Computational fluid dynamic simulations to improve heat transfer in shell tube heat exchangers

Abstract

Abstract Improving the thermal efficiency of shell-tube heat exchangers is essential in industries related to these heat exchangers. Installing heat transfer boosters on the side of the converter tube is one of the most appropriate ways to enhance heat transfer and increase the efficiency of this equipment. In this article, spring turbulence is studied using the computational fluid dynamics tool. The displacement heat transfer coefficient and the friction coefficient were selected as the primary target parameters, and the effect of using spring tabulators on them was investigated. The ratio of torsion step length to turbulence pipe length, wire diameter to pipe diameter ratio, and flow regime was studied as the main simulation variables, and the simulation results were compared with a simple pipe. The effect of water-acting fluid, R22, and copper Nanofluid on tubes containing turbidity was compared and investigated. This study showed that due to the pressure drop, the pipe with a torsional pitch to pipe length ratio of 0.17, a turbulent diameter to pipe diameter ratio of 0.15, and a Reynolds number of 50,000 with fluid R22 has the best performance for heat transfer.