Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

An investigation of the thermo-hydraulic performance of the smooth

wavy n-and-elliptical tube heat exchangers utilizing new type vortex
generators q,qq
Babak Lot a, Bengt Sundn b, Qiuwang Wang a,
a
Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering, MOE, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian 710049, Shaanxi, China
b
Department of Energy Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, SE-221 00 Lund, Sweden

h i g h l i g h t s

 The present study aims to develop a new shape of vortex generator.

 3D simulation on a SWFET heat exchanger with new VGs was conducted.
 The CARW VGs can enhance thermo-hydraulic performance at small attack angles.
 The eld synergy principle was used to explore heat transfer enhancement mechanism.
 The inuence of six geometrical parameters was evaluated.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A three-dimensional CFD numerical simulation is successfully carried out on thermo-hydraulic character-
Received 12 December 2014 istics of a new smooth wavy n-and-elliptical tube (SWFET) heat exchanger with three new types of vor-
Received in revised form 10 July 2015 tex generators (VGs), namely rectangular trapezoidal winglet (RTW), angle rectangular winglet (ARW)
Accepted 19 July 2015
and curved angle rectangular winglet (CARW). Several parameters have been examined in this study.
Available online 4 August 2015
There have a pronounced effect on the thermo-hydraulic performance. In addition the results are ana-
lyzed from the viewpoint of the eld synergy principle which emphasizes that the reduction of the syn-
Keywords:
ergy angle between velocity and uid temperature gradient is the principal mechanism for enhancement
Smooth wavy n-and-elliptical tube heat
exchanger
of heat transfer performance. These parameters include: Reynolds number (based on the hydraulic diam-
Vortex generators eter, ReDh 5003000), geometric shape of VGs, attack angle of VGs (aVG = 1575), placement of VG
Thermo-hydraulic performance pairs (up- or/and downstream), tube ellipticity ratio (e = 0.651.0) and wavy n height (H = 0.8
Field synergy principle 1.6 mm). The results demonstrate that with increasing Reynolds number and wavy n height, decreasing
3D CFD numerical simulation the tube ellipticity ratio, the heat transfer performance of the SWFET heat exchanger is enhanced. The
SWFET heat exchanger with the advantages of using CARW VGs and RTW VGs at smaller and larger attack
angles, respectively, presents good thermo-hydraulic performance enhancement. Finally, new correla-
tions are proposed to estimate the values of the average Nusselt number Nu, friction factor f and synergy
angle h based on the Reynolds number, attack angle of VGs, tube ellipticity ratio and wavy n height.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
q
This article is based on a short proceedings paper in Energy Procedia Volume
In present thermal industries, further emphasis must be
161 (2014). It has been substantially modied and extended, and has been subject
to the normal peer review and revision process of the journal. This paper is included
focused upon compact heat exchanger (CHE) development to meet
in the Special Issue of ICAE2014 edited by Prof. J Yan, Prof. DJ Lee, Prof. SK Chou, and the challenge of enhancing the heat transfer for maximum
Prof. U Desideri. thermo-hydraulic performance. Hence, it is of great signicance
qq
Presented at the 6th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2014), May to ameliorate the performance of compact heat exchanger equip-
30June 2, 2014, Taipei, Taiwan (Original Paper Title: Thermo-hydraulic character-
ment. Fin-and-tube heat exchangers (FTHEs) are extensively used
ization of the smooth wavy n-and-elliptical tube heat exchangers using new type
vortex generators, Paper No. 1137). in air conditioning and refrigeration applications, petrochemical
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +86 29 82665539. and power industries, etc.
E-mail address: wangqw@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (Q. Wang).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.07.065
0306-2619/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302 1283

Nomenclature

A cross-sectional area (m2) umax velocity at minimum ow cross-sectional area (m s1)

Ac minimum ow cross-sectional area (m2) u, v, w x, y, z velocity components (m s1)
Af n surface area (m2) xi ith Cartesian coordinates
At total surface area (m2) X, Y, Z Cartesian coordinates
cp specic heat of uid (J kg1 K1)
Cr basic length of winglet (m) Greek symbols
Ct span of winglet (m) aVG attack angle of winglet vortex generator ()
Dh hydraulic diameter (m) d wavy n thickness (m)
e tube ellipticity ratio Dp pressure drop in ow direction (Pa)
f friction factor DT temperature difference (K)
Fp wavy n pitch (m) DX streamwise vortex generator position (m)
Fs wavy n spacing (m) DZ spanwise vortex generator position (m)
h heat transfer coefcient (W m2 K1) gf n efciency
H wavy n height (m) go overall surface effectiveness
j Colburn factor h average synergy angle ()
m _ mass ow rate (kg s1) hi local synergy angle ()
Nu Nusselt number k thermal conductivity (W m1 K1)
p pressure (Pa) kw wavy n wavelength (m)
Pl longitudinal tube pitch (m) K sweep angle of winglet ()
Pt transverse tube pitch (m) Kle leading edge sweep angle of winglet ()
Pr Prandtl number l dynamic viscosity (kg m1 s1)
Q heat transfer rate (W) q density (kg m3)
R primary wave curvature (m)
Ra semi-major diameter of elliptical tube (m) Subscripts
Rb semi-minor diameter of elliptical tube (m) f n, n surface
ReDh Reynolds number based on hydraulic diameter in air-side inlet
T temperature (K) lm logarithmic mean
U velocity vector (m s1) out air-side outlet
ui Cartesian velocity components (m s1) w tube wall

