See

discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264790169

CFD analysis of different Fin-and-Tube Heat

Exchangers

Conference Paper · September 2010

CITATIONS READS

2 1,229

2 authors:

Arafat A. Bhuiyan A.K.M. Sadrul Islam

Islamic University of Technology Islamic University of Technology
45 PUBLICATIONS 355 CITATIONS 151 PUBLICATIONS 981 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Investigation of microalgae biomass as a potential source of bio-fuel for Bangladesh. View project

Heat transfer Enhancement Analysis using Nanofluids View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Arafat A. Bhuiyan on 18 August 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Proceedings of the 13th Annual Paper Meet 1
25 September 2010, Dhaka

CFD analysis of different Fin-and-Tube Heat Exchangers

Arafat Ahmed Bhuiyan, A K M Sadrul Islam

Department of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering,
Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Board Bazar, Gazipur-1704, Bangladesh.

ABSTRACT: The objective of this numerical investigation is to examine the effect of heat transfer
and Pressure drop characteristics inside a three-dimensional, four-row fin-and-tube heat exchanger
allowing for staggered and in lined tube array of plain and wavy fin for Laminar (400 ≤ ReH ≤ 1200)
and turbulent (1300 ≤ ReH ≤ 2000) flow range using the commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics
Code ANSYS CFX-11. For transitional flow, the k-ω turbulence model has been used. Results are
presented in the form of Streamline patterns, Velocity vectors, and Temperature and Pressure
distributions. Code validation is carried out by comparing the simulated case friction factor (f) and
Colburn factor (j) to experimental results from the literature. This study reveals that the flow distinction
between plain and wavy fin has an intense influence on the heat transfer and pressure drop
performance. Wavy fin shows greater heat transfer and pressure drop performance compared to Plain
fin arrangements. On the other hand, for a particular Reynolds number (ReH), the efficiency is higher in
in-line arrangement than the staggered case.

Keywords: Plain and Wavy fin, CFD, Heat Exchanger, Nusselt Number, Pressure Drop Co-efficient.

1. INTRODUCTION

The fin-and-tube heat exchangers are widely used in various thermal engineering applications,
including chemical plants, food industries, HVAC, automotive, aircraft, and more. They consist of a
block of parallel continuous fins with round tubes mechanically or hydraulically expanded into the fins.
The heat exchanger cools heated, compressed air from the motor with cooling water. Fins are used to
increase heat transfer area on the air side, since the air has the largest influence on the overall heat
transfer resistance. The advantages of using fin-and-tube heat exchangers are many. The extended
surfaces (fins) are designed to increase the heat transfer performance, resulting in compact units of
reduced space and weight, with higher heat transfer coefficients.

This study is a CFD simulation of the heat transfer and fluid flow of a four-row heat exchanger
previously tested experimentally and reported in the literature. There has been a variety of work
carried out to study tube-and-fin heat exchangers. Previously, much of the research was experimental,
as theoretical prediction of heat-transfer coefficients is complex due to the airflow pattern occurring in
the exchangers. However, more recently there have also been more numerical studies carried out, as
the use of CFD is becoming more widespread.

During the past few decades many efforts have been devoted to heat transfer and friction
characteristics of plate fin-and tube heat exchangers. Available experimental information on the plate
fin and tube heat exchangers has been presented reviewed and correlated in the literature. Previous
experimental work has focused on obtaining data for analysis, future design, or to create or verify
empirical correlations. [1-8].

Several numerical studies were found in the literature search which used 2D model to simulate flow
and heat transfer in fin-and-tube heat exchangers [9-12]. All of them used FDM and were directed at
comparing the heat transfer and pressure drop of heat exchangers with different geometrical
characteristics. The literature review has also shown that only a few 3D CFD simulations on tube-and-
fin heat exchangers have been done [13-16]. Furthermore, most of the CFD studies found all dealt with
the effect of geometrical parameters on the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics. In this
study, the simulation results for plain and wavy fin considering staggered and in lined arrangements as
shown in fig. 1, simulating pressure drop and heat flow for laminar(400 ≤ Re ≤1200) and transitional
(1300 ≤ Re ≤ 2000) flow range.

Mechanical Engineering Division The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh

Procee
edings of the 13th Annual Paper
P Meet 2
25 September 2010 0, Dhaka

2. PHY
YSICAL MODEL

The computational
c domain is defined by 0≤X≤16.16D, 0≤Y≤2.66D and 0≤Z≤0.3 37D where
D=9.5525mm. The boundaries of the t domain connsist of inlet and a outlet bouundaries, symm
metry planes
and soolid walls. Thee computationaal domain extennds farther thaan the heat exchangers to dow
wnstream of
it, to reduce the num
merical oscillations [17] as shoown in fig. 2.

