Turbulent Flow in Integrally Enhanced Tubes, Part 1: Comprehensive Review and Database Development

Abstract

Thermal performance improvements through passive and active enhancement methods have been studied intensely for over three decades. Heat exchangers with single-phase lube-side flow are one of the important applications where passive surface-modification methods are popularly employed. Ribs, indentations, spiral flutes, and coil inserts are some common surface modification techniques that are relatively easy to manufacture, are cost effective for many applications, and can be used conveniently for retubing existing heat exchangers. This article describes a comprehensive database that was developed to provide easy access to existing single-phase tube-side heat transfer and pressure drop data for different enhanced tube designs, in a consistent and useful manner. The database contains four files: (1) friction factor data, (2) heat transfer data, (3) tube characteristics, and (4) features of the experiments used by each data source, such as fluid type, boundary conditions, tube material, and tube type. The friction factor database contains nearly 5,000 data points, and the heat transfer database contains more than 4,700 data points. The data encompass more than 360 different tube geometries from over 35 investigations. The information can be used by practicing engineers for validatating and /or developing prediction methods, or to compare or estimate the performance of a specific tube design.