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An experimental study on the pressure drop and heat transfer through straight and curved small diameter tubes

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Abstract

A tube type heat exchanger is often the only solution when minimum pressure loss is a requirement. In addition, small diameter tubes are preferable because of an increased heat transfer area within an acceptable pressure loss limit. The present work reports on both an analytic model and experimental results with regards to the pressure drop and heat transfer characteristics of compact straight, C-curved, and U-curved tubes. The inner diameter of the tube (D) for our selected heat exchanger type was 1.26 mm with a thickness of 0.12 mm and a total length of 150.8 D. For the experiment, pressurized nitrogen gas bottles were used rather than an air compressor system in order to simplify the test facility. Hence the pressure conditions were easily set at 10, 30, and 50 bar corresponding to a range of Reynolds numbers from 10000 to 50000. To elevate the air temperature outside the tube (from 100°C to 400°C), an electric furnace was installed around the “test tube”. An analytic model to determine the pressure loss through curved tubes-referred to as the modified friction factor- is proposed. Good agreement was found between the modified friction factor and existing correlations, thus confirming the suitability of this model for determining pressure losses for different shape of tubes. The average measured Nusselt numbers were within 10- 15% of the Dittus-Boelter and Gnielinski correlations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan, 609-735, Korea

    Sang Keun Kim, Man Yeong Ha, Changmin Son & Ji Hwan Jeong

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  1. Sang Keun Kim
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  2. Man Yeong Ha
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  3. Changmin Son
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Changmin Son.

Additional information

Recommended by Associate Editor Jae Dong Chung

Sang Keun Kim received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Pusan National University, Korea, in 2003 and 2007. Mr. Kim is currently a Researcher of Rolls-Royce and Pusan National University Technology Centre for Thermal Management. He is also currently Ph.D. candidate at the School of Mechanical Engineering at Pusan National University. His research interests are focused on flows and thermo-fluid phenomena analysis for enhancing the efficiency of the gas turbine application.

Man Yeong Ha received his B.S. degree from Pusan National University, Korea, in 1981, M.S. degree, in 1983, from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, and Ph.D. degree from Pennsylvania State University, USA in 1990. Dr. Ha is currently a professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering at Pusan National University in Busan, Korea. Dr. Ha is also currently a director of Rolls-Royce and Pusan National University Technology Centre for Thermal Management. He serves as an associate Editor of the Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology. His research interests are focused on thermal management, computational fluid dynamics, and micro/nano fluidics.

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Kim, S.K., Ha, M.Y., Son, C. et al. An experimental study on the pressure drop and heat transfer through straight and curved small diameter tubes. J Mech Sci Technol 28, 797–809 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-013-1146-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-013-1146-z

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