Fig. 1: Different fi
fin and tube arrangement.

Fig. 2: Coordinate syystem of fin coonfiguration

ATHEMATIC
3. MA CAL MODEL

(i) Governing equatiions

This study
s was perfoormed for the plain and wavvy fin staggeredd and in-lined arrangements considering
convecctive heat tran
nsfer. Air is asssumed as the working fluid d with constannt properties. The
T flow is
steady
y, 3D and inccompressible withw no viscouus dissipation and viscous work. Laminnar and k-ω
turbuleent model is considered
c desscribed by the conservation laws for masss (continuity), momentum
(Navieer-Stokes) and by the energy equations are as
a follows:
(11)

(22)

(33)

In Equuations (2) andd (3) µT and PrT are turbulent viscosity and turbulent
t Pranddtl number resppectively. If
we eliminate the term ms containing µT then it becoomes the equattions for the laaminar flow. PrrT = 0.9 was
used in
i the current study as suggeested by Yuann [18]. In k-ω turbulent moddel the µT is liinked to the
turbuleence kinetic en
nergy (k) and tu
urbulence freqquency (ω) via the
t following rrelation:
(44)

The trransport equations for k and ω were first developed by Wilcox

W [19] andd later it was modified
m by
Menteer [20] can be expressed
e as:
(55)

(66)

Wheree F1 is a blendiing function annd its value is a function of the

t wall distannce. F1 = 1 and d 0 near the
surface and inside th
he boundary lay yer respectively. The constannts of this modeel (ф3) are calcculated from
the connstants ф1 and ф2 based on thhe following geeneral equationn.

anical Engine
Mecha eering Division
n The
T Institutio
on of Engineerrs, Banglades
sh
Proceedings of the 13th Annual Paper Meet 3
25 September 2010, Dhaka

ф F ф 1 F ф (7)

The constants are given as α1= 5/9, β′=0.09, β=0.075, σk= 2, σω1= 2, α2 = 0.44, β2 = 0.0828, σk2 =1, σω2
=1/0.856. Details of different turbulent models are documented in [17, 19- 21].

The average Nusselt number Nu, defined as:

.
Nu (8)

The friction factor f and the Colburn factor j are defined as :

f , j (9)
. . .

respectively.

(ii) Boundary conditions

The boundary conditions of the present study are described as follows.
1. Symmetry conditions are considered on the mid planes between two fins. This symmetry of
the problem is used to model only one half of the domain for the computational purposes.
2. At the upstream boundary(inlet) , uniform flow with constant velocity uin and constant
temperature Tin are assumed;
3. At the downstream end of the computational domain (outlet), stream wise gradient (Neumann
boundary conditions) for all the variables are set to zero.
4. No-slip boundary condition is used at the fins and the tube surfaces. These surfaces are
assumed to be solid wall with no slip boundary condition (u=v=w=0) and constant wall
temperature Twall. The fins and tubes are assumed to be made of aluminium.
5. Symmetry boundary conditions are prescribed at the centre plane, tube centre plane and the
top symmetry plane

4. NUMERICAL PROCEDURE

Discretization of the governing equations is the initial step of the numerical simulation. The objective
of discretization is to reduce the governing partial differential equations to a set of algebraic equations.
Finite volume method (FVM) is used in this Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code. This
approach involves discretizing the spatial domain into finite control volumes using the mesh. The
governing equations are integrated over each control volume, such that relevant quantity (mass,
momentum, energy) is conserved in a discrete sense for each control volume. The solver rapidly
removes local errors in the solution, and an algebraic multi-grid scheme is used to accelerate the
convergence of the solver by computing the corrections on a series of coarse grid levels. In all
simulations, the second order upwind scheme is used for the discretization of the momentum and
energy equations. This code uses a coupled solver, which solves the hydrodynamic equations (for u, v,
w and p) as a single system. For steady state problems, the time-step behaves like an acceleration
parameter, which is responsible to guide the approximate solutions in a physically based manner to a
steady state solution. This reduces the number of iterations required for convergence to a steady state.

