Correlations for heat transfer coefficient and friction factor for turbulent flow of air through square and hexagonal ducts with twisted tape insert

Abstract

The experimental and numerical Nusselt number and friction factor investigation for turbulent flow through a non-circular duct with twisted-tape inserts have been presented. The non-circular ducts include square, hexagonal duct. The results of non-circular ducts are compared with circular duct. All the ducts have same equivalent diameter. The twist ratios used for the experiment are Y = 3.5, 4.5, 5.5 and 6.5. Experiments were carried out on square duct, hexagonal duct and circular duct. The Reynolds number lied between 10,000 and 1, 05,000. The present study is restricted to the flow of air at Pr = 0.7 only and within a narrow temperature range of 40 to 75 ΟC, within which the compressible nature of air can be neglected. The results reveal that, both Nusselt number and friction factor increases as the side of non-circular duct increases. Maximum Nusselt number and friction factor is obtained in case of circular duct with twisted tape. Further the correlations of Nu and f are given for different non circular duct with twisted tape insert for engineering applications for the turbulent regime. Since the thermal performance factor (η) is observed to be within the range of 0.8 to 1.13 for both circular and noncircular ducts, the overall benefit of using twisted tape in the flow field shall nevertheless be marginal.