Over the past forty decades, a huge amount of experimental and
numerical data on characteristics of the thermal and ow elds of
CHEs has been published Wang et al. [1] provides a general over-
view of the recent research and development of several
high-efciency surface heat exchangers for energy conversion
and utilization. One of the most comprehensive investigations of
FTHEs is that provided by Shah and Webb [2]. Rich [3,4],
McQuiston [5,6], Kang et al. [7] and Jang et al. [8] investigated
the inuences of various geometrical parameters on the heat trans-
fer and ow characteristics of FTHEs. Wang et al. [914] have sum-
marized the most authoritative and inuential experimental
investigations of FTHEs.
The elliptical tube geometry has a better aerodynamic shape
than the circular one. Accordingly, it seems reasonable to expect
that signicant reductions in the total drag forces would be possi-
ble. Thus nowadays, n-and-elliptical tube heat exchangers are
often adopted in HVAC&R system instead of n-and-circular tube
heat exchangers, to reduce the pressure drop due to the smaller
wake region of the n behind the elliptical tube and consequently
a lower pumping cost [15]. For FTHEs with elliptical tubes, the
results reported by Brauer [16], Rocha et al. [17] and Bordalo and
Saboya [18] constitute the most complete information available
in the open literature. According to their investigations, the ellipti-
cal tube conguration is more efcient than the circular one. In a
pioneering investigation, Schulenberg [19] analyzed the potential
impact of the application of elliptical tubes in industrial heat
exchangers. Jang and Yang [20] employed three-dimensional
numerical simulations to investigate the thermalhydraulic char-
acteristics in elliptical FTHEs.
Several advanced techniques to improve the thermal perfor-
mance of FTHEs aim to obtain efcient heat transfer surfaces. Two
specic approaches have been commonly employed for this
purpose, namely, active and passive techniques. The active tech-
nique has attracted slight attention in investigation and develop-
ment due to the complexity of manufacturing and the high costs
involved, whereas the passive techniques through the utilization
of multifarious n surface geometries and ow manipulators
known as vortex generator (VG) are preferred [21,22]. Lozza and
Merlo [23] discussed the results of an extensive investigation about
the performance of various n congurations. Among the various
improved n surfaces, wavy ns have been widely employed in
HVAC&R industries. Wavy ns are very special n patterns that
are developed to ameliorate the thermo-hydraulic performance.
For a wavy surface, the enhancement is known to be attained by
the action of streamwise (Grtler) and spanwise vortices, which
provide better airow mixing [2426]. Accordingly, higher heat
transfer performance is expected compared to the other plate n
surfaces. Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of the augmenta-
tion of vortices by airow over a part of a wavy surface. For wavy
FTHEs, experimental and numerical data were reported in the open
literature for the thermo-hydraulic characteristics. Beecher and
Fagan [27] have accomplished the rst complete and extensive
Fig. 1. Schematic view of the amplication of vortices by ow over a part of a wavy
surface [2426].
1284 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302
investigation. Estimated correlations for predicting the heat trans-
fer performance and the pressure losses based on this investigation
was provided by Kim et al. [28]. Goldstein and Sparrow [29] mea-
sured the mass transfer coefcient for the wavy FTHE using a mass
transfer method. They reported that the wavy n provided a 45%
higher mass transfer coefcient than the plain n. Wang et al.
[3034] carried out a series of investigations for wavy FTHEs. Jang
and Chen [35] employed three-dimensional numerical simulations
to investigate the heat transfer characteristics in multi-row (14
tube rows) wavy FTHEs. Wongwises and Chokeman [36] and Kim
et al. [37] experimentally examined the inuence of tube rows
and tube diameter on ow and heat transfer characteristics in wavy
FTHEs. Tao et al. [38] investigated the heat transfer and uid ow
characteristics of wavy FTHEs with elliptical/circular tubes. Lately,
Wang et al. [34] provided the most updated thermal hydraulic cor-
relations obtained by including all the previous data and new
experimental results of wavy FTHEs. In this regard, a total of 61
samples comprising roughly 570 data points were applied to derive
the correlations.
The ow manipulators known as vortex generator are another
type of impressive techniques to improve the thermal performance
of FTHEs. These can be directly mounted on the n surface to cre-
ate the secondary ow and enhance heat transfer. When a uid is
passing VGs, longitudinal (streamwise) vortices are generated due
to the friction and pressure difference on the leading and trailing
edges of the winglet VG. The longitudinal vortex is invariably
three-dimensional as the ow spirals around the main ow direc-
tion, and the ow structure is complicated. Fig. 2 shows the com-
mon VGs and some of the surface protuberances, which have
been previously designed and reported to offer considerable heat
transfer enhancement effects [39]. The utilization of VGs for heat
transfer augmentation only began in the late 1960s and there are
some exceptional works published on this topic. Applying VGs on
heat transfer surfaces in FTHEs is an effective approach to augment
heat transfer. It has been shown that the VGs can intentionally
establish mechanisms for the heat transfer increment containing
developing boundary layers, swirl and ow destabilization. The
rst technical published report of a study of VGs for heat transfer
enhancement seems to be that of Johnson and Joubert [40].
Yanagihara and Torii [41,42] carried out a study on the perfor-
mance of different types of VG shapes. According to their results,
the heat transfer coefcient increases with increasing height and
angle of attack of the VG. Biswas et al. [43] predicted that the vor-
tex intensity and consequently the heat transfer performance were
improved by increasing the angle of attack of the VGs.
Fig. 2. Typical generated longitudinal vortices for FTHE applications [39].
A recent development in vortex-induced air-side heat transfer
augmentation for FTHEs was examined in detail. The results by
Joardar and Jacobi [44,45] showed that the arrangements of VG
could considerably improve the performance of FTHEs. They
showed that the air-side heat transfer coefcient may increase
by 16.544% for a single VG pair and 3068.8% for a three row
inline array arrangement. The experimental and numerical study
on the performance of the plate FTHEs with the wave-type VG
was presented by Lin and Jang [46]. Allison and Dally [47] experi-
mentally examined the effects of winglet VGs on the performance
of a n-and-tube radiator. OBrien et al. [48] experimentally
explored the forced convection heat transfer in a rectangular chan-
nel embedded with an oval tube and delta winglet VG pairs. Leu
et al. [49] investigated the uid ow and heat transfer in FTHEs
with rectangular winglet VGs tted behind the tube. They found
that the VGs are able to create streamwise vortices and to enhance
the heat transfer performance in the wake region. Fiebig et al. [50]
carried out a computational investigation of heat transfer enhance-
ment in FTHEs with delta winglet VGs punched out on the n sur-
face. The numerical results showed a maximum heat transfer
augmentation of 31% using the delta winglet pair. Wu and Tao
[51] numerically studied the heat transfer enhancement of an
FTHE in aligned arrangement with delta winglet pairs. Wang
et al. [52] experimentally determined the ow structure by visual-
ization in FTHEs with annular and delta winglet VGs by utilizing a
dye-injection technique. Tian et al. [53] performed an investigation
on the uid ow and heat transfer characteristics resulting apply-
ing winglet VGs in a wavy FTHE. Zhao et al. [54] performed numer-
ical simulations to investigate the heat transfer and ow
characteristics for H-type nned elliptical tubes with VGs and dim-
ples. Lemouedda et al. [55] and Zeng et al. [56] optimized an FTHE
with winglet VGs by a genetic algorithm (NSGA II) and the Taguchi
method, respectively. In conjunction with the inuence of location
of the VG pairs on the heat transfer enhancement of
n-and-elliptical tube heat exchangers, Tiwari et al. [57] and
Prabhakar et al. [58] showed that a two winglet VG pairs congu-
ration at nearby up- and downstream side of an elliptical tube was
more efcient than the single winglet VG pair at the same Reynolds
number.
Most of the research works were related to FTHEs with circular
tubes and plain ns with simple and traditional winglet VGs such
as delta winglets. Very few investigations have been reported in
the open literature to evaluate the functioning of VGs for enhance-
ment of the thermo-hydraulic performance of wavy FTHEs.
Notably, there are no investigations of new types of VGs
 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302
enhancement for smooth wavy n-and-elliptical tube heat
exchangers. In the authors previous study [59], the only effects
of the geometric shape of the VGs and attack angles of the winglet
VGs on the performance evaluation criterion (i.e., area goodness
factor and volume goodness factor) in the wavy nned elliptical
tube heat exchanger are described. In the present investigation,
the thermo-hydraulic performance of a smooth wavy
n-and-elliptical tube (SWFET) heat exchanger with three new
types of VGs rectangular trapezoidal winglet (RTW), angle rect-
angular winglet (ARW) and curved angle rectangular winglet
(CARW) is studied numerically. The purpose of this paper is to ana-
lyze the effects of signicant factors (Reynolds number, geometric
shape of VGs, attack angles of the winglet VGs, placement of wing-
let VG pairs, ellipticity ratio, wavy n height) on the characteristics
of the thermal and ow elds in the SWFET heat exchangers. And
also the numerical results were explained from the viewpoint of
the eld synergy principle.
(a)
(i)
(c)
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of core region of a SWFET heat exchanger with VGs dimensions: (a) rectangular trapezoidal winglet (RTW); (b) angle rectangular winglet (ARW);
(c) curved angle rectangular winglet (CARW).
1285
2. Physical model and mathematical analysis
In the present investigation, three new kinds of VGs are desig-
nated for a comparative study of the thermo-hydraulic perfor-
mance of the SWFET heat exchanger. There are rectangular
trapezoidal winglet (RTW), angle rectangular winglet (ARW) and
curved angle rectangular winglet (CARW). The three-dimensional
schematics of Fig. 3(a)(c), demonstrates a new smooth wavy
n-and-elliptical tube heat exchanger core with a new type of
VGs. Fig. 3(i)(iii) shows the schematic representation of the VG
shapes and the nomenclature utilized in this new SWFET heat
exchanger. The two pairs of the above mentioned winglet vortex
generators (RTW, ARW and CARW VGs) are mounted vertically
on the aluminum smooth wavy n surface and placed symmetri-
cally on both sides of each elliptical tube (inner pair in
common-ow-down and outer pair in common-ow-up congura-
tion) and in the forward (VG-F) orientation. In order to investigate
(b)
(ii)
(iii)
1286 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302