Hydrodynamic system STOP

YES
Volume fraction

Additional variable CONVERGENCE

SOLVE CRITERIA
START SATISFIED?
Energy

Turbulence
RECALL NO
SOLVE
Mass fraction

Fig. 3: Numerical procedure

Mechanical Engineering Division The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh

Proceedings of the 13th Annual Paper Meet 4
25 September 2010, Dhaka

5. GRID SENSITIVITY TEST

As the accurateness of the numerical results depends stalwartly on the mesh resolutions, a number of
trial simulations were carried out with different mesh resolutions. The three different grid size chosen
are 91821, 141700 and 191480 nodes for the Plain fin and 121574, 183223 and 263318 nodes for the
wavy fins. The variation of friction factor and Colburn factor of the domain are investigated to attain
the independence of f and j for a given number of nodes. It was observed that an unstructured mesh
system with triangular mesh containing 141700 nodes and 451756 elements for plain fin and 183223
nodes with 451683 elements for wavy fin are considered to be fine enough to resolve the flow features
in all simulations. The surface mesh setup is shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 4: Surface Mesh Setup for Plain and Wavy Fin Configuration
0.07 0.016
Friction factor, f

0.056
Colburn factor, j

0.012
0.042
0.008
0.028
0.004 Experimental
0.014 Experimental
Present(k-omega model) Present(k-omega model)
0 0
1125 1300 1475 1650 1825 2000 1125 1300 1475 1650 1825 2000
Reynolds number, ReH Reynolds number, ReH

Fig. 5: Comparison between obtained numerical and the experimental data.

6. CODE VALIDATION

To ensure the numerical results are unswerving, calculations were first prepared to scrutinize the recital
of wavy fin geometry having 4 rows staggered circular tube configuration with the experimental data
by Wang et al. [1997]. The detailed geometry of the examined heat exchanger is same as Wang et al.
As mentioned earlier that three different turbulent models were tested to settle on the most accurate
method for the current analysis. Among these, k-ω model showed the best matching with the
experimental data published by others. The maximum differences in f and j between the numerical and
the experimental data using the k- ω model were found to be 10.22% and 11.25% respectively as
presented in fig. 5.

7. RESULTS

The current investigation is performed for the laminar (400≤Re≤1200) flow and turbulent
(1300≤Re≤2000) flow range to determine the flow distinction among the plain and wavy fin staggered
and in lined configurations using CFD code ANSYS CFX-11. The flow range is selected for the
present study because the flow remains in this range for most of the fin and tube heat exchanger as it is
recommended by the experimental studies of several researchers.

For the plain fin, flow is fairly straightforward and it gets interrupted only by the tubes. Because of the
flow interruption by the tubes, a flow recirculation zone is observed at the trailing edge of the tubes as
the flow passes over the tubes. In case of wavy fin, the flow is guided by the corrugations as it gets re-

Mechanical Engineering Division The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh

Proceedings of the 13th Annual Paper Meet 5
25 September 2010, Dhaka

Re=1200 Re=2000
Fig. 6: Streamline pattern for the fin configuration.

Re=1200 Re=2000
Fig. 7: Velocity vectors for the fin configuration

Re=1200 Re=2000
Fig. 8: Temperature contour for fin configuration

Re=1200 Re=2000
Fig. 9: Pressure distribution for the fin configuration

Mechanical Engineering Division The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh

Proceedings of the 13th Annual Paper Meet 6
25 September 2010, Dhaka

oriented each time it passes over a wavy corrugation. This is distinctive flow pattern compared to plain
fin arrangements. For this reason, less flow recirculation is observed in the wake of the tubes. The
difference between plain fin staggered and plain fin in-lined configuration can be observed from the
streamline of these arrangements as shown in fig 6. For the plain fin staggered configurations flow
interruption takes place on both sides of the domain. Because of the repeated interruption of the flow
due to staggered tube on both sides of the domain for this fin configuration, a smaller recirculation zone
is observed in the trailing edge of the domain. For the plain fin in-lined arrangements flow is blocked
only on one side of the domain due to the in-lined arrays of the tubes. As all the tubes for the plain fin
in-lined configurations lie on one side of the domain, flow gets separated into two forms as seen from
the figure. These two regions can be free flow regions where there is no tube and the stagnant flow
regions, in the trailing edge of the tubes. This effect satisfied the answer that higher recirculation zone
for the plain fin in-lined configuration as compared with the plain fin staggered configurations. Thus
incase of plain fin staggered configurations the flow gets interrupted on both sides of the domain at a
regular interval because of the tube layouts resulting in smaller recirculation zone.

