Oblique fluid flow and convective heat transfer across a tube bank under uniform wall heat flux boundary conditions

Abstract

Fluid flow and convective heat transfer in an oblique-flow tube bank under uniform wall heat flux boundary conditions are investigated. Most previous studies on heat transfer across tube banks have concerned only on two extreme cases, i.e., pure parallel flow or pure cross flow. For more general and practical conditions in engineering, fluid flow is in an intermediate state and it often impinges the tubes with an oblique angle as a result from duct or heat mass exchanger structures. In this research, fluid flow and convective heat transfer is investigated for an oblique-flow tube bank. Uniform wall heat flux boundary conditions are considered. Numerical solution has been performed to obtain the shell-side fluid field and convective heat transfer rates with various impinging angles. Experimental work is conducted to validate the solution. The analysis reveals that the convective heat transfer rates and friction factors rise with an increase in the oblique angles from 0° to 90° to the tube axes. Correlations are proposed for the prediction of convective heat transfer coefficients and friction factors at different oblique angles with various geometrical parameters. The results can be extended to mass transfer in hollow fiber membrane bundles with Chilton–Colburn analogy.