the improvement of FTHE surfaces, the present three-dimensional Table 1

numerical study investigates the usage of elliptical tubes having a Geometric dimension for the studied smooth wavy n.

semi-major diameter Ra and a semi-minor diameter Rb. The tube Parameter Symbol (unit) Value
ellipticity ratio e is expressed by the formula e = Rb/Ra. Five attack Ellipticity ratio e 0.65, 0.8, 1.0
angles aVG of inclination (aVG = 15, 30, 45, 60 and 75) were Longitudinal tube pitch Pl (mm) 27.5
investigated to show the effect on the winglet VG performance. Transverse tube pitch Pt (mm) 31.75
To achieve that purpose, the winglets are rotated on a vertical axis Wavy n thickness d (mm) 0.2
Wavy n height H (mm) 0.8, 1.6
located at the center of the winglet base. If it is an angled inbound, Wavy n pitch Fp (mm) 4.0
it is called a common-ow-up (toe-out) conguration and if angled Wavy n wavelength kw (mm) 13.04
outwards, it is a common-ow-down (toe-in) conguration. The Primary wave curvature R (mm) 1.8, 2.0
location of the center of the VG base is determined by
DX = Ra  cos(p/3) and DZ = 4Rb  sin(p/3) as depicted in Fig. 4.
The detailed dimensions and conguration of the smooth wavy
Table 2
n pattern are illustrated in Fig. 5, with the main geometric dimen-
Geometrical properties of vortex generators.
sions of the smooth wavy n tabulated in Table 1. The basic length
Cr, span Ct, sweep angle K and leading edge sweep angle Kle of the Parameter Symbol (unit) Value
winglet are kept at constant values. Details of the VG parameters Basic (root) length of winglet Cr (mm) 4
are listed in Table 2. According to the symmetrical arrangement, Span of winglet Ct (mm) 2
Sweep angle of winglet K () 38
the region distinguished by the shaded lines in Fig. 6 is selected
Leading edge sweep angle of winglet Kle () 20
as the central computational domain. This gure renders a top
view of the central computational domain of a three rows SWFET
heat exchanger with VGs.
Fig. 7 shows a view of the computational domain and the pre-
scribed boundary conditions. The boundary conditions applied to
the computational domain are tabulated in Table 3. The actual
computational domain is then extended by 7 times of the n

Fig. 6. Top view of the central computational domain.

spacing at the inlet to maintain a uniform inlet velocity. It is also

Fig. 4. Location of vortex generators and their placement with respect to the
elliptical tube.
Fig. 5. Schematic representation of the geometric details of a SWFET heat
exchanger.
extended downstream 35 times of the n spacing in order to avoid
recirculation at the computational domain outlet, and hence the
outow boundary conditions can be applied. To save space, the
extended domain is not presented to scale in respect of the n
length in Fig. 7.
The three dimensional governing equations for the 3D thermal
hydraulic numerical simulations in this paper can be found in Ref.
[59] and will not be restated here for brevity. For the current study,
the following assumptions were made (i) the working uid is con-
sidered Newtonian and incompressible with constant physical
properties and (ii) the airow is three-dimensional, steady and
without viscous dissipation. This study employs the Shear Stress
Transport (SST) kx turbulence model, developed by Menter [60].
The SST kx is a robust and accurate hybrid model, using a kx
turbulence model near the walls and a ke model in the main ow,
and it has been demonstrated to have good behavior in adverse
pressure gradients and separating ows [61]. The stipulated gov-
erning equations of the SWFET heat exchanger are solved by the
commercial CFD software package ANSYS CFX 14.5 developed by
ANSYS Inc. [62]. The CFX numerical kernel algorithm is based on
the nite-volume method to treat generalized structured/unstruc-
tured meshes in Cartesian coordinates. The CFD code solves the
Reynolds-averaged NavierStokes equations with a high resolution
scheme for the advection terms also including the turbulence mod-
eling numerics. Time step convergence was achieved when the
maximum normalized residual value of all discretized equations
(MAXRES) was less than 108.
 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302 1287

Fig. 7. 3D schematic diagram of the computational domain and boundary conditions used.

Table 3 Table 4
Boundary conditions for the three-dimensional computational domain. Results of different grid numbers.

