Correlation equations for friction factors and convective coefficients in tubes containing bundles of internal, longitudinal fins

Abstract

Finned tubes are commonly employed in tubular heat exchangers to augment the heat transfer rates between two dissimilar fluid streams. The goal of this study is two-fold: a) to determine the laminar, fully developed velocity and temperature fields for long, internal, longitudinal finned tubes; and b) to construct empirical correlation equations applicable for the asymptotic friction factor and the asymptotic Nusselt numbers as a function of the number of fins and the relative fin height in the bundle. Neither the fluid dynamics nor the heat transfer literature provides information for the second goal, which can be extremely useful to thermal engineers for the implementation of Computer-Aided Design (CAD) of internal, longitudinal finned tubes in heat exchange devices. Moreover, for the validity of the correlation equations, a seldom adopted criterion for the critical Reynolds number has also been introduced as an indispensable guideline to warrant laminar regimes.