International Journal of Thermal Sciences 140 (2019) 225–237

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International Journal of Thermal Sciences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijts

An experimental investigation on the air-side heat transfer and flow T

resistance of finned short oval tubes at different tube tilt angles
Sebastian Ungera,b,∗, Matthias Beyera, Martin Arlita,b, Philipp Stascha, Uwe Hampela,b
a
Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Institute of Fluid Dynamics, Bautzner Landstr. 400, 01328, Dresden, Germany
b
Chair of Imaging Techniques in Energy and Process Engineering, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: We experimentally studied the heat transfer and flow characteristics of finned oval tubes at different Reynolds
Finned tube heat exchanger numbers, fin spacing and tube orientation and compared results with correlations from literature. As assessment
Heat transfer parameters we used the efficiency index, the performance evaluation criterion and the global performance
Flow resistance criterion. For tubes in horizontal orientation (main flow direction perpendicular to the tube axis) we found an
Tube tilt angle
improvement of Nusselt number and a reduction of friction factor, when fin spacing increases. The efficiency
Thermal-flow performance
Heat transfer correlation
index and the performance evaluation criterion improve with rising fin spacing and the global performance
criterion remains almost constant. The present investigation provides a first experimental study of finned oval
tubes at different tube tilt angles in a forced convection situation. A substantial impact of tilt tube angle on
Nusselt number and friction factor was observed. As the tube tilt angle rises from 0° to 40° Nusselt number and
friction factor strongly increase. The horizontal tube orientation outperforms the tilted orientations in all per-
formance parameters and at all Reynolds number. Thus, the performance is highest at 0° and worst at 40° tilt
angle, since the increase in pressure drop dominates over the heat transfer enhancement. Based on the ex-
perimental outcome correlations between Nusselt number, friction factor and Reynolds number, fin spacing and
tube tilt angle are recommended, which can be used to design finned oval tubes.

1. Introduction exchangers while it does hardly have an influence on the cost of

Finned tube heat exchangers play a vital role in many fields of en-
ergy conversion such as air-conditioning systems, refrigeration, radia-
tion heat transfer, process gas heaters and coolers, electronic cooling,
ventilation, power plants, chemical plants and in the automotive sec-
tors. In most of these applications light weight, compactness, high
performance and cost-effective fabrication are desired. For finned cross
flow heat exchangers 90 % or more of the total thermal resistance is on
the gas side [1]. Thus, different fin types are commonly used on the
tube outside to extend the heat transfer surface. From the existing fin
patterns the plain circular fin is the most popular one due to its dur-
ability, simplicity, versatility and rigidity. In many applications the
main flow direction on these finned tube heat exchangers is not per-
pendicular to the tube axis. Tubes are often tilted due to geometrical
restrictions, required drainage of the heat transfer fluid inside the tubes
or to reduce foot print [2]. Note here, that as shown in Fig. 1 we refer to
the tilt angle as the angle between the tube axis and the horizontal. The
tilt angle of the tube has some effect on the air-side circulation and
hence impacts the total thermal performance and efficiency of the heat
manufacturing [3].
The thermal performance and the flow characteristics of finned
tubes and tube banks were investigated by many researchers in the past
decades. Gnielinski proposed correlations for the heat transfer of a flow
over objects by comparing numerous experimental results from litera-
ture [4]. The correlations were verified by an analytic model for the
heat transfer along a plate, cylinder and sphere. Annular finned tubes in
one-row, two-row inline and two-row staggered configuration were
experimentally studied by Sparrow et al. [5]. The overall pressure drop
of the two-row staggered configuration was about twice and the two-
row inline configuration was less than twice of the one for the one-row
configuration. Correlations were derived to describe the heat transfer.
In an experimental study on fin efficiency and flow distribution of an-
nular circular fins thermography and particle image velocimetry was
used by Watel et al. [6]. The air flow in the mid-plane between the fins
was measured and the fin spacing was varied. For a similar geometry
the heat transfer and fin temperature was experimentally determined
by Chen et al. [7]. They found, that heat transfer coefficient enhance
with increasing fin spacing, but varies little if spacing exceeds 18 mm .

