International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399

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International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer

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

Numerical investigation on cooling heat transfer and flow

characteristic of supercritical CO2 in spirally fluted tubes
Zhongyang Yu a,b, Leren Tao a,b,∗, Lihao Huang a,b, Dong Wang c
a
Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, People’s Republic of China
b
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow and Heat Transfer in Power and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai
200093, People’s Republic of China
c
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Technology, Ma’anshan 243002, People’s Republic of China
∗
Corresponding author at: Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, People’s Republic
of China.

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

Article history: To study the heat transfer and flow characteristic of supercritical CO2 cooling in the spirally fluted tubes,
Received 5 May 2020 this paper presents numerically investigation of heat transfer performance of various cases within differ-
Revised 16 August 2020
ent geometric parameters (the radius of the groove r1 , the radius of the fillet r2 , the depth of the groove
Accepted 26 August 2020
e1 , the distance between the main tube and the outer sleeve e2 and the helix angle w). Based on the
verified turbulent model at an inlet temperature of 323.15 K, an operating pressure of 8.0 MPa, an inlet
Keywords: Reynolds number of 35,0 0 0 and a total heat of 4200 W, the optimal structure is obtained (r1 = 6.5 mm,
Supercritical CO2 r2 = 2.0 mm, e1 = 5.5 mm, e2 = 1.0 mm, w = 0.70 rad) according to the evaluation factors proposed in
Spirally fluted tube the paper. The representative parameters (e1 and w) are employed to investigate the variation of the local
Cooling heat transfer
heat transfer coefficient and turbulent kinetic energy, and mechanisms underlying the effect of parame-
Geometric parameter
ters on heat transfer are revealed. Furthermore, the buoyancy effect is also discussed. Results show that
Buoyancy
the buoyancy force has an improvement effect on the heat transfer performance. However, as w increases,
the influence of buoyancy will be weakened.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Carbon dioxide (CO2 ) is considered as an promising alterna-
tive refrigerant for HFCs (hydro-fluorocarbons) and HCFCs (hydro-
chloro-fluorocarbons) refrigerants due to its attractive ozone deple-
tion potential (ODP = 0) and global warming potential (GWP = 1)
[1–2]. Because of the low critical temperature of CO2 (31.26 °C),
the trans-critical cycle is usually used in refrigeration/heat pump
system to improve the performance [3–4]. Different from the tra-
ditional condensation, there is no phase change in the heat ex-
changer of high pressure side for the trans-critical cycle [5]. There-
fore, in the cycle, the heat exchanger is generally called as gas
cooler. The thermophysical properties of supercritical CO2 (sCO2 )
cooling in the gas cooler has drastic variations (as shown in Fig. 1),
especially at the pseudo-critical temperature (Tpc ). Under certain
pressure, Tpc is defined as the temperature corresponding to the
maximum specific heat [6–7]. This rapid variation of thermophys-
ical properties has significant influence on convective heat trans-
E-mail address: cryo307@usst.edu.cn (L. Tao).
fer patterns [8–11]. So, the comprehensive researches on the flow
characteristic and heat transfer of sCO2 in gas cooler are necessary.
A large amount of research has been carried out the experi-
ment to investigate the cooling heat transfer and pressure drop of
sCO2 [12]. Dang and Hihara [13,14] reported experimental study of
sCO2 cooled in horizontal tubes of diameter 1-6 mm. The results
showed that when the temperature was higher than Tpc , the effect
of heat flux on the heat transfer coefficient was more significant.
Yoon et al. [15] performed experimentation to observe the sCO2
heat transfer in a circular tube of 7.73 mm. The study indicated
that during the cooling process, the heat transfer coefficient had a
maximum value at Tpc . Bruch et al. [16] experimented with sCO2 to
obtain the heat transfer in a vertical tube of 6 mm. Due to the ef-
fect of buoyancy force, the heat transfer coefficient of upward flow
was larger than that of downward flow, and the difference between
them was more evident near Tpc .
The above studies mainly used the experimental method to an-
alyze the cooling heat transfer of sCO2 . However, there are some
limitations in the experimental investigation, such as that the com-
plex variation of flow parameters cannot be observed directly.
Therefore, in recent years, numerical methods have been widely

