Turbulent Flow in Closely-Pitched Internally Enhanced Tubes

Abstract

General correlations are developed and verified for friction factor and heat transfer coefficients for single-phase turbulent flow in internally augmented tubes, with low pitch to height ratios. Data from existing investigations were collected for a wide range of tube parameters with e/d: 0.01 to 0.2; p/e: < 8; α/90: 0.2 to 1.0, and flow parameters; Re: 2000 to 250,000 and Pr: 0.66 to 37.6. The data were applied to a linear model to get normalized correlations that were then modified to approach smooth tube correlations, as the roughness variables became very small. The correlations predicted 92% of data from an independent study on microfin tubes within ± 30%. For closely-pitched enhanced tubes, the proposed correlations predict heat transfer/friction factor with better overall accuracy and are suitable for different types of internal enhancements. The heat transfer increases with decreasing p/e ratio and increasing helix angle. The effects of roughness height and pitch on both friction and heat transfer are similar to that experienced in traditional enhancement design (p/e > 8).