Extensive numerical analysis of the thermal performance of a corrugated tube with coiled wire

Abstract

Utilizing passive methods is an efficient way in order to improve the thermal performance of heat exchangers. The novelty of the present paper is that two kinds of passive techniques for heat transfer enhancement, including a corrugated tube equipped with a coiled wire as turbulator, are combined in the present study. Heat transfer and pressure drop in a corrugated tube with a wire coil are analyzed numerically by a commercial CFD software. The range of the considered Reynolds number is 5000–20,000, which guarantees that the flow regime is fully turbulent. The effects of two different geometrical parameters and of two flow operating parameters, namely the Reynolds and Prandtl numbers, are numerically investigated. The conservative equations for momentum are closed using the k-e realizable model. Results indicate that the geometrical and fluid flow parameters have significant effects on the thermal performance of the system. When one increases the pitch ratio of the wire coil (P/d), the heat transfer enhancement ratio NuER decreases. The maximum decrease is obtained for P/d = 5 with − 7.78% at Re = 20,000 in comparison with the baseline case P/d = 2. The maximum increase in the performance evaluation criterion (PEC) is observed at Re = 5000: + 11.16% and + 17.4% for P/d = 3 and P/d = 5, respectively. The configuration with a roughness height equal to e = 3 mm exhibits the best thermal performance with a maximum enhancement in terms of NuER of + 3.3% at Re = 10,000 in comparison with the baseline case e = 0.5 mm. By considering the PEC number, increasing the parameter e has a negative effect on the thermal performance of the proposed system.