∗
Corresponding author. Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Institute of Fluid Dynamics, Bautzner Landstr. 400, 01328, Dresden, Germany.
E-mail address: s.unger@hzdr.de (S. Unger).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijthermalsci.2019.02.045
Received 24 May 2018; Received in revised form 27 February 2019; Accepted 28 February 2019
Available online 11 March 2019
1290-0729/ © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
S. Unger, et al.
Abbreviations
A total area of convection surface, m2
Af total area of fin surface, m2
At total outer tube surface area, m2
cp specific heat, kJ /(kgK )
dc characteristic length based on equivalent circular dia-
meter of the oval tube, m
f friction factor
GPC global performance criterion
h average heat transfer coefficient, W /(m2K )
fin height, m
Hrel Humidity, %rel
j colburn factor
ka thermal conductivity of air, W /(mK )
kf thermal conductivity of fin, W /(mK )
L flow depth, m
N number fin regions
Nu average Nusselt number based on hydraulic diameter
p pressure, Pa
PEC performance evaluation criterion
Fin efficiency seems not to be sensitive to the fin spacing. The effect of
fin spacing of a four-row annular-finned tube bundle heat exchanger in
staggered and in-line arrangement was investigated by Mon et al. [8].
From this numerical study a strong dependency of the boundary layer
development and horseshoe vortices between the fins on the fin spacing
to height ratio was found. The effect of parameters such as row number,
transversal and longitudinal tube pitch, fin pitch and fin thickness on
the thermal-hydraulic performance of a rectangular finned elliptical
tube heat exchanger was numerical investigated by Zhao et al. [9]. The
results show that air-side performance is mainly determined by the
transverse tube pitch and that fin thickness and fin pitch are most im-
portant structure factors for the fin efficiency. A recent numerical study
of a novel finned tube for air-cooled condensers was performed by Guo
et al. [10]. A single row tube was equipped by conventional flat fins,
two separated novel jagged fins, five separated novel jagged fins and
ten separated novel jagged fins. It was found, that the Nusselt number
and friction factor increase with number of separated jagged fins and
thus the tube with ten jagged fins shows highest heat transfer and
pressure drop.
In cross flow heat exchangers tubes with a circular cross-section are
common practice. Nevertheless, heat exchangers with oval tubes got
increasing attraction since pressure drop is smaller compared to circular
tubes. While literature reports do widely agree on the trend of pressure
drop across oval tubes, they often disagree on the effect of oval cross-
section on heat transfer. Thus Jang et al. observed a reduction of heat
transfer and pressure drop of a four row heat exchanger with oval tubes
compared to the circular one [11]. In Refs. [12,13] circular, oval and
wing-shape tubes were numerical investigated. It was found, that the
heat transfer of oval and wing-shaped tubes is nearly the same, but
lower compared to the circular ones. Nevertheless, pressure loss was
found to be much higher for the circular tubes. Otherwise a relative
heat transfer improvement up to 19 % and a material reduction of 32 %
for an oval tube arrangement compared to a circular tube arrangement
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International Journal of Thermal Sciences 140 (2019) 225–237
Pr Prandtl number
Q heat transfer rate, W
Re Reynolds number based on hydraulic diameter
s inter-fin spacing, m
tf fin thickness, m
Ta average air temperature, °C
Tf fin temperature, °C
Tin air temperature in front of the heat exchanger, °C
Tout air temperature behind the heat exchanger, °C
Tt outer tube surface temperature, °C
TLMTD logarithmic mean temperature difference, K
u frontal velocity, m / s
Va volumetric flow rate of air, m3/ s
x length coordinate
Greek symbols
tube tilt angle, °
fin efficiency
µa dynamic viscosity of air, kg /(ms )
a density of air, kg /m3
Fig. 1. General figure of air cooled heat ex-
changer in tilted position a) low tilt angle and b)
high tilt angle.
was found in Ref. [14]. An increase of heat transfer between
8.3 30.9 % and a reduction in pressure loss between 20.0 27.3 % was
also found for oval tubes compared to circular tubes Sun et al. [15].
Kumar et al. performed an extensive numerical analysis on air cooled
finned tube heat exchangers having different tube shapes, i.e. annular
tubes and oval tubes with eccentricity of 1: 1.5, 1: 2 and 1: 3 [16]. These
results correspond to the ones of the two previous publications, i.e., that
heat transfer increased and pressure drop reduced with tube eccen-
tricity. Moreover a flow separation further downstream and a smaller
thermal wake region were observed for oval tubes compared to circular
tubes. Despite the contradiction in heat transfer findings for tubes with
oval cross-section compered to tubes with circular cross-section, the
ratio of heat transfer to pressure drop was higher for oval tubes in all
studies.
The incident flow direction on oval tube bundles and the influence
on heat transfer and flow friction characteristics were also investigated
by many researchers. An experimental investigation on oval cylinders
with axis ratio of 1: 2 was carried out by Ota et al. [17]. The oval tubes
were rotated around their axis to change the angle of attack between
0 90° . The findings show a maximum Nusselt number at 75° and 90°
and minimum Nusselt number at 30° . Kanematsu et al. investigated
experimentally three heat exchangers, i.e. inline tube with uncut fins,
staggered tubes with cut fins and staggered tubes with uncut fins [18].
All heat exchangers were adjusted at four different inclination angles
(0°, 45°, 60° and 80°) . The authors found a reduced heat transfer per-
formance at 80° and explained this by the large wake regions. Experi-
ments on two-row heat exchangers with inclination towards the in-
coming flow direction were carried out by Du et al. [19]. The tube axis
was rotated by 30°, 60°, 45° and 90° (tube major axis inline with in-
coming flow). Among the inclinations the 45° position performed best.
However, all inclined positions were worse than the 90° one. The same
author extended the investigations to two-row and three-row heat ex-
changers at the same orientation angles [20]. The two-row heat
S. Unger, et al.
exchanger had best performance at 45° orientation and high Reynolds
numbers as well as at 60° orientation and low Reynolds numbers. For
the three-row heat exchanger the 30° position performed best over the
whole range of Reynolds numbers. Guo et al. simulated the heat
transfer of a multi-louvered fin heat exchanger having different tube
inclination angles [21]. The inlet flow angle was ± 25°, ± 45° and 0° as
the fin pitches were 1,1.5 and 2. Highest performance was observed for
the positive inlet flow angles and worst heat transfer rate occurred at
45° and fin pitch of 2. In general, the effect of inlet flow angle reduces