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2020.120399
0017-9310/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399

used to research sCO2 . Lee and Howell [17] conducted numerical

Nomenclature model of sCO2 cooling in vertical circular tube. The results showed
the variation of turbulent properties with bulk temperature. Wang
A area [mm2 ]; et al. [18] presented the numerical findings of sCO2 cooling in
Cp specific heat [J/(kg•K)]; three large horizontal tubes. The influence of buoyance force on
de equivalent diameter [mm]; heat transfer coefficient was described in detail.
e1 the depth of the groove [mm]; The research mentioned above focused on the heat transfer of
e2 the distance between the main tube and the outer sCO2 in straight circular tube. In practice, in order to enhance the
sleeve [mm]; heat transfer, gas coolers with different structures have been de-
f friction factor; veloped. Therefore, the effect of geometric parameters on the flow
h heat transfer coefficient [W/(m2 •K)]; characteristic and heat transfer is also notable. Zhang et al. [19],
I turbulence intensity; Wang et al. [20] and Liu et al. [21] respectively investigated the
g gravitational acceleration [m/s2 ]; heat transfer process of sCO2 in the helically coiled tube. With
G mass flux [kg/(m2 •s)]; the different diameters, coil pitches, and coil radiuses of the coiled
k turbulent kinetic energy [m2 /s2 ]; tube, both of the buoyancy force and the centrifugal force were
L length [m]; numerically analyzed. Li et al. [22] performed the optimization of
Lp wetted perimeter [mm]; geometric parameters for the cylindrically concaved tube and stud-
P pressure [Pa] ied the effect of parameters on the heat transfer and pressure drop
q heat flux [W/m2 ]; of sCO2 . Zhu et al. [23] experimentally studied the heat trans-
Q total heat [W]; fer coefficient of sCO2 in the smooth tube and the spirally fluted
r1 the radius of the groove [mm]; tubes with two structures. The results demonstrated the better
r2 the radius of the fillet [mm]; heat transfer performance of the spirally fluted tube.
R the radius of the main tube [mm]; The cooling process of sCO2 in the specific tube is still defi-
Re Reynolds number; cient, especially in the spirally fluted tube. In this paper, firstly, the
T temperature [K]; turbulent convective heat transfer of sCO2 cooling in the spirally
T average temperature [K]; fluted tube is investigated by using Computational Fluid Dynamics
u velocity [m/s]; (CFD). Secondly, geometric parameters of the tube are optimized.
w helix angle [rad] Moreover, the effects of geometric parameters on heat transfer co-
efficient will be studied. Finally, the buoyancy force within differ-
Greek symbol
ent geometric parameters is also discussed.
ε dissipation rate of turbulent energy [m2 /s2 ]
μ dynamic viscosity [kg/(m•s)]
2. Numerical approach
P pressure drop [Pa]
ρ density [kg/m3 ]
2.1. Physical model
Subscripts
avg average The geometric parameters of spirally fluted tube studied in this
b bulk fluids paper are presented in Fig. 2. As shown in Fig. 2(a), R, r1 , r2 are the
c cross section radius of the main tube, the groove, and the fillet, respectively. e1
h cooling surface is the depth of the groove, and e2 is the distance between the main
i subsection tube and the outer sleeve. The lengthwise section of spirally fluted
in inlet tube is depicted in Fig. 2(b), where w is the helix angle. The heli-
out outlet cal direction of the tube is right-hand rotation. It can also be seen
pc pseudo-critical that the fluid flows between the inner wall (heat transfer surface)
ref reference and the outer wall (adiabatic surface). The mainstream direction is
t testing point along the positive x axis, and the gravity direction is along negative
w inner wall y axis.

Fig. 1. Thermophysical properties of sCO2 at 8.0 MPa.

 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399 3

Fig. 2. Geometric parameters of the cross and lengthwise section for spirally fluted tube.

Table 1
Detailed values of geometric parameters for calculation cases.

In order to obtain the optimal geometric parameters and study

the effect of geometric parameters on the heat transfer, various
cases with different structures are investigated. The detailed val-
ues for each case are shown in Table 1. For comparison with liter-
ature data [23], the main tube radius R in each case is set as 11.06.
The optimization method is described as follows: firstly, the eval-
uation factors for optimization are proposed. Secondly, the cases
with different r1 and other fixed geometric parameters are com-
pared, and the optimal r1 corresponding to the maximum evalua-
tion factor is selected. Thirdly, the optimal r1 and other geometric
parameters remain constant, and r2 is varied. Finally, the parame-
ters are optimized in turn, and the optimal structure is obtained. Fig. 3. Diagram of computational domain.
The order of geometric parameters optimization is r1 , r2 , e1 , e2 ,
and w.
Fig. 3 illustrates the computational domain used in this study. 2.2. Boundary condition
To simplify the model, only the fluid domain on CO2 side is consid-
ered. The length of the test section is 960 mm. To ensure that the For the studied cases, the values of geometric parameters are
fluid entering the test section is in fully developed condition and different. Hence, the cross section area and heat exchange area of
the outlet disturbance effects are eliminated, two adiabatic smooth each case are various, as shown in Table 2. To reasonably compare
tubes with length of 200 mm (27de ~ 37de , depending on the geo- among the different cases, the values of the condition parameter
metric parameters in the cross section) are respectively connected of inlet (Tin , Pin , Rein ) and the total heat of test section (Q) are
to upstream and downstream of the test section. fixed. The details are as follows: Tin = 323.15 K, Pin = 8.0 MPa,
4 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399

Table 2
Flow and geometric parameters for considered cases.

