Heat transfer augmentation in a pipe with 3D printed wavy insert

Abstract

The improved vortex generation insert for heat exchanger is measured in this research paper. The wavy insert is adopted to enhance the performance of heat transfer in the tube. The wavy fin is produced by 3D printing and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) is used to be the fin's material. The experiment is performed to determine the thermal and fluid flow characteristic. The wavy fin is mounted on the top of tape to produce the flow circulations inside the tube. The Reynolds number from 4004 to 18,173 are selected to be the testing range. The geometric parameter, Amplitude to Height of wavy fin (A/h = 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5), is considered. The experimental investigation signify that the wavy insert with A/h of 1.5 can show higher Nusselt number ratio than A/h of 1.0 and 0.5 about 8% and 16%. The maximum heat transfer enhancement performance for using wavy insert with A/h of 1.5 is observed to be 1.51 at lowest Reynolds number of 4004. Furthermore, the empirically achieved correlations for friction factor and Nusselt number are expressed and compared with experimental data within ±5% deviation.

Keywords

• Wavy
• Insert
• Nusselt number ratio
• Heat transfer enhancement performance
• Empirical correlations