Inlet u = uin = const., v = w = 0, T = Tin = 343 K Grid no. 0.76 million 1.62 million 2.85 million 3.27 million
Outlet @ui
@T
@x @x 0 Nu 29.7757 35.4047 37.9417 38.3447
Up- and downstream f 0.1987 0.0904 0.0867 0.0858
extended regions
@y 0; v 0; @y 0
 Top and bottom @u
@y @w @T

 Front and back (sides) @u

@@zv 0; w = 0, @T
0
@z @z
where Dh is the hydraulic diameter for ow channel and umax is the
Fin coil region
 Top and bottom u = v = w = 0, @T
0 maximum airow velocity corresponding to the minimum cross
@y
 Front and back (sides) Tube surface region: u = v = w = 0, sectional airow area Ac. The heat transfer rate is evaluated using
T = Tw = 293 K the following expression:
Fin surface region: u = v = w = 0, @T
@z 0
@v
_ p T in  T out
Q mc 2
Fluid region: @u @T
@z @z 0; w 0; @z 0
Soliduid interface T solid T fluid ; ksolid @T solid =@n kfluid @T fluid =@n here m_ denotes mass ow rate of airow, cp is the specic heat
under constant pressure and Tin is the bulk inlet temperature taken
as constant. The bulk temperature Tout at the outlet is obtained
3. Numerical methodology from:
R
ux TdAout
3.1. Parameter denitions T out Rout 3
u dAout
out x

In an FTHE, the performance parameters depend on the airow Here ux denotes the velocity in the streamwise direction perpendic-
conditions and geometry constraints. The behavior of the airow is ular to the outlet cross-section Aout. The overall average heat trans-
determined by the Reynolds number: fer coefcient of the airside wavy n tube surface is dened as:
qumax Dh Q
ReDh 1 h 4
l go At DT lm

Fig. 8. Grid system around the vortex generators.

1288 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302

The overall surface effectiveness go is calculated from the n

efciency gf [63].
Af
go 1  1  gf 6
At
Here Af is the n surface area and At is the total surface involved in
heat transfer. The local heat transfer coefcient can be expressed in
dimensionless form by the local Nusselt number Nux, dened as:
hx D h
Nux 7
k
The average Nusselt number Nu can be obtained by:
Z
1
Nu Nux @A 8
A
The heat transfer characteristics are mostly presented also in
terms of the Colburn j factor for heat transfer:
h
Fig. 9. Colburn j factor and friction factor f comparisons between numerical j  Pr2=3 9
qumax cp
simulation and experimental results.
The pressure drop across the SWFET heat exchanger is pre-
where DTlm is the logarithmic mean temperature difference dened sented as the friction factor f. This friction factor f is obtained as
by: proposed by Kays and London [21]:

T in  T w  T out  T w 2 Dp Ac
DT lm 5 f  10
lnT in  T w =T out  T w  qu2max At

3D t r aj e c to r ie s 3D vo r t ic ity l in e s

(a) RTW (i)

(b) ARW (ii)

(c) CARW (iii)

Fig. 10. Three-dimensional trajectories and vorticity lines of the airow close to wavy n surface at ReDh 3000.
 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302 1289

Guo et al. [64] was the rst to present the eld synergy princi- 3.2. Grid generation and grid independence tests
ple (FSP) for boundary layer ow. Indeed, they proved that
decreasing the intersection angle between the velocity and the The smooth wavy n-and-elliptical tube heat exchanger design
temperature gradient is the principal mechanism for enhancing congurations with three new type VGs used for
heat transfer. Hence, the three-dimensional numerical results are three-dimensional computational uid dynamics (CFD) simula-
analyzed from the standpoint of the FSP. For that purpose, the def- tions were modeled in CATIA V6 (Dassault Systmes, Inc.). The
inition of the local synergy angle hi and the average synergy angle three-dimensional grid system for all the domains is intended for
(called synergy angle) h in the computational domain of the wavy utilizing the commercial code ANSYS ICEM CFD 14.5 [65]. The
n area are determined by equations: computational domain consists of multiple subdomains. Then dif-
  ferent approaches are applied for each subdomain to generate the
U  rT mesh. The central domain and the region of the VGs were meshed
hi cos1 11
jUjjrTj using unstructured tetrahedral elements with further renement
of the grid around the VGs and close to the tube walls to resolve
P
hi dV i the secondary ows where high gradients are expected. Fig. 8
h P 12 shows details of the grid generated for the simulations. For the
dV i
extended domains, a structured hexahedral grid is used because
Here T is the temperature and V is the innitesimal volume of the of its simplicity. Before providing the selected results, the quality
computational domain. of the obtained numerical solutions has to be addressed by using
a verication procedure. Grid independence tests were made

(a) RTW (a) RTW

(b) ARW (b) ARW

(c) CARW (c) CARW

Fig. 11. Velocity magnitude contours and streamlines in the three vertical cross- Fig. 12. Velocity magnitude contours and streamlines in the three vertical cross-
sections at aVG = 30, ReDh 3000. sections at aVG = 60, ReDh 3000.
1290 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302

(a) RTW ARW CARW

(b) RTW ARW CARW

Fig. 13. Local distribution of the velocity (in the middle XZ plane), temperature and Nusselt number (in across the wavy n surface) for the winglet VGs at aVG = 30.

carefully by recursive renement and comparison between the including about 0.76 million, 1.62 million, 2.85 million and
numerically simulated results. In order to validate the solution 3.27 million cells were selected and evaluated at ReDh 3000 for
independence of the grid, four different numbers of grid points, the case of angle rectangular winglet VG with an angle of attack
 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302
(c) RTW
Fig. 13 (continued)
of 45. The average Nusselt number Nu and the friction factor f of
the 3.27 million grid cells varies from that of the 2.85 million grid
cells by less than 1% and 1.2%, respectively, as shown in Table 4.
Consequently to keep a well-balanced compromise among compu-
tational time and solution accuracy, the adopted third number of
grid points in the computational domain is about 2.85 million.
Similar grid renement experiments were carried out for other
cases as well.
3.3. Validation of numerical model
With the purpose to validate the accuracy of the present
numerical simulation method, preliminary computational results
for a wavy FTHE were compared with the experimental data
reported by Wang et al. [32]. It has to be recalled that the correla-
tions developed by Wang et al. were developed based on 22 sam-
ples of wavy n congurations and could describe 93.02% of the
experimental database for heat transfer and 91.8% of the experi-
mental database for pressure drop within 10% [32]. The results of
the SST kx model compare best with the experimental results
over the whole Reynolds number region discussed in the present
study. From Fig. 9, the maximum difference between the numerical
results and the experimental data for friction factor f and Colburn j
factor were found to be less than 9% and 12%, respectively.
Therefore, the agreement between the numerical results and
experimental data indicates the reliability of the computational
model.
4. Computational results and discussion
4.1. Flow pattern and streamwise vortices
To illuminate the physics of the uid ow in the airow passage
of the SWFET heat exchanger with three new VGs, it is useful to
1291
ARW CARW
plot the horseshoe and longitudinal vortices. Fig. 10 presents the
predicted three-dimensional trajectories of the airow close to
smooth wavy n surface with VGs for ReDh 3000. The winglet
VGs are mounted out from the smooth wavy n surfaces nearby
the up- and downstream side of each elliptical tube. When the uid
is passing the winglet VGs, streamwise vortices are generated due
to the friction and pressure difference on the leading and trailing
edges (faces) of the winglet VG. Streamwise vortex enhancement
works by inducing a secondary ow to the main ow; specically
a vortex is formed and it interacts with the boundary layer on the
surface of the n. Besides the main streamwise vortex from the
leading edge (facing the ow) of the winglet, a horseshoe type cor-
ner vortex is formed at the junction of the high pressure side of the
winglet with the n and a much weaker vortex is induced on the
low pressure side near the junction of the winglet and n.
Fig. 10(i)(iii) illustrates the three-dimensional vorticity lines on
the closed elliptical tube and winglet vortex generator pairs along
streamwise for the three enhanced cases RTW, ARW and CARW
VGs at attack angle 45. Here, vorticity lines indicate the existence
of the horseshoe vortex system close to the n-tube junction and
also secondary Grtler and the longitudinal counter-rotating vor-
tices generated by wavy n and vortex generators, respectively.
In this gures, vorticity layers beginning from the vicinity of stag-
nation point in front of the elliptical tube and extending further
downstream around the wavy n surface. As seen in Fig. 10(i)
(iii), more compact and stronger vorticity lines beginning from
the vicinity of leading edges of winglet vortex generators in the
both-sides region of elliptical tube. Figs. 11 and 12 demonstrate
the CFD simulated results of the velocity magnitude contours and
streamlines in the vertical cross-sections (Xi = 7Ra, Xii = 11Ra and
Xiii = 15Ra from the inlet of model) just after the rst, second and
third tube rows at ReDh 3000. It can be deduced from these g-
ures that the winglets generate streamwise vortices which lead
to ow mixing and hence to a superior heat transfer among the
1292 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302