Rein = 350 0 0, Q = 4200 W. Accordingly, parameters of struc- tube, RNG k-ε turbulent model is selected in this paper. It has bet-
ture and flow for each case can be calculated, which are listed in ter accuracy for swirling flow [24]. Therefore, the governing RANS
Table 2. equations and turbulence equations are as follows:
As shown in Table 2, Ac is the area of cross section, and Ah is Continuity:
the area of cooling surface. Both of their values are obtained by ∂
measuring tool of Solidworks. de is the equivalent diameter and its (ρ ui )=0 (5)
∂ xi
value can be calculated by Eq. (1).
Momentum:
4Ac     
de = (1) ∂   ∂ 2 ∂u ∂ ∂ ui ∂ u j
Lp ρ ui u j = − Pj + μeff k + μeff + + ρg j
∂ xi ∂xj 3 ∂ xk ∂ xi ∂ x j ∂ xi
where Lp is the wetted perimeter. The mass flux G is defined as
(6)
follows:
Energy:
μin = f (Tin , Pin ) (2)   
∂ ∂ C μ ∂T
( ρ u i H )= λ+ p t (7)
Rein μin ∂ xi ∂ xi P rt ∂ xi
G= (3)
de where the value of the turbulent Prandtl number Prt is 0.85. The
effective viscosity μeff is defined as the sum of the dynamic viscos-
in which the dynamic viscosity of inlet μin is computed from the
ity μ and the turbulent viscosity μt . μt is computed as follows:
temperature and pressure of the inlet. q is the heat flux, and is
calculated as: k2
μt = ρCμ (8)
Q ε
q= (4) Turbulent kinetic energy:
Ac  
∂ ∂ ∂k
The boundary condition of inlet is set as mass-flow-inlet, and (ρ ui k )= αμ + Gk + Gb − ρε +Sk (9)
that of outlet is set as pressure outlet. The value of the gravi- ∂ xi ∂ x j k eff ∂ x j
tational acceleration is 9.81 m/s2 , and its direction is shown in Turbulence dissipation rate:
Fig. 2(b). For the adiabatic section, the values of the heat flux of  
the inner and outer wall are both assumed as zero; for the test ∂ ∂ ∂ε ε ε2
(ρ ui ε )= αμ + C1ε (Gk + Gb ) − C2ε ρ +Sε
section, the outer wall is considered to be adiabatic, and constant ∂ xi ∂ x j ε eff ∂ x j k k
heat flux shown in Table 2 is imposed on the inner wall.
(10)
in which Gk is the generation of turbulence kinetic energy due to
2.3. Governing equations the mean velocity gradients, and Gb is the generation of turbulence
kinetic energy due to buoyancy. Both of them are respectively de-
The assumptions of the simulation are as follows: the turbulent fined by:
flow and heat transfer are steady-state; the heat exchange with  
the environment is neglected; the effect of gravity is given. Con- ∂ ui ∂ u j ∂ ui
G k = μt + (11)
sidering the characteristic of the rotation flow in the spirally fluted ∂ x j ∂ xi ∂ x j
 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399 5

Table 3
The constant values of the turbulence model. q
h= (18)
Cμ Cν C1 ε C2 ε σk σε Sk Sε T b − Tw
0.0845 100 1.42 1.68 1.393 1.393 0 0 where Tb,out is the temperature of the outlet for the test section,
Tw is the temperature of the total inner wall, which is calculated
by averaging the inner wall temperature of each subsection. n is
the number of sections.
μt ∂ T For the optimization of geometric parameters of the spirally
G b = β gi (12)
P rt ∂ xi fluted tube, the most important criterion is to improve the heat
transfer performance as much as possible. However, with the in-
where the coefficient of thermal expansion β is defined as follows:
crease of heat transfer performance, flow resistance and produc-
  tion cost of the tube generally rise. Therefore, the evaluation factor
∂ρ 1
β=− (13) (EF) is proposed. It comprehensively considers the heat transfer co-
ρ ∂T P efficient, pressure drop, and heat transfer area. The definition of EF
For RNG k-ε model, a differential equation for turbulent vis- is as follows:
cosity used to deal with near-wall flows is calculated by following h/href
E F1 = (19)
equation: P/Pref
 