with fin pitch. Numerical simulations of oval tubes for 7 different fin
inclinations (0°, 5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 25° and 30°) were conducted by Şahin
et al. [22]. Heat transfer and pressure drop increased with fin inclina-
tion until it reached a maximum value at 30°. An experimental and
numerical study of oval tubes under different angles of attack was
performed by Ibrahim et al. [23]. The tube shape was circular and oval
with axis ratios of 1: 4 , 1: 3, 1: 2 and the rotation angle of the tube was
changed between 0° and 150° . The results indicate highest heat transfer
and pressure drop at the 90° orientation (tube major axis perpendicular
to the incoming flow). The maximum heat transfer per unit pumping
power appeared at 0° angle of attack and a minimum axis ratio of 1: 4 .
Kong et al. studied the impact of oblique angle, fin spacing, fin thick-
ness and tube external diameter of a plate-fin heat exchanger for power
plant cooling [24]. It was found that the evaluation criterion (Nusselt
number divided by the third root of the friction factor) varies little with
fin oblique angle and increases with fin spacing, fin thickness and ex-
ternal diameter. Nevertheless, at fin spacing of 3 mm heat transfer
coefficient varies little with further increase of spacing. Heat transfer
and pressure drop characteristics of inclined elliptical fin tube heat
exchanger in transitional regime was lately analyzed by Yogesh et al.
[25]. The change in axis ratio of the elliptical tubes from 1: 1.25 to
1: 1.43 and 1: 1.67 increased the heat transfer and reduced the pressure
drop. A peak in heat transfer was found for an axis ratio of 1: 1.67 at an
inclination angle of 20° and for an axis ratio of 1: 1.43 and 1: 1.25 at an
inclination angle of 10°. Eventually the overall efficiency reduced with
inclination angle and increases with ellipticity.
So far experimental studies on heat transfer from single finned tubes
focused on the annular instead of oval tube shape. Furthermore, the
analyses of most researchers are restricted to the angle of attack with
respect to the rotation axis of the tube, while the tilt angle of the tube
has not been studied experimentally in a forced convection situation
yet. The interaction of heat transfer, flow distribution and fin tem-
perature distribution result in complex three-dimensional flow and
thermal characteristics. Thus a temperature gradient calculation was
applied in the present study to determine the influence of the tube tilt
angle on the measured fin temperature gradient and consequently fin
efficiency. From fin efficiency the heat transfer coefficient was calcu-
lated. The estimation of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop is an
important task for high performance heat exchangers. Hence correla-
tions for heat transfer and pressure drop are proposed, based on the
experimental results. Thus the present findings can help to design high
performance tilted finned oval tubes.
2. Experimental setup and procedure
2.1. Experimental setup
Within the experimental study we investigated finned oval tubes
with different fin spacing and tilt angles. For varying the fin spacing
different finned heat exchangers were fabricated as a single component
by additive manufacturing and thus an assembly process is not needed.
Due to the additive manufacturing of the finned tubes the conjunction
resistance becomes minimum, since the tube and fins are manufactured
simultaneously. The tubes were mounted into the test facility as shown
in Fig. 2. The change of tilt angle was realized by varying the lateral
mounting position as shown in Fig. 3. The finned oval tubes have a
length of 254 mm and were connected to sleeves, which are fixed at the
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International Journal of Thermal Sciences 140 (2019) 225–237
cover of the test section by bushings on each side. The major axis of the
oval tube is 34 mm , the minor axis is 16 mm , the fin thickness is 1 mm ,
the fin height is 44.5 mm and the fin spacing was 6 mm , 11 mm and
16 mm . The finned oval tubes are made of stainless steel 316L with a
W
thermal conductivity of 16.2 mK . The relevant parameters of the finned
oval tubes are summarized in Table 1.
Three cylindrical heating rods with an outer diameter of 6.5 mm and
a length of 219 mm are inserted in the tubes. The radial gap is filled with
copper powder to reduce the conductivity resistance between the he-
ated rods and the inner tube wall. All three rods got heated parallel by a
direct current power supply to allow a uniform heat distribution. All
experiments were carried out in a flow channel made of poly-
methylmethacrylate with a cross-sectional area of 0.27 m by 0.127 m and
a total length of about 6.5 m . In front of the air inlet section of the flow
channel the compressor (Atlas Copco GA90+) was installed to drive the
air flow. The volumetric flow rate at the flow channel inlet was con-
trolled and measured by an anemometric volumetric flow controller. In
between the air inlet section of the flow channel and the investigated
heat exchangers four flow straighteners were installed in sequential
order, that is, three sieve flow straighteners having smaller mesh size in
downstream direction and a honeycomb flow straightener.
Before each experiment the feedthroughs were tightened to avoid
bypass of air. There are four covers of the test section with openings at
different positions. The tube tilt angle of the finned oval tubes are
being adjusted by these four covers and the corresponding sleeves. In
Fig. 3 the possible angles and the corresponding cover and sleeve po-
sitions are shown.
2.2. Experimental procedure and measurement techniques
One experimental run comprised the variation of the volumetric gas
m m m
flow rate from 1.0 s until 4.0 s in increments of 0.25 s . To assure
steady-state conditions we fixed the volumetric flow rate and the
electrical heating for about 1.5 h at the beginning of each campaign and
further for 25 min after each change of the air flow rate. All data were
recorded from t = 0 s with a time resolution of 1 Hz , until steady-state
condition has been reached. When steady-state was reached the mea-
surement points were tagged over 250 s and the measured data were
averaged over this time. The measurement data was acquired by a
programmable logic controller (Phoenix-Contact™). This system was
used for data management as well as input and output controller
functions, like e.g. calibration or power control. Finally the data was
transferred to an OPC server so that they are available for visualisation,
data storage and further processing. A complete measurement cam-
paign was repeated up to three times to evaluate the reproducibility of
the tests. Within these experiments a difference up to 1.9 % in heat
Fig. 2. Experimental configuration of the test section for finned oval tubes.
S. Unger, et al. International Journal of Thermal Sciences 140 (2019) 225–237

