms that, the friction factor obtained from the rifled tube is significantly higher than that of smooth tube.