(a) RTW ARW CARW

(b) RTW ARW CARW

Fig. 14. Local distribution of the velocity (in the middle XZ plane), temperature and Nusselt number (in across the wavy n surface) for the winglet VGs at aVG = 60.

uid ows and the smooth wavy-n wall. From the vertical sec- the other winglet VGs. This leads to higher heat transfer rates for
tions illustrated in Fig. 11, it is evident that in the CARW VGs with this angle of attack. As shown in Fig. 12, the RTW VGs with the
the angle of attack aVG = 30 a stronger vortex is produced than for angle of attack aVG = 60 provides the higher vortex intensity
 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302
(c) RTW
Fig. 14 (continued)
among the other winglet VGs. This causes better heat transfer
performance.
4.2. Local analysis of the ow and heat transfer elds
The contour plots of the velocity and temperature elds for the
cases RTW, ARW and CARW vortex generator pairs on the XZ
plane at the middle horizontal plane between two smooth wavy
ns and on the smooth wavy n surface, respectively, at
ReDh 3000 are depicted in Figs. 13 and 14(a) and (b). It is worth
mentioning that for a smooth wavy n, because the ow is fre-
quently interrupted near the wavy surface, the ow structures
close to the wavy n surface are signicantly different from that
for a plain n surface. It is well perceived that the heat transfer in
wake regions behind the tubes is always relatively weak due to
recirculation and the vortex. Therefore, the wake region should
be reduced as much as possible. The horseshoe vortices formed
in the elliptical tube stagnation region are swept downstream
along the side of the elliptical tube as a longitudinal vortex.
Each winglet VG creates two vortices, namely a primary (main)
vortex and a corner, horseshoe type vortex. The primary vortex,
situated directly downstream of the winglet VGs, is formed by
ow separation along the top leading edge of the winglet VGs.
The corner vortex, situated outside of the primary vortex, devel-
ops similarly a horseshoe vortex on the upstream facing pressure
side of the winglet VGs. This basic mechanism eventually accom-
plishes in disruption of the thermal boundary layer and the heat
transfer from the conning n surface is augmented. The local
distributions of the velocity and temperature around the elliptical
tubes and VGs are visible clearly in Figs. 13 and 14(a) and (b) pro-
vide qualitative aspects of the parametric design and congura-
tion of the VGs. Indeed, this gives a perception of the heat
transfer and pressure drop along the analyzed geometric shapes
of the VGs and attack angles of the winglets VGs. It can be seen
1293
ARW CARW
from these velocity distributions that the airow passes around
the elliptical tubes and accelerates downstream. When the VGs
are used with the suitable angle of attack, the scale of the wake
zone behind the tube is constrained. Streamwise vortices result
in an increase of the mixing and disturbance effects of the down-
stream airow, particularly, the airow between the elliptical
tubes. Temperature contours indicate that the heat transfer per-
formance in the wake region is improved and the airow temper-
ature decreases rapidly in the main ow direction. Meanwhile,
the uid temperature of the outlet region is raised. Therefore,
the heat transfer coefcient of the air-side for the SWFET heat
exchanger with VGs is increased because of the increase of the
total heat transfer rate.
Figs. 13 and 14(c) display the contour plots of the local Nusselt
number Nu on the smooth wavy n surfaces for the cases RTW,
ARW and CARW vortex generators at ReDh 3000. In every
enhanced case, it is evident that the maximum value of the
Nusselt number occurs at the leading edge of the wavy n and then
reduces gradually in the streamwise direction as a consequence of
the thermal boundary layer effect. In addition to heat transfer
enhancement by the horseshoe vortices, streamwise vortices cre-
ated by VGs are found to augment heat transfer drastically. As
observed from these gures, furthermore to this enhancement,
another peak trail is found in the downstream region of each VG.
In the case of the effect of attack angle value, Fig. 13(c) shows that
by using the CARW VGs at small angles of attack (aVG = 30), due to
the larger projected area facing the airow, the wake zones behind
the elliptical tubes become smaller and the mainstream ow at
high temperature is directed toward the tubes leading to a better
heat transfer. Fig. 14(c) shows that the use of the RTW VGs at large
angles of attack (aVG = 60) diverts the main ow toward the wake
zones and the elliptical tubes. Therefore a part of the uid of the
mainstream at relatively high temperatures is directed to the wake
zones which greatly increment the heat transfer rate.
1294 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302
4.3. Inuence of vortex generators
With the purpose to study the inuence of new winglet VGs on
the characteristics of thermal and ow elds for SWFET heat
exchangers, a comparative investigation for SWFET heat exchang-
ers with VGs and without VGs is accomplished. The SWFET heat
exchanger without VGs will be referred to as baseline case and
the SWFET heat exchanger with winglet VGs (such as RTW, ARW
and CARW with aVG = 45) in Fig. 15 will be referred to as en-
hanced cases. Fig. 15(a) shows the variation of the average
Nusselt number Nu versus Reynolds number. One may observe
from Fig. 15(a) that the average Nusselt number Nu for both the
baseline case and the three enhanced cases increases with increas-
ing Reynolds number. The Nusselt number Nu of the SWFET heat
exchangers with winglet VGs is larger than that of the baseline
case at different Reynolds numbers. Fig. 15(b) depicts the variation
of the synergy angle h versus the Reynolds number for the baseline
case and enhanced cases, respectively. It can be seen that the syn-
ergy angle h decreases with an increase of the Reynolds number for
both the baseline case and enhanced cases. However, at the same
Reynolds number the synergy angle h for the enhanced cases is
smaller than that for the baseline case, which indicates that the
synergy effect for the enhanced cases is better than that for the
baseline case. Accordingly, we can infer that the performance of
Fig. 15. Effect of vortex generators with aVG = 45 on average Nusselt number Nu
