A series of four-start spirally corrugated tubes has been subjected to heat transfer and hydrodynamic testing in a double-pipe heat exchanger. The study has been focused on the non-symmetric nature of the corrugation angles along the longitudinal direction. Both friction factors and heat transfer coefficients inside the tubes have been correlated against various process parameters. It can be shown that by altering the internal non-symmetric wavy shapes of the tubes, one is able to manipulate heat transfer and friction characteristics. The experimental results have been compared with some popular correlation models developed previously for both friction and heat transfer for corrugated tubes. Considerable differences between the experimental results and the predictions made using the existing correlations have been found and the probable causes have been discussed. Performance evaluation criteria are presented using the standard constant power criterion. A neural network modeling approach has been taken so that, based on the limited data, one can generate the contour showing the effect of corrugation angle on heat transfer coefficient for geometry optimization purposes.

1.
Dipprey
,
D. F.
, and
Sabersky
,
R. H.
,
1963
, “
Heat and Momentum Transfer in Smooth and Rough Tubes at Various Prandlt Numbers
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transf.
,
6
, pp.
329
353
.
2.
Webb
,
R. L.
,
Eckert
,
E. R. G.
, and
Goldstein
,
K. J.
,
1971
, “
Heat Transfer and Friction in Tubes With Repeated Rib Roughness
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transf.
,
14
, pp.
601
617
.
3.
Watkinson
,
A. P.
,
Miletti
,
D. L.
, and
Tarassoff
,
P.
,
1973
, “
Turbulent Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop in Internal Finned Tubes
,”
AIChE Symp. Ser.
,
69
, pp.
94
103
.
4.
Sethumdhavan
,
R.
, and
Raja Rao
,
M.
,
1983
, “
Turbulent Flow Heat Transfer and Fluid Friction in Helical Wire Coil Inserted Tubes
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transf.
,
126
, pp.
1833
1845
.
5.
Mehta, M. H., and Raja Rao, M., 1988, “Analysis and Correlation of Turbulent Flow Heat Transfer and Friction Coefficient in Spirally Corrugated Tubes for Steam Condenser Application,” Proceedings of 1988 Heat Transfer Conference, ASME, HTD-96, Vol. 3, pp. 307–312.
6.
Sethumadhavan
,
R.
, and
Raja Rao
,
M.
,
1986
, “
Turbulent Flow Friction and Heat Transfer Characteristics of Single and Multi-Start Spirally Corrugated Enhanced Tubes
,”
J. Heat Transfer
,
108
, pp.
55
61
.
7.
Zimparov
,
V. D.
,
Vunchanov
,
N. L.
, and
Delov
,
L. B.
,
1991
, “
Heat Transfer and Friction Characteristics of Spirally Corrugated Tubes for Power Plant Condenser: 1—Experimental Investigation and Performance Evaluation
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transf.
,
34
, No.
9
, pp.
2187
2197
.
8.
Ravigururajan
,
T. S.
, and
Rabas
,
T. J.
,
1996
, “
Turbulent Flow in Integrally Enhanced Tubes: Part 1—Comprehensive Review and Database Development
,”
Heat Transfer Eng.
,
17
, No.
2
, pp.
19
29
.
9.
Kidd
,
G. J.
,
1970
, “
The Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Characteristic of Gas Flow Inside Spirally Corrugated Tubes
,”
ASME J. Heat Transfer
,
92
, pp.
513
519
.
10.
Bergles, A. E., Blumenkrantz, A. R., and Taborek, J., 1974, “Performance Evaluation Criteria for Enhanced Heat Transfer Surfaces,” Proc. 5th Int. Heat transfer Conf., Vol. 2, pp. 239–243.
11.
Webb
,
R. L.
,
1981
, “
Performance Evaluation Criteria for Use of Enhanced Heat Transfer Surface in Heat Exchanger Design
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transf.
,
24
, No.
4
, pp.
715
726
.
12.
Zimparov
,
V. D.
, and
Vulchanov
,
N. L.
,
1994
, “
Performance Evaluation Criteria for Enhanced Heat Transfer Surfaces
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transf.
,
37
, No.
12
, pp.
1907
1816
.
13.
Broomhead
,
D. S.
, and
Lowe
,
D.
,
1988
, “
Multivariable Functional Interpolation and Adaptive Network
,”
Complex Syst.
,
2
, pp.
321
355
.
14.
Powell, M. J. O., 1987, “Radial Basis Functions for Multivariable Interpolation: A Review,” in Algorithms for Approximation of Functions and Data, J. C. Mason, M. G. Cox, eds., Oxford University Press, pp. 143–167.
15.
Chen
,
S.
,
Billings
,
S. A.
,
Cown
,
C. F. N.
, and
Grant
,
P. M.
,
1990
, “
Practical Identification of MARMAX Models Using Radial Basis Functions
,”
Int. J. Control
,
52
, No.
6
, pp.
1357
1350
.
16.
Chen
,
S.
,
Billings
,
S. A.
, and
Grant
,
P. M.
,
1992
, “
Recursive Hybrid Algorithm for Non-Linear System Identification Using Radial Basis Function Networks
,”
Int. J. Control
,
55
, No.
5
, pp.
1051
107
.
17.
Chen, F. C., and Khalil, H. K., 1994, “Adaptive Control of Non-Linear Systems Using Neural Networks,” in Advances in Intelligent Control, C. J. Harris, ed., Chap. 7, Taylor & Francis, London.
18.
Ravigururajan, T. S., and Bergles, A. E., 1985, “General Correlations for Pressure Drop and Heat Transfer for Single-Phase Turbulent Flow in Internally Ribbed Tubes,” Augmentation of Heat Transfer in Energy Systems, ASME, HTD-Vol. 52, pp. 9–20.
19.
Srinivasan
,
V.
, and
Christensen
,
R. N.
,
1992
, “
Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Characteristic of Flow Through Spirally Fluted Tubes
,”
Exp. Therm. Fluid Sci.
,
5
, pp.
820
827
.
20.
Wang, Z., Zhou, Q., and Zhang, H., 1996, “Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop of Air Flow in Spirally Corrugated Tubes,” Proceedings of the Chinese Society of Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 59–62.
21.
Incropera, F. P., and DeWitt, D. P., 1996, Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, 4th Ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York.
You do not currently have access to this content.