Fig. 3. Adjustment of the different tilt angles of the finned oval tube.

Table 1 The transducer is connected by tubes to two vertical drilled holes in the
Parameters of the investigated heat exchangers. channel wall. The uncertainty of the pressure transducer is 1.3 % of the
dc H s tf Material
full measuring range. Measurement with minimum deviation were
achieved by adapting the measuring range of the pressure transducer
27.5 mm 44.5 mm 6 mm, 11 mm , 16 mm 1 mm Stainless steel 316L (25 Pa or 50 Pa ) to the estimated pressure drop. At the beginning of
every experiment a calibration at zero velocity was done. Nevertheless,
the relative deviation of the pressure drop is high at low velocities, as
transfer coefficient, up to 1.4 % in fin efficiency and up to 9.1 % in the pressure drop is low. An overview over the measured quantities and
pressure difference was found. Downstream and upstream the heat the remaining accuracies is given in Table 2.
exchanger tube three type-K thermocouples measure the air tempera-
ture in the flow channel. The average of these 6 thermocouples was
taken as flow channel air temperature Ta and fluid properties were 3. Data analysis
taken at this temperature. Since the temperature gradient in z-direction
is small (small fin thickness), the fin temperature varies only in radial Fluid properties were taken from the CoolProp library at steady
and lateral direction [7]. Thus the measured fin surface temperature state. The average air side heat transfer coefficient was calculated from
was assumed as fin temperature at this location.
Q
In the central fin position of the finned oval tube 12 type-K ther- h= ,
mocouples were fixed at the fin and tube surface by cyanoacrylate (At + Af ) TLM (1)
adhesive. In order to control the heat distribution in tube axis direction
with the air-side heat transfer rate Q , the tube surface area At , the fin
and to evaluate this influence on temperature distribution along the fin
surface area Af and the logarithmic mean temperature difference
surface, 4 type-K thermocouples were additionally fixed in two other fin
positions closer to the beginning and end of the tube (Fig. 3, left plot). (Tin Tt ) (Tout Tt )
The locations of the thermocouples on the fin surface are shown in TLMTD =
Fig. 4. All thermocouples were calibrated by a thermal calibrator ln ( Tin Tt
Tout Tt ) (2)
(Beamex FB350) that reduced the remaining measurement uncertainty
to ± 0.3 K . We found a homogenous temperature distribution in tube defined by the temperature at the inlet Tin , outlet Tout and on the tube
axis direction and approximately the same temperature at different fins wall Tt . One of the essential challenges for investigating finned tube
and the same position within this fin. To measure the heat transfer we heat exchangers is the determination of fin efficiency. In the literature
controlled the heater power in such a way that the average temperature different methods have been applied to obtain fin efficiency. Such are
obtained by thermocouples Tt1 to Tt6 at the junction of fin base and outer iterative solution [20], empirical correlations [26] and the finite dif-
tube surface (Fig. 4) was constant at 60 °C in any case. We assume that ferences method [7]. In the present study the fin surface is divided into
this average is well representative for the average surface temperature. 4 fin regions (Fig. 6, left) and the temperature is measured for each
When changing the air flow rate it typically takes a few minutes to region in three locations. The fin efficiency is then calculated as
achieve steady-state conditions.
The direct current power supply was calibrated by a reference de-
vice (Fluke 87). The remaining measurement uncertainty of current and
voltage were ± 0.014 A and ± 0.3 V respectively. Therefore the accuracy
of the heater power input was calculated by error propagation as
± 1.5 %. The volumetric flow rate measurement was controlled by a
m3
flow controller with an accuracy of ± 5.3 h . Due to manufacturing
tolerances the flow channel dimensions vary. Therefore theses dimen-
sions were measured and a deviation of ± 0.5 mm was found. Altogether
the corresponding accuracy of the velocity calculated by error propa-
m
gation is ± 0.03 s . The air velocity was additionally recorded by a hot
wire anemometer (PCE-423) before the experiments were conducted
and the deviation of the velocity was in the range of ± 2 %, which
corresponds to the accuracy of the anemometer. Furthermore, the hu-
midity of the air flow was measured by a hygrometer (PCE-313 A) to
adjust the fluid properties in the calculations. The pressure drop over
the finned oval tube is measured by a pressure transducer (Setra
Fig. 4. Temperature measurement locations at central plane and additional
MultiSense MR1SP) with an adjustable measuring range of 25 or 50 Pa . planes of the oval fin.

