Influence of Short Helical Tape on Local Convective Heat Transfer and Thermal Performance Characteristics in Turbulent Decaying Swirl Flow

Abstract

This paper reports the experimental investigation of local convective heat transfer enhancement, flow friction and thermal performance factor behaviors in the tube fitted with the short helical tapes (SHTs) acting as decaying swirl flow generators. The tapes with three different helical tape angles (? = 90°, 135° and 180°) and three different channel numbers (N = 2, 3 and 4 channels) were tested under the uniform wall heat flux condition. The performance of each tape is compared with the performance of the plain tube subject to the same pumping power. The experimental results show that the heat transfer rates and friction factors of the tube with SHTs are respectively in range of 1.15 to 1.9 and 1.49 to 2.31 times of those in the plain, corresponding to thermal performances between 0.98 and 1.46. The correlations for Nusselt number (Nu) as a function of Reynolds number (Re), Prandtl number (Pr), helical tape angle (?) and the number of channel (N) are also developed.