The effect of interruptions on thermal characteristics of corrugated tube

Abstract

A 3D numerical analysis was carried out to assess the hydrothermal performance of a new configuration of the corrugated tube by adding interruptions to the perimeter of the corrugations. The finite volume method was employed to solve the governing equations for the Reynolds number ranged between 1200 and 2240 utilizing water as a coolant. The impact of three configurational parameters on the hydrothermal performance was studied namely, the interruptions number, height ratio, and pitch ratio. The results revealed that the Nusselt number of the interrupted-corrugated tube is higher than that of the conventional smooth tube by 39%. The most important characteristic of the new design is the ability to reduce the pressure drop significantly due to a larger flow area which is offered by interruptions in corrugations. The results showed a decrease in both friction factor and Nusselt number with increasing of the interruptions number and the pitch ratio. At the same time, it's found that the Nusselt number and friction factor are improved with increasing the height ratio. The highest performance factor for the interrupted-corrugated tube attains about 1.28 at Reynolds number of 1200 with the interruptions number of 4, pitch ratio of 1.3, and a height ratio of 0.2.

Keywords

• Corrugated tube
• Interruption
• Performance factor
• Enhancement
• Heat exchanger