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S. Unger, et al. International Journal of Thermal Sciences 140 (2019) 225–237

Table 2 is calculated from the fluid properties dynamic viscosity µa , specific

Measured quantities and achieved accuracies. heat capacity cp and thermal conductivity ka . The flow across the finned
Measured quantity Symbol Range Unit Accuracy tube is commonly characterized by the friction factor
2 p dc
Temperature T 0 60 °C ± 0.3 K f= ,
2
Pressure difference p 0 50/0 25 Pa ± 0.65 Pa /± 0.325 Pa a umax L (10)
Velocity u 1 4 m
± 0.03
m
s s which represents the required force to sustain a certain mean flow [16]
Heating power Q 0 600 W ± 2W
Humidity Hrel 5 95 %rel ± 3 %rel
with the pressure drop p across the finned tube, the maximum velocity
umax at the minimum free flow area and the flow depth L .
For the present investigation the efficiency index j/f is used to
tanh(mH ) optimize a heat exchanger frontal area. That is, a maximum of area
=
mH (3) goodness factor represents a minimum frontal area of a heat exchanger
[16], were j is the Colburn factor
2h
m= Nu
kf t f (4) j= .
Re Pr 1/3 (11)
with the thermal conductivity of the fin kf , the fin thickness t f and the The performance of the finned oval tube under different tilt angles is
fin height . The factor m can also been described by the temperature evaluated by the performance evaluation criterion PEC , representing
ratio of the fin temperature at a certain location of the fin T (x ), the tube heat transfer from a surface at a certain flow resistance
temperature Tt and the average air temperature Ta [27].
Nu
T (x ) Ta cosh[m (H x )] PEC = .
= . f 1/3 (12)
Tt Ta cosh(mH ) (5)
In general, a higher value of PEC represents a better overall perfor-
This can be of use to describe the temperature gradient from the fin mance of the heat exchanger [24]. Moreover the global performance
base to the fin tip. Eventual these temperatures were measured and criterion GPC is applied in order to evaluate the total performance of a
used to iteratively calculate the factor m and finally the fin efficiency i finned tube with a given volume. The global performance criterion is
by Equ. (3) for a particular m , as one can see in Fig. 5. defined by the total heat transfer rate of the entire finned oval tube per
The process of calculating fin efficiency becomes clear when the unit flow power consumption [24].
calculated temperature ratio is compared to the one from the measured
temperatures. In Fig. 6 the location and the values of the temperatures Q
GPC = ,
measured by the thermocouples and the calculated temperature gra- pVa (13)
dient from Eq. (5) are shown as a function of the dimensionless fin
m where Va is the volumetric flow rate.
height x / H for a particular frontal velocity of 2 s . Because the tem-
perature in the fin region is an approximate value, the resulting tem-
perature gradient is an approximation too. The temperature gradient 4. Results and discussion
along the fin shows an expected trend. Thus, the temperature in frontal
fin area is lowest and highest in the thermal wake region behind the In the present study the effect of natural convection on the heat
tube. The heat transfer is highest in the upstream region and lowest in transfer performance was neglected. In order to prove the plausibility of
the low velocity wake fin region. A considerable temperature drop this assumption the maximum Grashof number was identified as ap-
between the tube wall and the edge of the fin, especially in the up- proximately Grmax = 1.1 x 105. Thus the ratio of Grmax / Re 2 is about
stream region, was observed. In fact in the experiments of Chen et al. 0.03 to 0.002 depending on the frontal velocity. Since the ratio is much
[7] the heat transfer rate in the front fin region was found about 5 times smaller than 1 the neglection of natural convection is justified [28].
larger than the heat transfer rate in the wake fin region. Furthermore,
an approximate uniform temperature gradient was observed for the
middle left and middle right locations, which is expected due to sym-
metry of the finned tube.
Thus for each fin region and steady state condition a fin efficiency
was determined from the temperature measurement. From theses 4 fin
efficiencies an overall fin efficiency
4
1
= i Ai
Af i=1 (6)

was calculated. The equivalent circular diameter of the oval tube was
used as characteristic length dc , as in the study of Ibrahim et al. [23].
Consequently, with the calculated h and by Eqs. (1) and (6) the
Nusselt number and Reynolds number
hdc
Nu =
ka (7)

a dc u
Re =
µa (8)

were determined. The Prandtl number

µa cp
Pr =
ka (9) Fig. 5. Iterative calculation process for fin efficiency.

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S. Unger, et al. International Journal of Thermal Sciences 140 (2019) 225–237

