Heliyon (Jul 2024)
Numerical investigation on the impact of different design arrangements of helical heat exchangers with varying cross-sections utilizing ternary hybrid nanofluids
Abstract
Helical tube heat exchangers (HTHE) are commonly used as thermal devices in various thermal engineering applications. A comparative investigation was undertaken to examine several helical tube designs in relation to their potential uses with water and nanofluids. Additionally, employing the ternary hybrid nanofluid (THNF) flow in helical-type heat exchangers to assess the heat transfer and frictional loss is a unique concept, as there is currently no research on this specific application. This study involves analyzing three different design configurations, each of which has three different inlet profiles: round, square, and oval shapes. Hence, a numerical analysis has been conducted on nine cases, each including the same pipe length, helix diameter, and pitch distance. The specified range for the Reynolds number under the water and THNF flow condition is 5000–25000. The results are acquired for both fluids, considering the Nusselt number (Nu), friction factor (f), outlet temperature (Tout), and entropy production (Sg). Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is employed to provide a thorough assessment of the overall performance of the proposed designs. The results have been shown as graphical representations, streamlines and contours where Nusselt number, friction factor and entropy generation have been evaluated. The Nusselt number has a higher value for the oval cross-section, while it reaches its lowest value for the square cross-section. The highest heat transfer rate is got for Design 1 with the oval-shaped case. The friction factor for a circular cross-section HHTE is 48 % higher than the friction factor for a square cross-section profile. In addition, the square shape at a Reynolds number (Re) of 25000 exhibits 5 % less entropy formation compared to the oval shape geometry at a Reynolds number of 5000. The results of MCDM analysis indicate that Design 1, which features a square section, exhibits superior performance. Conversely, Design 2, which incorporates a circular cross-section, demonstrates poor performance. Among the six ternary hybrid nanofluids, the Al2O3+CNT+Graphene nanofluid with a water basis exhibits the greatest Nusselt number.
