Numerical Analysis of Turbulent Heat Exchanger Tube Using Novel Para-Winglet Tape

Abstract

From the last decade, passive enhancement techniques in heat exchanger have proved to be one of the promising techniques in heat transfer enhancement. The current study involves para-winglet tape which is examined numerically with three sets of slant angle namely 10°, 15°, and 20° with a constant pitch of 30 mm in the forward and backward arrangements for Reynolds number 6000 to 30,000. The inclusion of para-winglet tape in the tube has intensified the turbulent kinetic energy and has resulted in recirculation in-between the inserts. Both the arrangements of the para-winglet tape have proved their worthiness over the plain tube. The Nusselt number and friction factor increase with the increase in the Reynolds number over the plain tube. Maximum, Nusselt number, and friction factor were obtained for 20° slant angle in forward arrangement. Nusselt number and friction factor increased from 3.2 to 2.99 times and 9.95 to 9.61 times, respectively, when compared with plain tube. A maximum value of 1.63 thermal performance index was obtained at 15° slant angle for forward arrangement and 1.62 thermal performance index was obtained at 20° slant angle for backward arrangement.