Fig. 6. Temperature gradient measured

and calculated by Eq. (5) for a parti-
cular frontal velocity of 2 s .
m

4.1. Comparison of experimental results with literature data constant at a ratio of 0.32, which is close to the highest ratio of the
present investigation (0.36), thus similar effects can be expected and a
The experimental results of the present investigation are being further increase of fin spacing does not appear beneficial. As expected,
compared with the predictions of some correlations from literature. the friction factor declines as the fin spacing increases, as one can see
Therefore, the Nusselt number obtained by the correlation is shown as a from Fig. 8b. Similar to the heat transfer characteristics the variation in
function of the measured Nusselt number at the corresponding friction factor is smaller at higher fin spacing. In fact, the friction factor
Reynolds number in Fig. 7. reduces for fin spacing of 6 mm to 11 mm from 35.3 % to 39.4 % and for
Good agreement of the experimental results with those of Gnielinski spacing of 11 mm to 16 mm from 26.2 % to 32.1 % . The friction factor
[4], Ibrahim et al. [23], Sparrow et al. [5] and Schmidt [29] was found reduces due to less friction surfaces, hence a smaller skin friction ap-
for all points within ± 20 %. The correlation of Chen et al. [7] exceeds pears at higher fin spacing and the flow disturbance becomes less.
the measurements by up to 32 % . A reason for this deviation may be the
restriction of this correlation to the heat transfer from the fin surface 4.3. Effect of tube tilt angle on heat transfer and flow characteristics
only. Finally some deviations may occur from the measurement loca-
tions and the experimental inaccuracies such as experimental mea- The tilt angle has a significant influence on the heat transfer and
surements. pressure drop. In Fig. 9 the variation of Nusselt number at different tilt
and fin spacing is shown for various Reynolds numbers. Heat transfer
and pressure drop increase for all fin spacing and Reynolds numbers
4.2. Effect of fin spacing on heat transfer and flow characteristics
with tilt angle. At s = 11 mm and Re = 4650 the Nusselt number in-
creases by 20.9 %, 34.5 % and 44.1 %, when tilt changes from 0° to
The space between the fins is a crucial design parameter, due to its
20°, 30° and 40° respectively. This is because of higher flow mixing, if
strong effect on the flow and heat transfer characteristics. The air flow
the main flow direction is not parallel to the fin surfaces. At high tilt a
gets accelerated in the passage between the fins, the boundary layer
flow separation of the boundary layer may occur and the transversal
starts to develop at the upstream tip of the fin and increases in thickness
flow increases. As a result the heat transfer from the fin surface im-
along the fin surface. When the boundary layers merge, the passing flow
proves due to smaller boundary layer and enhanced flow mixing. The
gets disturbed, heat transfer reduces and pressure drop increases.
heat transfer trends observed for the fin spacing are similar for all tilt
Nevertheless, a flow bypass effect may occur for high fin spacing
angles. In fact, the Nusselt number increases with both fin spacing and
without influencing the heat transfer [16]. Furthermore, horseshoe
tilt angle. Hence Nusselt number is highest at tilt of 40° and s = 16 mm .
vortices develop at the junction of fin base and tube surface and in-
In general the relative effect of tube tilt angle on Nusselt number is
crease heat transfer. This development becomes more prominent for
similar at different fin spacing. Thus the Nusselt number improves at
larger fin spacing and higher Reynolds number [8]. As a result a
Re = 4650 from 0° to 40° by 36.7 % for s = 16 mm and by 41.8 % for
complex three dimensional flow and temperature field develops around
s = 6 mm .
the finned tube heat exchangers.
From Fig. 10 one can see the variation of friction factor with tilt
The variation of Nusselt number and friction factor for various
Reynolds number and at different fin spacing is presented in Fig. 8. In
general the Nusselt number varies strongly and the friction factor only
little with the Reynolds number. From the figure it can be seen, that the
convection heat transfer increases and friction factor reduces as the fin
spacing rises.
Depending on the Reynolds number the Nusselt number increases
from 4.3 % to 21.8 % when fin spacing increases from 6 mm to 11 mm and
from 2.5 % to 7.0 % when spacing increases from 11 mm to 16 mm .
Furthermore, the Nusselt number raises less for the larger spacing. For
the smallest fin spacing the boundary layers may merge and the main
flow cannot sufficiently penetrate the tube surface. At high fin spacing
the disturbance of the air flow is low and the heat transfer high. When
the fin spacing reaches a certain value the boundary layer will not in-
fluence the heat transfer anymore. The fin spacing to fin height ratio
was used by Mon et al. [8] to determine this point of stagnation in heat
transfer. In Mon's study the heat transfer coefficient stayed almost Fig. 7. Comparison of own heat transfer measurements with literature data.

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Fig. 8. Effect of fin spacing on a) Nusselt number and b) friction factor at different Reynolds numbers.

angle and Reynolds number at a fin spacing of 6 mm , 11 mm and 16 mm .
As expected the air flow resistance and consequently the friction factor
increases with higher tilt at all fin spacing and Reynolds number. Fur-
thermore, the influence of tilt on friction factor is clearly higher at
higher fin spacing. Thus at s = 6 mm and Re = 4650 the friction factor
increases by 30.1 %, 86.3 % and 164.3 % and at s = 16 mm by
102.8 %, 309.2 % and 580.1 %, when tilt changes from 0° to 20°, 30° and
40° respectively. Actually at tilt of 40° and spacing of 16 mm the friction
factor is higher compared to the friction factor at tilt of 40° and spacing
of 6 mm . At small fin spacing and high tilt bypass effect may occur, due
to the higher flow blockage. Only a part of the incoming flow passes the
space between the fins, which consequently reduces the velocity and
friction along the fin surface. In addition, at tilted orientations flow
separation along the fin surface may lead to vortices and recirculation
areas between two fins. For high fin spacing the vortices induced by
flow separation from the fin tip may merge with the horseshoe vortices
from the fin to tube junction, which increases the pressure drop. At
smaller fin spacing these vortices may not fully develop and flow gets
stronger guided through the fins, which reduces the friction.
Another interesting aspect is the change in friction factor for higher
tilt angles. For increasing Reynolds number the friction factor increases
until a certain value of about 4650 and reduces, when Reynolds number

Fig. 9. Effect of tube tilt angle on Nusselt number for a) s = 6 mm, b) s = 11 mm and c) s = 16 mm at different Reynolds numbers.