ρ2k ν h/href
d √ = 1.72  dν (14) E F2 = (20)
με ν − 1 + Cν
3 Ah /Ah,ref

where ν is the ratio of the effective viscosity μeff to the dynamic
viscosity μ.
The constant values for this model are shown in Table 3.
2.4. Numerical strategies
The commercial software package ANASYS FLUENT 18.2 is used
for the model. The thermophysical properties of CO2 are derived
from Refrigerant Property (Refprop) database by using NIST real-
gas model, and the variations of them in the studied range are
shown in Fig. 1. The coupling of pressure-velocity is realized
by Semi-Implicit Method for Pressure Linked Equations-Consistent
(SIMPLIC) algorithm. To achieve better convergence, first order dif-
ference formulae are initially chosen for discretization of the tur-
bulent kinetic energy, turbulent dissipation rate, and energy equa-
tion. Then they will be switched to the second-order upwind
scheme for higher accuracy. Given the drastic variation of the ther-
mal physical properties of sCO2 , the under-relaxation factor for
energy is set as 0.8. The convergence criterion requires that the
residuals for all equations decrease to 10−6 , while the difference of
mass flow rate between inlet surface and outlet surface is less than
0.1%.
2.5. Data reduction method
To study the variation of the local heat transfer coefficient, the
test section is divided into 16 subsections on average. The local
heat transfer of the i subsection hi is given by:
 
Tb,i,in +Tb,i,out A Cpρ uT dAc
T b,i = = c,i,in
2 Ac,i,in Cpρ udAc
q are shown in Table 4.
hi =
T b,i − Tw,i
where Tb, i ,in , Tb, i ,out and Tw, i are the mass-weighted average tem-
perature of the inlet, outlet and inner wall for the i subsection,
respectively.
In this study, the total heat transfer coefficient h is also investi-
gated. It can be calculated as follows:
E F = E F1 · E F2 (21)
in which the subscript of ref denotes the reference case. In this
study, Case 1 is selected to be the reference case. P is the total
pressure drop, which indicates the pressure difference between the
inlet and outlet of the test section.
The meanings of Eq. (19) and (20) are the variation ratio of heat
transfer coefficient under the unit variation ratio of pressure drop
(EF1 ) and heat exchange area (EF2 ), respectively. The product of the
two is the evaluation coefficient (EF), and the higher value of EF
indicates better applicability of geometric parameters.
2.6. Mesh independence check and model validation
To ensure the accuracy of the simulation and the efficiency of
the computation, mesh independence should be analyzed. Under
the same condition described in Ref. [23], four different numbers
of cells are selected for comparative calculation. In addition, all the
meshes are refined near the inner wall and the outer wall to guar-
antee the dimensionless wall distance (y+ ) approximately equal
to 1.0. The details of the simulation condition are as follows: for
the geometric parameters, the length of the test section is 1200
mm, R = 11.06 mm, r1 = 7.0 mm, r2 = 2.0 mm, e1 = 5.5 mm,
e2 = 4.0 mm (the area of the cooling surface and the parameters of
the lengthwise section are the same as those in Ref. [23]); for the
boundary condition, Tin = 356.15 K, Pin = 11.2 MPa, Rein = 35473.
q varies with the x-coordinate value of each grid node, and the ex-
pression of q(x) is obtained by fitting the literature data. Then it
will be loaded into the software program by using the User De-
A Cpρ uT dAc fined File (UDF). The calculation of q(x) is as follows:
+ c,i,out /2
Ac,i,out Cpρ udAc q(x ) = a0 + a1 cos (x · w ) + b1 sin (x · w ) + a2 cos (2x · w )
(22)
+b2 sin (2x · w ) + a3 cos (3x · w ) + b3 sin (3x · w )
(15)
where a0 , a1 , a2 , a3 , b1 , b2 , b3 , w are constants, and their values
(16)
The simulation results for the four meshes are presented in
Fig. 4. It can be seen that with the increase of cell number, the
change of heat transfer coefficient tends to be slight. Therefore,
given both the computational time and the precision of result,
the mesh of 2.37 × 106 cells is selected for numerical simulation
(marked in Fig. 4), and the mesh structure is shown in Fig. 5.
After the mesh is determined, the validation of the numeri-

