Experimental studies on heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of turbulent flow through a circular tube fitted with regularly spaced helical screw-tape inserts

Abstract

Experimental investigation of heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of circular tube fitted with full-length helical screw element of different twist ratio, and helical screw inserts with spacer length 100, 200, 300, and 400 mm have been studied with uniform heat flux under turbulent flow condition. The experimental data obtained are verified with those obtained from plain tube published data. The effect of spacer length on heat transfer augmentation and friction factor, and the effect of twist ratio on heat transfer augmentation and friction factor have been presented separately. The decrease in Nusselt number for the helical twist with spacer length is within 10% for each subsequent 100 mm increase in spacer length. The friction factor for helical twist insert with spacer length 100 mm is very much close to value of friction factor for full-length helical twist for all Reynolds number and decreases by 5% for each 100 mm increment space length indicating that there is no much reduction in pumping power. Hence the helical screw inserts with spacer can only be used for heat augmentation only in turbulent flow with less reduction in pumping power. Empirical correlation were formed for explaining data and found to fit experimental data within ±10%, and ±20%, respectively, for Nusselt number and friction factor.