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Fig. 10. Effect of tube tilt angle on friction factor for a) s = 6 mm, b) s = 11 mm and c) s = 16 mm at different Reynolds numbers.
increases further on. This becomes especially clear at the 40° orienta-
tion for all three fin spacing. A reason for that may be the development
of a flow separation area upstream the fin tip, in the wake region be-
hind the tube and a horseshoe vortices at the junction of fin and tube,
which become more prominent with increasing air velocity, as dis-
cussed in Ref. [7]. Thus the developed vortices induced by flow se-
paration disturb the flow until a Reynolds number value of 4650 . From
this point on the effect of boundary layer thinning, which is due to
higher velocity, reduces the flow blockage effect as it is the common
case for horizontal orientations. This description can only be a rough
explanation of the complex fluid dynamics. For a more detailed un-
derstanding flow visualisation techniques or computational fluid dy-
namic methods are needed.
4.4. Thermal-flow performance analysis
The thermal-flow performance is a relevant aspect in the design of a
finned tube heat exchanger. Nevertheless, a comprehensive comparison
is difficult, as heat transfer and pressure drop intensify both with tube
tilt angle. In order to determine the relative value of a heat exchanger, a
minimum of heat transfer resistance and flow resistance needs to be
achieved simultaneously. Thus, we assessed the efficiency index j/f , the
performance evaluation criterion PEC and the global performance cri-
terion GPC , which were successfully applied by Kumar et al. [16] and
Kong et al. [24].
The variation of efficiency index j/f with Reynolds number and
spacing is given in Fig. 11a. The pattern is similar for the different fin
spacing. In particular a reduction of efficiency until approximately
Re = 4650 and a following increase was observed. Thus, the growth in
friction is stronger compared to the heat transfer enhancement at lower
Reynolds number and less at high values. Significant differences at
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International Journal of Thermal Sciences 140 (2019) 225–237
different fin spacing were observed. That is, j/f increases between
65.6 % and 107.5 % from s = 6 mm to s = 11 mm and between 42.3 % to
54.4 % from s = 11 mm to s = 16 mm respectively. In Fig. 11 b) the
variation of the performance evaluation criterion PEC at different Rey-
nolds numbers and fin spacing is shown. Different from j/f improves
PEC with rising Reynolds number, since heat transfer enhancement is
more relevant. PEC is largest at greatest spacing and Reynolds number
and vice versa. Thus, PEC increases between 20. 6 % and 44.0 % from
s = 6 mm to 11 mm and between 14.7 % and 18.8 % from 11 mm to
16 mm . For both parameters, efficiency index j/f and performance
evaluation criterion PEC , the highest fin spacing is the most beneficial
one. Nevertheless the trend of global performance criterion is not clear
as one can see from Fig. 11 c). For all fin spacing values the GPC de-
creases with increasing Reynolds number, since the required flow
power is higher than the total heat transfer rate. The improvement of
heat transfer rate at smaller fin spacing due to higher heat transfer
surface is in the same range as the increase of flow power consumption.
Thus the GPC remains almost constant for all fin spacing values.
Ultimately, the efficiency index and the performance evaluation
criterion benefits most from high fin spacing. However, high fin spacing
reduces the amount of fins on the tube and thus the heat transfer sur-
face area and consequently no enhancement of the global performance
can be observed.
The efficiency index j/f is given in Fig. 12 for different Reynolds
number, fin spacing and tilt angles. For all fin spacing and Reynolds
numbers the increase of pressure drop dominates over the enhancement
in heat transfer due to tilt. As a result, the efficiency index is highest for
the horizontal orientation and lowest for the 40° tilt. For higher spacing
the difference between the tube tilt angles is higher compared to the
smaller spacing. Thus at s = 6 mm and Re = 4650 the efficiency index
reduces by 15.9 %, 31.4 % and 46.4 % and at s = 16 mm by 43.1 %, 68.3 %
S. Unger, et al.
Fig. 11. Effect of fin spacing on a) efficiency index j/ f , b) performance evaluation criterion PEC and c) global performance criterion GPC at different Reynolds
numbers.
and 80.0 % , when tilt changes from 0° to 20°, 30° and 40° respectively.
The efficiency index j/f becomes maximum when the incoming
flow is parallel to the fin surface, i.e. the horizontal orientation, and
worst when the incoming flow is oblique to the fin surface. Similar
findings have been reported by Yogesh et al. [25], who found, that the
efficiency index reduces with orientation angle of finned elliptical
tubes.
In Fig. 13 the performance evaluation criterion PEC of the various
configurations is shown. For a fin spacing of 6 mm the difference be-
tween the various orientation angles are small and a clear trend could
not be observed, which is similar to the findings of Kong et al. [24].
More precisely, PEC varies at a Reynolds number of 3700 between 0° and
40° by only 1.3 % , which is in the range of measurement uncertainty. As
the spacing increases, the thermal and flow characteristics become
more obvious. Furthermore, the differences of PEC are small at low
Reynolds number even for s = 11 mm . One can see that the horizontal
orientation is more beneficial than the tilt angle, in particular for the
highest spacing. As a result the performance evaluation criterion re-
duces at s = 16 mm and Re = 3700 by 8.0 %, 18.1 % and 25.1 %, when tilt
changes from 0° to 20°, 30° and 40°. PEC behaves similar to the effi-
ciency index when fin spacing is high. However at small spacing and
low Reynolds number it is difficult to identify an optimum tilt angle.
The variation of global performance criterion GPC with tube or-
ientation is shown in Fig. 14. Unlike the influence of the fin spacing on
global performance the effect of tilt angle on GPC is obvious. The hor-
izontal orientation outperforms the tilted orientations at all Reynolds
numbers and fin spacing values. At Re = 4650 and s = 6 mm GPC re-
duces by 14.3 %, 36.5 % and 51.4 % and for s = 16 mm by 46.4 %, 71.8 %
and 82.5 % , when tilt changes from 0° to 20°, 30° and 40° respectively.
These reductions occur, since the flow power consumption is much
higher than the total heat transfer rate, when finned tubes are in sloping
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International Journal of Thermal Sciences 140 (2019) 225–237
position.
Even if the heat transfer becomes highest at high tilt angle, the
performance is lowest. In order to evaluate the thermal and flow
characteristics of tilted finned tube heat exchanger the performance
was described by the efficiency index j/f , the performance evaluation
criterion PEC and the global performance criterion GPC . For all criteria
the differences between the angles are greater for higher fin spacing.
The horizontal tube orientation outperformed the tilted orientations for
all compared parameters, since the flow and heat transfer resistance are
lowest. As the tilt angle escalates the ratio of flow resistance dominates
over to heat transfer enhancement and thus the 40° tilt performed
worst. In fact it is not worth to orientate heat exchangers in a tilted
position, if the overall performance is considered. Nevertheless heat
exchangers need to be positioned obliquely in order to allow drainage
of condensed liquid or to reduce the foot print. From the perspective of
the thermal-flow performances a minimum tilt is recommended for
these situations. However the design process may be influenced by cost-
orientated aspects as well.
4.5. Uncertainty analysis
The uncertainties of the measured quantities, such as heat input,
thermocouple readings, air flow rate, pressure transducer reading and
physical dimensions of the flow channel and the heat exchangers were
used to determine the uncertainties of the experimental results. The
total uncertainties of the Reynolds number, fin efficiency, Nusselt
number and friction factor were estimated according to Ref. [30].
From the measured uncertainty of the volume flow rate and thus the
frontal velocity as well as the uncertainty of the hydraulic diameter
were used to calculate the uncertainty of the Reynolds number. The
manufacturing tolerances of the finned oval tube were ± 0.5mm and
S. Unger, et al. International Journal of Thermal Sciences 140 (2019) 225–237