n cal model is also carried out. With two different inlet conditions
Tb,i,in + Tb,out (Rein = 35473 & 30152), the numerical results are compared to
i=1
Tb = (17) the experimental data from Ref. [23], as shown in Fig. 6. It can be
n+1
6 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399
Table 4
The constant values of the expression of the heat flux.
a0 a1 a2
23041.5 3618.4 −136.6
Fig. 4. Mesh independence check for four different numbers of cells.
Fig. 5. Mesh used in the presented simulation condition (the mesh of 2.37 × 106
cells).
found that the computed bulk temperature and wall temperature
under each condition are all close to the experimental result. The
deviation with experimental data is around 2.6%, which indicates
the high accuracy of the numerical model.
3. Results and discussions
3.1. Optimization result for geometric parameters
Numerical results of the heat transfer coefficient and the eval-
uation factor for each case are discussed in this section. Referring
to Table 2, according to the variation of the cross section area and
the cooling surface area, each geometric parameter can be classi-
fied into three types: the first type of geometric parameter: both of
the cooling surface area and cross section area change with the pa-
rameter, which includes the radius of the groove (r1 ), the radius of
the fillet (r2 ) and the depth of the groove (e1 ); the second type of
geometric parameter: with different values of the parameter, cross
section areas are various, but cooling surface areas keep the same,
which includes the distance between the main tube and the outer
sleeve (e2 ); the third type of geometric parameter: with different
values of the parameter, cross section areas keep the same, but
cooling surface areas are various, which includes the helix angle
(w). The calculation results of these three types of geometric pa-
rameters will be respectively analyzed.
a3 b1 b2 b3 w
1736.2 10843.8 −366.8 241.6 0.00437
Fig. 6. Validation of the simulation model under different Rein .
For the first type of the geometric parameter, the effects of each
geometric parameter on the heat transfer coefficient and evalua-
tion factors are similar, as shown in Fig. 7(a), (b) and (c). It can
be seen that with the increase of r1 , r2 , and e1 , the heat trans-
fer coefficient and the EF2 are decreased, while the EF1 increases
gradually. Hence, for r1 , the maximum of the EF is found in Case 4
(r1 = 6.5 mm) and its value is 1.149; for r2 , the value of EF in Case
7 (r2 = 2.0 mm) is the largest, which is 1.294; for e1 , the maximum
value of the EF corresponding to Case 10 (e1 = 5.5 mm) is 1.442.
The descriptions mentioned above can be explained as follows. For
r1 , on the one hand, the rising r1 makes the cross sectional area
larger and decreases the mass flux. This will reduce the distur-
bance of the flow and deteriorate the heat transfer. On the other
hand, due to the increase of the cross sectional area, the pressure
drop tends to be decreased, which can be deduced from Eq. (22).
Therefore, with the increase of r1 , the EF1 tends to increase. The
decrease of the EF2 is mainly due to the increased cooling surface
area Ac as shown in Table 2. From the above analysis, it can be
concluded that, for the first type of geometric parameters, the EF1
and EF2 usually have opposite trends with varying parameters. Fi-
nally, the value of the EF is determined by the degree of the effect
of geometric parameters on the cross section area and the cooling
surface area. In other words, if the effect of the parameter on the
cross sectional area is more significant, then the EF is determined
by the EF1 , and vice versa. Since the first type of geometric pa-
rameter mainly changes the cross section area, the trend of EF is
almost the same as that of EF1 .
For the second type of geometric parameter, Fig. 7(d) presents
the variations of the heat transfer coefficient and evaluation factors
against e2 . It can be seen that with the increase of e2 , the EF1 in-
creases sharply first and then turns to be smooth at e2 = 1.0 mm.
This illustrates that the improvement effect of the rising e2 on the
flow resistance is gradually reduced. In addition, as e2 increases,
since the cooling surface area is constant and the heat transfer co-
efficient decreases, the EF2 is slightly decreased. Therefore, as the
increase of e2 , at e2 < 1.0 mm, the increase of the EF is mainly
caused by the improvement of the flow resistance, whereas at
e2 > 1.0 mm, the decrease of the EF is mainly due to the decline
 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399 7

Fig. 7. Heat transfer coefficient and evaluation factors for various geometric parameters.

of heat transfer coefficient. The maximum value of the EF found
for Case 11 (e2 = 1.0 mm) is 1.560.
For the third type of geometric parameter, it can be observed
from Fig. 7(e) that the heat transfer coefficient increases with the
decrease of w. The explanation is that decreasing w will enhance
flow rotation and heat transfer performance [25,26]. Moreover, as
flow rotation and the cooling surface area increase, the flow resis-
tance will be increased. Hence, it is noted that the EF shows the
trend of firstly rising and then declining, and the maximum value
1.658 is reached as w = 0.70 rad.
In this section, the optimal geometric parameter is obtained
(r1 = 6.5 mm, r2 = 2.0 mm, e1 = 5.5 mm, e2 = 1.0 mm,
w = 0.70 rad). Based on the above analysis for the heat transfer co-
efficient and evaluation factors, the following conclusion is drawn:
the first and the second types of geometric parameter are similar,
which influence the flow and heat transfer mainly by varying the
8 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399

Fig. 8. The local heat transfer coefficient against the bulk temperature within different e1 and different w.

cross section structure, whereas the third type mainly by varying

the flow rotation.