Fig. 8 shows the temperature contour for the plain fin staggered , plain fin in-lined , wavy fin staggered
and wavy fin in-lined configurations taken on the X-Y Planes at Z=1.765 mm for Re=1200 and
Re=2000 in Laminar flow and Turbulent flow respectively. Fig. 9 shows the pressure distribution for
the same configuration as temperature distributions. For the present analysis inlet air temperature was
kept constant at 25˚C and the fin and the tube surfaces were kept as wall boundary with a constant
temperature of 100˚C and outlet pressure was assumed to be zero. The temperature profile study
provides the same behavior as the streamline pattern and the velocity vector. Much larger recirculation
zones are observed in the trailing edge of the tubes for plain fin in-lined arrangements as compared to
the plain fin staggered configurations. But for the wavy fin staggered and in-lined arrangements less
recirculation was found. From the temperature profile of plain fin in-lined arrangements, it is found that
there is larger high temperature zones in the trailing edge of the tubes can be called warm zones
because of the recirculation flow which stretches between two adjacent tubes.

40 Plain fin Staggered

Plain fin Inlined
35 Wavy fin staggered
Wavy fin Inlined
Nusselt Number, Nu

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Reynolds Number, Re
Fig. 10: Effect of Nusselt Number (Nu) for different fin configuration

14 Plain fin
Staggered
Pressure Drop Co efficient, Cp

12 Plain fin Inlined

10

-
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Reynolds Number, Re
Fig. 11: Effect of Pressure drop Coefficient (Cp) for different fin configuration

Mechanical Engineering Division The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh

Proceedings of the 13th Annual Paper Meet 7
25 September 2010, Dhaka

As the intensity of the flow in the turbulent region is higher compared to Laminar flow region, so the
visualization effect of the above mentioned analysis is significantly different. The recirculation zone for
the turbulent flow is higher compared to laminar flow for four different configurations. The flow
structure difference for the plain fin in lined and staggered configuration and wavy fin in lined and
staggered configurations based on the same geometrical parameter are investigated on the heat transfer
and pressure drop characteristics. Fig. 10 shows the Variation of Nusselt Number (Nu) against the
Reynolds number (Re) and fig. 11 shows the Variation of Pressure drop coefficient (Cp) against the
Reynolds number for the four tube row domain of the plain and wavy fin in-lined and staggered
configurations. Nusselt Number (Nu) increases with the increase in Reynolds Number (Re), while
Pressure drop Coefficient (Cp) decreases with the increase in Reynolds Number (Re).

From fig. 10, it can be seen that Nusselt Number (Nu) for the wavy fin staggered configuration is 11.03
% higher than that of the wavy fin in-lined arrangements. While the Nu for the plain fin staggered
configuration is 30.76 % higher than that of the plain fin in-lined arrangements. From fig. 11 it can be
said that Pressure drop coefficient for the wavy fin staggered configuration is 15.05% higher than that
of the wavy fin in-lined arrangements. While the Cp for the plain fin staggered configuration is 47%
higher than that of the plain fin in-lined arrangements. From this flow analysis it can be reported that
for the plain fin staggered arrangements higher difference in heat transfer and pressure drop is found
when compared with the plain fin in-lined configurations. On the other hand, a relatively low
percentage of difference is found for the Cp and Nu for the wavy fin staggered arrangements when
compared with the wavy fin in-lined arrangements.

8. CONCLUSION

The numerical investigations of heat transfer and pressure drop for laminar and turbulent flow regime
was carried out in this outline. The flow range considered for the present computation is laminar and
turbulent. Laminar flow model is used for the laminar flow range while k-Omega Turbulence model is
employed for the transitional flow range with 5% turbulence intensity. The effect of flow distinction
between plain fin and wavy fin is significant.. Recirculation zone is the differentiating factor for these
two fin configurations. The area of the recirculation zone for the plain fin is more than the wavy fin
configurations. On the other hand, in case of in lined arrangements, the recirculation zone is larger than
the staggered arrangements in between two adjacent tubes, since the flow is obstructed only on one side
of the domain. Wavy fin show larger heat transfer performance as indicated by higher Nu Pressure drop
is also significant as compared to plain fin.

