Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Single and Multi-Row Heat Exchangers Employing Staggered Drop-Shaped Tubes

Abstract

In this work, the influence of the number of tube rows and the Reynolds number on the thermal hydrodynamic characteristics of staggered drop-shaped tube bundles was analyzed. A formula was developed for calculating the hydrodynamic drag coefficient f of a drop-shaped tube bundle, taking into account the number of tube rows R N . Drop-shaped tubes were arranged in a staggered pattern and placed in consecutive rows in the direction of flow (from 1 to 20 rows), each of which consists of 7 tubes in the transverse direction. The Reynolds number Re ranged from 1.78 × 10 3 to 18.72 × 10 3 . The results showed that f decreases with increasing Re. Moreo-ver, an increase in R N leads to an increase in the drag coefficient. f increases by about 18.59 ÷ 21.91 times with an increase in R N from 1 to 20. The maximum error between the numerical results and the formula obtained on their basis was ± 8.18 %.