and synergy angle h: (a) effect of VGs on Nu; (b) effect of VGs on h.
VGs on the wavy n surface is to improve the synergy between
the velocity and temperature gradient. This is the most important
reason why the VG can enhance the heat transfer.
4.4. Inuence of placement of winglet vortex generator pairs
A comparative investigation of the effect of the winglet VG pairs
position on the heat transfer enhancement in the SWFET heat
exchanger with RTW VGs at aVG = 45 is performed. One can
observe from Fig. 16(a) that the average Nusselt number increases
signicantly as the Reynolds number increases. Because the winglet
VG pairs are mounted nearby the up- and downstream side of the
elliptical tube, the heat transfer enhancement caused by horseshoe
vortices and streamwise vortices are coupled. The increase in aver-
age Nusselt number Nu by the VGs is found to be almost higher, par-
ticularly at high Reynolds number, in the case of two winglet VG
pairs (inner pair in common-ow-down and outer pair in
common-ow-up conguration at upstream and downstream posi-
tions, respectively) than for a single winglet VG pair at the same
Reynolds number. Fig. 16(b) presents the variation of the synergy
angle h versus the Reynolds number. It can be seen that the synergy
angle h decreases with the increase of Reynolds number for all posi-
tion cases. However, the values of the up- and downstream position
cases are smaller than the for the other position cases.
Fig. 16. Effect of placement of winglet vortex generator pairs with aVG = 45 on
average Nusselt number Nu and synergy angle h: (a) Effect of placement of winglet
VG pairs on Nu; (b) Effect of placement of winglet VG pairs on h.
 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302
4.5. Inuence of ellipticity ratio
In this section, the effect of the tube ellipticity e = 1.0 (circular);
e = 0.8 and e = 0.65 on the air-side thermo-hydraulic characteristics
and eld synergy principle was studied in SWFET heat exchanger
with RTW VGs arrangement with the angle of attack aVG = 45.
Fig. 17(a) presents the variation of the average Nusselt number
Nu versus the Reynolds number for the three values of the tube
ellipticity. It is well-known that the horseshoe vortices formed
around the elliptical tube are stronger than for the circular tube.
It is observed in Fig. 17(a) that a decrease of the tube ellipticity
from e = 1.0 to e = 0.65 signicantly increases the average Nusselt
number Nu. This is due to the fact that the tube surface and airow
velocity in the n coil of the elliptical tube is larger than for the cir-
cular tube. It is shown that the reduction of the tube ellipticity
ratio considerably increases the thermo-hydraulic performance of
the heat exchanger up to 80% compared to the circular tube shape.
Fig. 17(b) shows the relation of the synergy angle h versus the
Reynolds number for the tube shape modication, i.e., from circu-
lar to elliptical. From this gure, one can see that at the same
Reynolds number the synergy angle h for the circular tube case is
smaller than that for the elliptical tube case, which indicates the
synergy effect for the circular tube case is more preferable than
for the elliptical tube case. The afrmative inuence resulting from
the Nusselt number increases is much larger than the negative
Fig. 17. Effect of ellipticity ratio e on average Nusselt number Nu and synergy angle
h: (a) effect of e on Nu; (b) effect of e on h.
1295
inuence of the synergy angle increase. Consequently, elliptical
tube FTHE with VGs has higher heat transfer efciency than con-
ventional circular tube FTHE.
4.6. Inuence of wavy shape n pattern
The three-dimensional numerical simulation results showed
that the smooth wavy n-and-elliptical tube heat exchanger has
a better heat transfer performance when the vortex generators
are mounted on the wavy n surface. As we know, generally, wavy
n surfaces have two considerable regions, namely suction-side
and pressure-side of the wavy n. On the pressure-side of the wavy
n, the secondary Grtler vortices enhance the heat transfer signif-
icantly. However, the heat transfer is low on the suction-side of the
wavy n due to the boundary layer type ow with ow separation
and therefore also vortex generator pairs have been mounted on
the suction-side of the wavy n to compensate for this deciency.
Indeed, the higher momentum uid passing through the vortex
generator disrupts the boundary layer and destabilizes the ow
on the suction-side of the wavy n and increases the rate of heat
transfer. Thus, in general, secondary ows associated with the lon-
gitudinal counter-rotating vortices, clearly move fresh uid from
the walls of the wavy n to the center region, and thus, result in
an increase of the thermo-hydraulic performance. Fig. 18 presents
the average Nusselt number Nu of the four congurations versus
Reynolds number. In the gure, a smooth wavy n with VGs pos-
sesses the highest average Nu number compared with the other
three n structures studied in this investigation. This reveals
why the proposed n has the best thermo-hydraulic performance.
Therefore we can improve the overall heat transfer performance of
the wavy n-and-elliptical tube heat exchanger by adopting inte-
grated effects of the secondary Grtler vortices and longitudinal
counter-rotating vortices by wavy n pattern and winglet vortex
generators, respectively.
In a FTHE, the area around the tube is of extraordinary impor-
tance. Therefore, with respect to the limited space between the
elliptical tubes, the best and most appropriate model for the n
pattern must be considered. Considering overall advantages of
wavy ns compared to the plain ns, due to the generated sec-
ondary Grtler vortices, and also, as we know, the blockage area
of elliptical tube is smaller than circular tube, so the intensity of
horseshoe vortices formed around elliptical tubes are weaker.
Hence combining a wavy n with the elliptical tube can improve
the velocity near the elliptical tube wall and also effects of
Fig. 18. Average Nusselt number Nu of the four structures at different Reynolds
number.
1296 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302

Fig. 19. Schematics of the two simulated n shapes near the elliptical tube: n entirely wavy (Case A) and plain n shape near the elliptical tube (Case B).