3.2. Heat transfer mechanisms

To further research the influence of the geometric parameters

on the performance of heat transfer and underlying mechanisms,
the local heat transfer coefficient with different geometric param-
eters will be presented and discussed in this section. For a typical
comparison, it is necessary to select the parameter that has obvi-
ous effect on the heat transfer coefficient. From Fig. 7, the ratios
of the changing rate of the heat transfer to that of the value of
the parameter for r1 , r2 , e1 , e2 , and w are 62.73%, 8.87%, 143.56%,
26.03%, and 55.55%, respectively. Accordingly, the cases with vari-
ous e1 (e1 = 4.0 mm, 4.5 mm, 5.0 mm, 5.5 mm) are selected. Fur-
thermore, as concluded in Section 3.1, since the third type of geo-
metric parameter is different from the other two types, the cases
with various w (w = 0.58 rad, 0.70 rad, 0.82 rad, 0.94 rad) are also
chosen. Fig. 9. Variation of turbulent kinetic energy within different e1 and w.
Fig. 8 shows the local heat transfer coefficient varies with
the bulk temperature for different e1 and different w. Tpc is the
pseudo-critical temperature, and it can be seen from Fig. 1 that mainly influences the cross sectional area, but it has fewer effects
Tpc at interested pressure 8.0 MPa is 307.5 K based on the data on the heat exchange area and heat flux, thus the peak point is
from Refprop database. Turning to Fig. 8, in each case, the heat unchanged with various e1 .
transfer coefficient usually reaches the maximum value near Tpc , From Fig. 8, it can also be concluded that in the whole test sec-
and its corresponding bulk temperature is slightly higher than Tpc . tion, the heat transfer coefficient generally increases with the de-
This can be attributed to the uneven temperature field. The tem- crease of e1 or the decrease of w. This can be explained by the
perature of the near-wall fluid is generally lower than the cooling variation of turbulent kinetic energy.
mainstream temperature, which domains the heat transfer perfor- Fig. 9 presents the variation of turbulent kinetic energy for dif-
mance [27,28]. With the decline of bulk temperature, the near-wall ferent e1 and w. The turbulence kinetic energy k is the measure of
fluid reaches Tpc earlier than the mainstream fluid. This explains turbulence intensity, and it can be calculated by
the difference between the temperature corresponding to the max-
3
imum heat transfer coefficient and Tpc . k= (uavg I )2 (23)
In addition, comparing Fig. 8(a) with Fig. 8(b), it can be seen 2
that for different e1 , the temperatures corresponding to the peak I = 0.16(Re )−1/8 (24)
point are almost the same. However, for different w, the peak of
heat transfer coefficient will shift to Tpc with the decrease of w. where uavg is the average velocity and I is the turbulence intensity.
This is caused by the difference of heat flux [24]. At the same As shown in Fig. 9, the turbulent kinetic energy, same as the heat
mainstream temperature, as the heat flux increases, the tempera- transfer coefficient, also increases with the decrease of e1 or the
ture of the near-wall fluid will more decrease rapidly, and the peak decrease of w. The influence mechanisms of these two geometric
of the heat transfer coefficient will be reached earlier. As shown in parameters on turbulent kinetic energy are concluded as follows.
Table 2, the heat flux obviously decreases with the decrease of w, For e1 , as it decreases, the cross section structure will be changed
so the peak of the heat transfer coefficient will be varied. For e1 , it and the equivalent diameter de tends to decrease. This could result
 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399 9

Fig. 10. The axial turbulent kinetic energy profile in each side of groove at the temperature corresponding to the maximum of heat transfer coefficient within different e1 .

Fig. 11. Direction of flow under buoyancy effect and rotation flow in each groove.
10 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399

Fig. 12. The axial turbulent kinetic energy profile in each side of groove at the temperature corresponding to the maximum of heat transfer coefficient within different w.

