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An Investigation of Flow Across Porous Layer Wrapped Flat Tube Banks

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Abstract

Performance of the staggered and inline tube bundles with three rows covered by a porous layer has been numerically studied from the viewpoint of the first and second law of thermodynamics. The results indicate that wrapping tubes with a porous layer bring about Nu number augmentation as well as pressure drop increment in comparison with the bare tube banks for both inline and staggered configurations and for both flat and circular tube shapes. In addition, bundles with porous layer wrapped flat tubes have a higher thermal performance and lower entropy generation rate than those of porous layer wrapped circular tubes, especially for the staggered configuration. The investigation on heat transfer, pressure drop and entropy generation rate is performed for different pitch spacings as well as different thicknesses of porous layer in order to find the optimal designs. The porous layer wrapped banks with flattened tubes show a great potential for application in heat exchangers.

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Abbreviations

C F :

Forchheimer coefficient

c p :

Specific heat, J/kg K

D f :

Diameter of flat tube, m

D eq :

Diameter of equivalent circular tube, m

f :

Friction factor

F D :

Drag force, N

h :

Heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 K

K :

Permeability of the porous media, m2

k :

Thermal conductivity, W/m K

k eff :

Effective thermal conductivity, W/m K

\( \dot{m} \) :

Mass flow rate, kg/s

N row :

Number of tube rows

N s :

Entropy generation number

N s,a :

Augmentation entropy generation number

Nu :

Nusselt number

P :

Pressure, Pa

Pe :

Peclet number

Re :

Reynolds number

Pr :

Prandtl number

S t :

Transverse pitch, m

S l :

Longitudinal pitch, m

\( \dot{S}_{\text{gen}} \) :

Total entropy generation rate, W K−1

T :

Temperature, K

U ∞ :

Inlet velocity, m/s

φ :

Porosity

µ :

Viscosity, N s/m2

ρ :

Density, kg/m3

CTB:

Circular tube bank

FTB:

Flat tube bank

TP:

Thermal performance

f:

Fluid

p:

Porous

s:

Tube surface

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mechanical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), 424 Hafez Avenue, P.O. Box 15875-4413, Tehran, Iran

    N. Alvandifar, M. Saffar-Avval & E. Amani

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  1. N. Alvandifar
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  2. M. Saffar-Avval
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  3. E. Amani
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Correspondence to M. Saffar-Avval.

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Alvandifar, N., Saffar-Avval, M. & Amani, E. An Investigation of Flow Across Porous Layer Wrapped Flat Tube Banks. Transp Porous Med 127, 329–352 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-018-1195-y

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