secondary vortices can be imposed to increase the heat transfer respectively. In Fig. 21(a) the heat transfer performance of two
rate near the elliptical tube [38]. From the local Nusselt number smooth wavy n-and-elliptical tube heat exchangers is compared
contours it can be seen that the Nusselt number increases near with that of the plain n-and-elliptical tube heat exchanger at dif-
the wave crest and wave trough due to at these positions the ther- ferent Reynolds numbers. It is clear from this gure that the aver-
mal boundary layer is broken up. Therefore it is better to increase age Nusselt number Nu increases with the increase in wavy n
the thermo-hydraulic performance in a small size wavy nned height H. In the actual Reynolds number range, the average
tube heat exchanger by having the tubes in contact with wave Nusselt number Nu of the SWFET heat exchanger with
crest and wave trough of the smooth wavy n. To investigate the H = 1.6 mm is higher than that of the other cases. The inuence
effect of the n shape close to the elliptical tubes on the of the wavy n height H on synergy angle h at different Reynolds
thermo-hydraulic performance of SWFET heat exchanger with numbers is shown in Fig. 21(b). From this gure, it can be seen that
winglet VGs (e.g., RTW VGs), two cases named Case A and Case B the SWFET heat exchanger with H = 1.6 mm has the smallest syn-
are presented in Fig. 19. ergy angle h at the same Reynolds number, while the plain
Fig. 20 shows the comparison of the spanwise local Nusselt n-and-elliptical tube heat exchanger has the highest synergy
number variation in the transverse direction near the bottom wavy
channel wall at the vertical cross-section location of Xii = 11Ra just
after the second tube row for the two n patterns of the SWFET
heat exchanger with the n entirely wavy and a plain n shape
near the elliptical tubes. We can clearly observe that in SWFET heat
exchanger with n entirely wavy, the secondary Grtler vortices
generated by the wavy shape n around elliptical tubes decrease
the wake region size behind the tube, and lead to enhancement
of the heat transfer between the two adjacent tubes. The secondary
vortices at the plain n shape near the elliptical tubes are weak and
have less potential for enhancement of heat transfer.

4.7. Inuence of wavy n height

The effect of wavy n height H on the average Nusselt number

Nu and synergy angle h for the SWFET heat exchangers with RTW
VGs arrangement with aVG = 45 is shown in Fig. 21(a) and (b),

Fig. 20. Variation of spanwise local Nusselt number in the cross-section plane at
Xii = 11Ra from the channel inlet for various n patterns near the elliptical tubes in Fig. 21. Effect of wavy n height H on average Nusselt number Nu and synergy
the SWFET heat exchanger with RTW VGs at attack angle of 60. angle h: (a) effect of H on Nu; (b) effect of H on h.
 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302 1297

angle h. This results is very helpful in explaining why the SWFET
heat exchanger with H = 1.6 mm has the highest heat transfer per-
formance compared with the SWFET heat exchanger with
H = 0.8 mm and the plain n-and-elliptical tube heat exchanger.
4.8. Computational performance analysis
In accordance with the analysis conducted in the previous sec-
tions, the inuence of the geometric shape of VGs and angle of
attack on the thermo-hydraulic characterization for SWFET heat
exchangers with new VGs is further investigated. Fig. 22 depicts
the effect of the attack angle on the friction characteristics of the
enhanced smooth wavy n with three new differently shaped
VGs, i.e., RTW, ARW and CARW. The Reynolds number ranges from
500 to 3000 and is based on the hydraulic diameter. The relations
of the friction factor f versus the Reynolds number ReDh are shown
in Fig. 22(a)(e). It can be seen that the friction factor f decreases
with increasing Reynolds number over the examined range. The
CARW arrangement with an angle of attack smaller than 45 has
the highest friction factor f, while, the RTW arrangement with
increasing angle of attack up to 45 can be seen to have the highest
friction factor f compared to the other winglet VGs. Fig. 22 shows

Fig. 22. Effect of type of VGs on friction factor f and average Nusselt number Nu: (a) aVG = 15; (b) aVG = 30; (c) aVG = 45; (d) aVG = 60; (e) aVG = 75.
1298 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302

Fig. 23. Distributions of streamlines and isotherms for aVG = 30 at ReDh 3000: (a) RTW VGs; (b) ARW VGs; (c) CARW VGs.

Fig. 24. Distributions of streamlines and isotherms for aVG = 60 at ReDh 3000: (a) RTW VGs; (b) ARW VGs; (c) CARW VGs.

the variation of the average Nusselt number Nu against the
Reynolds number ReDh for the three new VG test cases. From these
gures it is observed that with an increase of the Reynolds number
the average Nusselt number Nu of all VGs type increases. The
CARW arrangement with an angle of attack from 15 to 45 has
the highest average Nusselt number Nu, while, the RTW arrange-
ment with an increasing angle of attack up to 45 can be seen to
give the highest average Nusselt number Nu as compared to that
of the other winglet VGs.
Vortex generators can improve the synergy between the velocity
and temperature elds in the region in the vicinity of the VG and
also in the large downstream region of the VG. In the present study,
the inuence of the geometric shape of the VGs and attack angles of
the winglet VGs is analyzed in detail from the point of the eld syn-
ergy principle. To obtain a comprehensive view of this the CFD
numerical results of the streamlines and the distributions of iso-
therms are investigated on the middle plane between the two adja-
cent smooth wavy n surfaces for the three new differently shape
VGs at ReDh 3000. These results are presented in Figs. 23 and
24. From these gures one can see that at the inlet areas
of the wavy n channels the isotherms are almost perpendicular
to the local streamlines. This demonstrates a good synergy between
the velocity eld and the temperature eld. It is observed in Fig. 23
that the smaller attack angles, such as 30, the CARW VGs case have
 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302 1299

stronger streamwise vortices than the two other winglet VGs. It can
be seen that in the downstream part of the smooth wavy n with
CARW VGs, the isotherm distributions are not parallel to the
streamlines as for other winglet VGs cases. This implies that the
synergy between velocity and temperature gradients becomes bet-
ter. This explains further why the heat transfer performance of
CARW VGs case is better than the other cases at smaller attack
angles. As the angle of attack is larger, for example, at aVG = 60,
the RTW VGs case presents the highest streamwise vortices inten-
sity among all winglet VGs. As shown in Fig. 24, the downstream
part of the smooth wavy n with RTW VGs, the temperature con-
tours are almost perpendicular to the velocity vector at some
places. This implies that the synergy between the local temperature
gradient and local velocities become better. In other words, the
RTW VGs case will lead to the best selection at larger attack angles
for enhancing the heat transfer in terms of eld synergy.

Fig. 25. Effect of type of VGs on synergy angle h: (a) aVG = 15; (b) aVG = 30; (c) aVG = 45; (d) aVG = 60; (e) aVG = 75.
1300 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302

CARW arrangement has the largest average Nusselt number Nu

and the smallest synergy angle h at small attack angles, while the
RTW arrangement has the highest average Nusselt number Nu
and the lowest synergy angle h at various Reynolds numbers at
large attack angles of the winglet VGs in the range of 1575.