REFERENCES

1. Wang, C. C., Chang, Y. 1., Hsieh, Y. C. and Lin, Y. T., "Sensible heat and friction I
characteristics of plate fin-and-tube heat exchangers having plane fins", International Journal
of Refrigeration, Vol. 19, Number 4, pp. 223-230, May 1996.
2. Wang, C. C., Fu, W. L. and Chang, C. T., "Heat transfer and friction characteristics of typical
wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers", Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, l' Vol. 14,
Number2, pp. 174-186, February 1997.
3. Wang, C. C., Hwang, Y. M. and Lin, Y. T., "Empirical correlations for heat transfer and (
flow friction characteristics of herringbone wavy fin-and-tube heat exchangers", International
Journal of Refrigeration, Vol. 25, Number 5, pp. 673-680, August 2002.
4. Kayansayan, N., "Heat transfer characterization of flat plain fins and round tube heat
exchangers", Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, Vol. 6, Number 3, pp. 263-272, April
1993.
5. Yan, Wei-Mon; Sheen, Pay-Jen. “Heat transfer and friction characteristics of fin-and-tube
heat exchangers”, Volume 43 (2000), pp. 1651-1659.
6. Ay, Herchang; Jang, Jiin Yuh; Yeh, Jer-Nan. “Local heat transfer measurements of plate
finned-tube heat exchangers by infrared thermography”, International Journal of Heat and
Mass Transfer, Vol. 45 (2002), pp. 4069-4078.
7. Kim, N. H., Youn, B. and Webb, R. L., "Air-side heat transfer and friction correlations for
plain fin-and-tube heat exchangers with staggered tube arrangements", Journal of Heat
Transfer, Transactions ASME, Vol. 121, Number 3, pp. 662-667, August 1999.
8. Kim, N. H., Youn, 1. H. and Webb, R. L., "Heat transfer and friction correlations for wavy
plate fin-and-tube heat exchangers", American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Heat
Transfer Division, (Publication) HTD, Vol. 330, Number 8, pp. 43-52, 1996.

Mechanical Engineering Division The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh

 Proceedings of the 13th Annual Paper Meet 8
25 September 2010, Dhaka

9. Kundu, D., Skeikh, A. H. and Lou, D. Y. S., "Pressure and heat transfer in cross flow over
cylinders between two parallel plates", Numerical Heat Transfer: An International Journal of
Computation and Methodology; Part A: Applications, Vol. 9, Number 3, pp. 345-360, 1991.
10. McNab, C. M., Atkinson, K. N., Heikal, M. R. and Taylor, N., "Numerical modeling of heat
transfer and fluid flow over herringbone corrugated fins" Proceedings of the 11th International
Heat Transfer Conference, Kyongiu, Korea, Vol. 6, pp. 119-124, 1996.
11. Asako, Y., and Faghri, M., "Finite-volume solutions for laminar flow and heat transfer in a
corrugated duct", Journal of Heat Transfer, Transactions ASME, Vol. 109, Number 3, pp.
627-634, August 1987.
12. Yang, L. C., Asako, Y., Yamaguchi, Y. and Faghri, M., "Numerical prediction of transitional
characteristics of flow and heat transfer in a corrugated duct", ASME Journal of Heat
Transfer, Vol. 119, pp. 62-69, 1997.
13. Mendez, R. R., Sen, M., Yang, K. T. and McClain, R., "Effect of fin spacing on convection in
a plate fin and tube heat exchanger", International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 43,
Number 1, pp. 39-51, October 2000.
14. Jang, Y. J., Wu, M. C. and Chang, W. J., "Numerical and experimental studies of three
dimensional plate-fin and tube heat exchangers", International Journal of Heat and Mass
Transfer, Vol. 39, Number 14, pp. 3057-3066, Sept.1996.
15. Tutar, M., Akkoca, A. and Serdar, 0., "A numerical study of heat transfer and fluid flow in a
plate fin- and- tube heat exchanger", ASME, Pressure Vessels and Piping Division
(Publication) PVP, Vol. 431, Number 3, pp. 77-84, 2001.
16. Tutar, M. and Akkoca, A., "Numerical analysis of fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics
in three-dimensional plate fin-and-tube heat exchangers", Numerical Heat Transfer; Part A:
Applications, Vol. 46, Number 3, pp. 301-321, August 2004.
17. R. R. Mendez, M. Sen, K. T. Yang, and R. McClain, “Effect of fin Spacing on Convection in a
Plate Fin and Tube Heat Exchanger”, International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 43,
pp. 39-51, 2000.
18. Yuan, Z. X, “Numerical study of periodically turbulent flow and heat transfer in a channel
with transverse fin arrays”, International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat and Fluid
Flow, Vol. 10, Number 8, pp. 842-86, 2000.
19. Wilcox, D. C., "Multi-scale model for turbulent flows", AIAA 24th Aerospace Sciences
Meeting, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1986.
20. Menter, F. R., “Two-equation eddy-viscosity turbulence models for engineering applications”,
AIAA Journal, Vol. 32, Number 8, pp. 1598-1605, August, 1994.
21. Panse, S. P., “A numerical Investigation of thermal and hydraulic characteristics in 3D plate
and wavy fin-tube heat exchangers for Laminar and transitional flow regimes”, M. Sc. Thesis,
Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA, 2005.
22. Reddy and Gartling, “The Finite Element Method in Heat Transfer and Fluid Dynamics”,
CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, 1994.

Mechanical Engineering Division The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh

View publication stats