in the increase of the average velocity [29]. According to Eq. (23),
it can be seen that the average velocity has direct effect on the
turbulent kinetic energy. Therefore the turbulent kinetic energy is
inversely proportional to e1 . For w, the cross section structures for
each case are the same, so its influence mechanism on turbulent
kinetic energy is different from e1 . As w decreases, the rotation de-
gree will increase and the mixing of the fluid is enhanced, which
makes the velocity of fluid closer to the average velocity. So with
the decrease of w, the turbulent kinetic energy will be increased.
The higher turbulence kinetic energy means stronger fluid mixing
and better heat transfer performance. Therefore the heat transfer
coefficient could be enhanced by decreasing e1 or w, which is con-
cluded above.
In Fig. 9, it can also be found that the trends of turbulent ki-
netic energy are the same in each case. With the decrease of the
bulk temperature, the turbulent kinetic energy is usually decreased
and steeply varies at Tpc . The variation of the physical properties of
CO2 is related to this phenomenon. Referring to Fig. 1, with the de-
crease of the temperature of CO2 , the density will be declined, and
the average velocity of the fluid in the spirally fluted tube will de-
crease. As the temperature reaches Tpc , the fluid will change from
"vapor like" state to "liquid like" state, and the density has a sharp
rise, so the average velocity will also decrease rapidly. Therefore,
the change of the turbulent kinetic energy along the test section
shown in Fig. 9 can be explained.
In this section, the effects of e1 and w on the heat transfer co-
efficient and turbulent kinetic energy are analyzed. It is concluded
that e1 influences the heat transfer mainly by varying the section
structure, and w influences the heat transfer mainly by varying the
rotation degree. However, there is also the effect of buoyancy force
on the heat transfer and flow characteristic in the spirally fluted
tube, which will be investigated in detail in the next section.
 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399
Fig. 13. Contours of velocity magnitude and velocity vectors for fluid at the cross section corresponding to the maximum of heat transfer coefficient within different w
under the same heat flux (q = 53506.50 W/m2 ).
3.3. Buoyancy effect
To further analyze the effect of buoyancy in the spirally fluted
tube, the distribution of turbulent kinetic energy over the cross
section with different e1 and w is discussed. The studied cross sec-
tions corresponds to the maximum heat transfer coefficient shown
in Fig. 8, and the turbulent kinetic energy along y axis and z axis is
mainly researched. For comparison, the cross section can be dived
into four sides according to their positions: left side, right side,
downward side, and upward side. The results for different e1 are
firstly given in Fig. 10.
In Fig. 10, r/r0 indicates the relative position of testing point
over the cross section. It can be calculated by
r rt − ( R − e1 ) rt − ( R − e1 )
= =
r0 ( R + e2 ) − ( R − e1 ) e2 + e1
where, rt is the distance from the testing point to the center of the
main tube. r/r0 being close to 0 means that the point is close to the
heat exchange surface, while r/r0 being close to 1 or -1 means that
the point is close to the adiabatic surface.
From Fig. 10, it can be observed that the turbulent kinetic en-
ergy of the fluid near the wall is higher compared with that at
the central area of groove. This mainly due to the larger veloc-
ity gradient of the near-wall flow. An interesting phenomenon is
that, in the left side (Fig. 10(a)) and the upward side (Fig. 10(d)),
the turbulent kinetic energy of the fluid near the cooling surface
is higher than that near the adiabatic surface. However, the fluid
near the cooling surface generally has lower turbulent kinetic en-
ergy because of its lower temperature, higher density, and smaller
11
velocity gradient. The reason for this phenomenon is the existence
of buoyancy effect.
Fig. 11 displays the direction of flow under buoyancy effect and
rotation flow in each groove, and the gravity direction is depicted
in Fig. 2. In the left side of groove, due to the buoyancy force, the
higher density fluid near the cooling surface will flow down. This is
opposite to the direction of rotation flow, which leads the bound-
ary layer to being destroyed. Therefore, the turbulent kinetic en-
ergy near the cooling surface is higher than that near the adiabatic
surface, as shown in Fig. 10(a). In the downward side of groove,
as shown in Fig. 11, the fluid near the cooling surface will flow to
both sides, which makes the boundary layer thinner. In addition,
the fluid tends to gather near the adiabatic surface. This results
in the reduction of velocity gradient and turbulent kinetic energy.
(25) Thus the fluid near the cooling surface has higher turbulent kinetic
energy, as shown in Fig. 10(c).
Fig. 12 presents the axial turbulent kinetic energy profile for
different w. It can be observed that as w decreases, the turbu-
lent kinetic energy of the fluid near the adiabatic surface usually
increases, however that near the cooling surface does not neces-
sarily increase. With the decrease of w, the turbulent kinetic en-
ergy of the fluid near the cooling surface in the left side of groove
(as shown in Fig. 12(a)) is slightly increased, and that in the right
side of groove is decreased (as shown in Fig. 12(b)), and that in
the downward side and the upward side of groove are both al-
most constant (as shown in Fig. 12(c) and Fig. 12(d)). Given the
particularity of the results, the variation of turbulent kinetic en-
ergy in the right side of groove is selected to be typically ana-
lyzed. Referring to Fig. 11, in the right side of groove, the flow
12 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399