4.9. Correlations for average Nusselt number, friction factor and

synergy angle

The investigation of the geometrical parameters shows consid-

erable effects on the thermo-hydraulic performance of the SWFET
heat exchangers with VGs. Hence, it appears that proposing corre-
lations accompanied by considering the effective geometrical
parameters in these correlations is benecial for SWFET heat
exchanger designers. Based on these results, Figs. 22 and 25 pre-
sents the variations of the friction factor f, average Nusselt number
Nu and the synergy angle h versus the Reynolds number, respec-
tively. However, the Nusselt number, friction factor and the syn-
ergy angle will change when the geometrical parameters such as
geometric shape of VGs, angles of attack aVG, tube ellipticity ratio
e and wavy n height H changed. The obtained numerical simula-
tion data were utilized to develop correlations for the friction fac-
tor f, average Nusselt number Nu and the synergy angle h, Eqs.
(13)(15), in the case of SWFET heat exchanger with three new
types VGs with various geometrical parameters. For the enhanced
cases RTW, ARW and CARW VGs studied, the correlations of the
friction factor f with ReDh , e, H and aVG is dened as the following
equation:
 e 0:247  H 0:182 a 0:011
VG
f RTW 0:188Re0:385
Dh 13a
2:1 0:3 10

 e 0:245  H 0:182 a 0:011

VG
f ARW 0:172Re0:411
Dh 13b
2:1 0:3 10

 e 0:247  H 0:182 a 0:015

VG
f CARW 0:126Re0:358
Dh 13c
2:1 0:3 10
500 6 ReDh 6 3000; 15 6 aVG 6 75 ; 0:65 6 e 6 1:0; 0:8 mm 6 H 6
1:6 mm.
The comparisons of average Nusselt number Nu as a function of
ReDh and aVG for all the enhanced cases are shown in Fig. 22. For the
enhanced cases investigated, the correlation of average Nusselt
number Nu with ReDh , e, H and aVG is expressed in the following
equations:
  0:146 
e 0:235 H aVG 0:021
NuRTW 0:236Re0:643
Dh 1:2 1 14a
2:25 2:25 45

  0:161 
e 0:262 H aVG 0:014
NuARW 0:214Re0:648
Dh 1:8 1
2:35 2:35 45
14b

  0:150 
e 0:247 H aVG 0:017
Fig. 26. Comparison of the present numerical simulation results and the proposed
NuCARW 0:247Re0:632
Dh 1:7 1:2
2:3 2:3 45
correlations for the RTW VGs case: (a) friction factor f; (b) average Nusselt number
Nu; (c) synergy angle h. 14c
 
500 6 ReDh 6 3000; 15 6 aVG 6 75 ; 0:65 6 e 6 1:0; 0:8 mm 6 H 6
The numerically simulated results for the variation of the syn- 1:6 mm:
ergy angle h versus Reynolds number are plotted in Fig. 25. It can The effect of the synergy angle h for all the enhanced cases that
be seen from these gures that the synergy angles decrease with studied is shown in Fig. 25. The synergy angle h decreases with
the increase of Reynolds number. The CARW arrangement with increasing Reynolds number for all the enhanced cases, and they
an angle of attack smaller than 45 has the smallest synergy angle, have the correlations:
while, the RTW arrangement with increasing angle of attack up to
 e 0:247  H 1:878 a 0:005
45 can be seen to have the lowest synergy angle compared to the hRTW exp2:126Re0:088
VG
15a
Dh
other winglet VGs. Considering Figs. 22 and 25, one can see that the 2:03 0:3 80
 B. Lot et al. / Applied Energy 162 (2016) 12821302
 e 0:247  H 1:850 a 0:005
VG
hARW exp2:324Re0:076
Dh 15b
2:03 0:3 80
 e 0:247  H 1:850 a 0:005
VG
hCARW exp2:011Re0:061
Dh 15c
2:03 0:3 80
500 6 ReDh 6 3000; 15 6 aVG 6 75 ; 0:65 6 e 6 1:0; 0:8 mm 6 H 6
1:6 mm:
Fig. 26 shows the comparison between the numerical simulation
results and the results predicted by the proposed correlations in the
enhanced case RTW VGs. For instance, it can be concluded that
the average and maximum deviations computed by Eqs. (13)(15)
are 2.83% and 13.87% for the friction factor, 3.48% and 14.68% for
the average Nusselt number and 7.81% and 18.76% for the synergy
angle in the enhanced case RTW VGs.
5. Concluding remarks
This paper presents results of three-dimensional CFD simula-
tions of the thermo-hydraulic characteristics of the smooth wavy
n-and-elliptical tube (SWFET) heat exchangers with a new type
of vortex generators (VGs) taking into account all geometrical
parameters, for instance the geometric shape of the VGs, attack
angle of the winglet VGs, tube ellipticity ratio and wavy n height.
Moreover, the computational results are analyzed by considering
the eld synergy principle. The computational results acquired in
this investigation demonstrate that the thermo-hydraulic perfor-
mance of the SWFET heat exchanger can well be characterized by
the eld synergy principle. The correlations for the air-side heat
transfer, pressure drop and synergy angle are determined on the
basis of the CFD simulations. Some of the remarkable conclusions
are as follows:
(1) The inuence of tube shape and wavy n height on the
thermo-hydraulic performance is quite signicant. It is
found that the reducing the tube ellipticity ratio, increasing
wavy n height, the heat transfer performance of the SWFET
heat exchanger is enhanced.
(2) It is found that CARW vortex generator pairs with smaller
attack angles of the winglet VGs result in the best
thermo-hydraulic performance. This is in view of the fact
that the CARW VGs have the curvature of the geometry
structure itself, the widest projected area facing the airow
and consequently streamwise vortices are created.
(3) A geometrical shape parametric investigation of the winglet
VGs showed that RTW VGs has better thermo-hydraulic per-
formance enhancement at larger attack angles of the winglet
VGs in the range of 1575 compared to the other winglet
VGs. For the RTW VGs, due to the largest area facing the air-
ow the strongest streamwise vortices are induced.
(4) An analysis for the SWFET heat exchanger with three
enhanced cases is performed with the eld synergy princi-
ple. The 3D numerical simulation results of the present
study show that the enhancement of the thermo-hydraulic
performance can also be explained by a decrease in the syn-
ergy angle between the velocity and temperature gradients.
However, the results of the eld synergy principle analysis,
in some cases, are inconsistent with the results of
thermo-hydraulic characteristics analysis. For instance, the
increase of the circumuence region due to the increasing
of the tube ellipticity ratio i.e., from elliptical to circular
shape, also decreases the synergy effect. Hereupon, the pos-
itive effect resulted from the average Nusselt number
increases is much larger than the negative effect of the syn-
ergy angle increase.
1301
(5) The correlations presented can predict the average Nusselt
number Nu, friction factor f and synergy angle h for SWFET
heat exchangers with good accuracy using the Reynolds
number, attack angle of VGs, tube ellipticity ratio and wavy
n height.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the Funds for International
Cooperation and Exchange of the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant No. 51120165002) and the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51328603).
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