Fig. 12. Effect of tube tilt angle on efficiency index j /f for a) s = 6 mm b) s = 11 mm and c) s = 16 mm at different Reynolds numbers.

Fig. 13. Effect of tube tilt angle on performance evaluation criterion PEC for a) s = 6 mm b) s = 11 mm and c) s = 16 mm at different Reynolds numbers.

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S. Unger, et al. International Journal of Thermal Sciences 140 (2019) 225–237

Fig. 14. Effect of tube tilt angle on global performance criterion GPC for a) s = 6 mm b) s = 11 mm and c) s = 16 mm at different Reynolds numbers.

Fig. 15. Uncertainty of a) Nusselt number Nu and b) friction factor f for s = 11 mm at different tilted angle and Reynolds numbers.

Fig. 16. Comparison between predicted values from the correlation and experimental values of a) Nusselt number and b) friction factor.

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thus the relative uncertainty of Reynolds number is with existing correlations from literature and good agreement was ob-
2
served. Major findings are:
2
Re u dc
= + .
Re u dc (14) (1) Nusselt number enhances and friction factor reduces when fin
spacing increases at horizontal tube orientation.
At lowest velocity it is 5.2 % and at highest velocity it is 2.2 % . The
(2) The efficiency index and the performance evaluation criterion en-
uncertainty of the fin efficiency is determined by the uncertainty of the
hance at higher fin spacing. However the global performance cri-
temperature measurements (outer tube surface, fin surface, air in the
terion stays almost constant at different fin spacing.
flow channel), the uncertainty of the location of the thermocouples and
(3) A significant influence of tube tilt angle was found for both Nusselt
the manufacturing tolerance of the fin surface. The relative uncertainty
number and friction factor due to induced turbulence along the
of the fin efficiency
finned oval tube. As the tube tilt angle rises from 0° to 40° Nusselt
2
Tf
2 2 2 Af
2 number and friction factor increase by 41. 4 % and 580.1 % respec-
Tt Ta x
= + + + + tively at a Reynolds number of 4650 and a fin spacing of 16 mm .
Tt Tf Ta x Af (15) (4) At a small fin spacing the performance evaluation criterion differs
was found to be almost constant at 2.2 % for all experiments. The un- only little with the tube tilt angle. Nevertheless, the efficiency
certainty of the Nusselt number is determined from the uncertainties of index, the performance evaluation criterion at s = 11 mm and
the heat input, the total heat transfer surface, the measured tempera- 16 mm as well as the global performance criterion are highest for
tures (outer tube surface, air in the flow channel), fin efficiency and the horizontal orientation and lowest for 40° tilt at all Reynolds
hydraulic diameter (manufacturing tolerances), giving numbers. Thus, the efficiency index decreases by 80.0 % , the per-
formance evaluation criterion by 27.9 % and the global performance
Nu Q
2
A 2
Tt
2
Ta
2 2
dc
2
criterion by 82.5 % , when tube tilt changes from horizontal to 40° tilt
= + + + + + at a Reynolds number of 4650 and a fin spacing of 16 mm . Hence
Nu Q A Tt Ta dc
the maximum performance was archived, when the incoming flow
(16) was parallel to the fin surface.
Quantitatively, the uncertainty is between 3.1 % and 3.0 % de- (5) The uncertainties of the measured quantities were used to de-
pending on the heat input. Finally, the uncertainties of pressure drop, termine the uncertainties of the experimental results.
velocity, hydraulic diameter and the longitudinal length of the heat (6) Eventually, correlations for heat transfer and pressure drop were
exchangers (manufacturing tolerances) were applied to define the un- derived in order to improve the description of thermal and flow
certainty of the friction factor behaviour of finned oval tubes under different tube orientations.
2 2 2 2
f p u dc L References
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