Fig. 14. Contours of temperature for fluid at the cross section corresponding to the maximum of heat transfer coefficient within different w under the same heat flux
(q = 53506.50 W/m2 ).
direction under the buoyancy effect and the rotation direction of
the fluid are the same near the cooling surface, so the shear force
in boundary layer and the turbulent kinetic energy are higher.
As w decreases, the temperature field tends to be unified. There-
fore, the influence of buoyancy will be weakened, and the turbu-
lent kinetic energy of the fluid near the cooling surface will be
decreased.
However, it should be noted that the heat flux may also influ-
ence the buoyancy effect. As the heat flux decreases, the tempera-
ture difference over the cross section will be reduced, so the buoy-
ancy effect also tends to be weakened. Hence, to independently
analyze the effect of w on buoyancy, the cases with different w
(0.94 rad, 0.82 rad, 0.70 rad, and 0.58 rad) under the same heat
flux boundary (q = 53506.50 W/m2 ) will be numerically simu-
lated. Fig. 13 is displayed to demonstrate the effect of buoyancy
force and the influence of w on buoyancy effect. It can be found
that as w = 0.94 rad, the contour of velocity magnitude clearly
shows aperiodicity along the direction of rotation flow, as shown
in Fig. 13(a). However, with the decrease of w, the distribution of
velocity magnitude in each side of groove tends to be the same, as
shown in Fig. 13(d). This phenomenon proves the conclusion that
the decrease of w will reduce the buoyancy effect. Fig. 14 demon-
strates the effect of w on the temperature filed mentioned above.
It can be seen that with the decrease of w, the temperature distri-
bution of fluid at the cross section tends to be uniform, which also
proves the influence of w on buoyancy.
In addition, comparing the velocity vector in the left side of
groove under different w, it can be seen in Fig. 13(a) that, as
w = 0.94 rad, the flow near cooling surface performs pronounced
back-flowing phenomenon. However, for w = 0.58 rad, most of
the phenomena are eliminated. It can be attributed to the reduced
buoyancy effect previously mentioned.
Based on the above analysis, it can be concluded that buoyancy
has certain influence on the heat transfer coefficient of sCO2 in the
spirally fluted tube. However, it is not sure whether it strength-
ens or deteriorates the heat transfer performance. Therefore, the
cases neglecting buoyancy effect (gravitational acceleration set to
zero (g = 0 m/s2 )) are used to compare. Fig. 15 presents the results
 Z. Yu, L. Tao and L. Huang et al. / International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 163 (2020) 120399
Fig. 15. Effect of buoyancy on the heat transfer coefficient within different w under
the same heat flux (q = 53506.50 W/m2 ).
under two computational conditions within different w. As can be
seen, the heat transfer coefficient with the full model is usually
higher than that without gravitation. This indicates that the buoy-
ancy can enhance the cooling heat transfer in spirally fluted tube.
It can also be seen that the difference of heat transfer coefficient
between the two conditions is gradually reduced with the decrease
of w. This variation demonstrates that the previous analysis is rea-
sonable.
4. Conclusions
The heat transfer and flow characteristic of sCO2 cooling in the
spirally fluted tube have been numerically studied in this paper.
Furthermore, the mechanisms for the influences of geometric pa-
rameters on heat transfer coefficient have been analyzed in detail.
In addition, the effect of buoyancy force has also been discussed.
According to the results, the following conclusions are drawn:
• Through the optimization of the geometric parameters of the
spirally fluted tube, the optimal structure has been obtained
(r1 = 6.5 mm, r2 = 2.0 mm, e1 = 5.5 mm, e2 = 1.0 mm,
w = 0.70 rad) according to the evaluation factors. Moreover,
based on the variation of the cross section area and the cool-
ing surface area, the geometric parameters can be classified into
three types.
• The depth of the groove e1 has more pronounced effect on the
heat transfer compared with other parameters. Therefore, the
representative cases within different e1 and w are employed to
study the variation of the local heat transfer coefficient and tur-
bulent kinetic energy. The influence of e1 on the heat transfer
and turbulent kinetic energy is mainly by varying the cross sec-
tion structure, whereas the influence of w is mainly by varying
the flow rotation.
• The turbulent kinetic energy of the fluid near wall is deter-
mined by the direction of flow under buoyancy effect and ro-
tational flow. For the left side of groove, the opposite direction
of them appeared near the cooling surface leads the boundary
layer to being destroyed. For the downward side of groove, the
fluid near the cooling surface tends to flow to both sides, which
will thin the thickness of boundary layer. For the right side of
groove, the shear force and turbulent kinetic energy in bound-
ary layer near the cooling surface are increased due to that the
two directions are the same.
13
• The comparison between the full model and the model neglect-
ing buoyancy effect shows that the buoyancy force has an im-
provement on the heat transfer coefficient of sCO2 in spirally
fluted tube. Moreover, as the decrease of w, the influence of
buoyancy will be weakened. This can be attributed to the uni-
fied temperature field.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Zhongyang Yu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software,
Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing. Leren Tao:
Supervision, Resources. Lihao Huang: Project administration, Data
curation. Dong Wang: Funding acquisition.
Acknowledgements
The support from “Shanghai Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow
and Heat Transfer in Power and Engineering” (13DZ2260900) is
greatly acknowledged.
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