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Investigation on the fouling mechanism at different water velocities in internally enhanced tubes

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Abstract

Fouling deposition is dependent of deposit rate and removal rate, corresponding to sticking probability and deposit bond strength, respectively. As indicated by existing studies, heat transfer tubes with different geometries have different sticking probabilities. However, the effect of water velocity and the sticking probability have not been studied in depth. In this study, the particulate fouling on two internally enhanced tubes and a plain tube was tested at three water velocities for more than 500 h. As demonstrated by the experimental results, the asymptotic fouling resistance increased with the decrease in water velocity. According to the simulation result, the sticking probability was proportional to the surface temperature, which decreased with the increase in water velocity. Thus, it was indicated that the water velocity could have an effect on the characteristics of fouling deposition. Compared with the enhanced tubes, the plain tube with lower heat exchange capacity had a higher sticking probability, and it was more sensitive to the flow that had a significant effect on the deposit bond strength. Besides, the internal structure of enhanced tube had an effect on fouling deposition by changing the flow field near wall. The enhanced tube with the start-number of 45 had a lower sticking probability, compared with that with the start-number of 10. However, the particulate fouling on the enhanced tube with the start-number of 45 was hardly denuded by flow due to the larger deposit bond strength. With a focus on the water velocity, this study investigated the fouling mechanism, which can provide suggestions for designers to select heat transfer tubes with less fouling in accordance with operating conditions.

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Abbreviations

A :

Heat transfer area, m2

B :

Time factor, 1/s

\({C}_{b}\) :

Particle concentration, kg/m3

c p :

Specific heat capacity, J/kg·K

D :

Mass diffusivity, m2/s

\({D}_{i}\) :

Inner diameter of tube, m

\({d}_{p}\) :

Particle size, m

e :

Rib height, m

f :

Friction factor of tube, dimensionless

j :

Colburn j-factor, dimensionless

\({k}_{f}\) :

Thermal conductivity of deposition, W/m·K

\({K}_{B}\) :

Boltzmann constant, J/K

\({K}_{D}\) :

Particle deposit coefficient, m/s

\({K}_{m}\) :

Mass transfer coefficient, m/s

LMTD :

Logarithmic mean temperature difference, oC

N s :

Number of starts (or ribs) on the cross section of enhanced tube, dimensionless

Nu :

Nusselt number, dimensionless

\(P\) :

Sticking probability, dimensionless

p :

Rib pitch, m

PEC:

Performance Evaluation Criteria, dimensionless

Q :

Total heat transfer rate, W

q :

Heat flux, W/m2

\({R}_{f}\) :

Fouling thermal resistance, m2·K/W

\({R}_{f}^{*}\) :

Asymptotic fouling resistance, m2·K/W

\(Re\) :

Reynolds number, dimensionless

\(Sc\) :

Schmidt number, dimensionless

T :

Temperature, oC

\({T}_{w,i}\) :

Inlet water temperature, oC

\({T}_{w,o}\) :

Outlet water temperature, oC

\({T}_{r,sat}\) :

Saturation temperature of refrigerant, oC

t :

Time, s

u :

Fluid velocity (water), m/s

U :

Overall heat transfer coefficient, W/m2·K

V :

Water flow rate, m3/s

\(\sum {x}_{i}\) :

Sum the calculated data based on all x1, x2…xn

\({Y}_{q}\) :

Correction factor of overall heat transfer coefficient caused by heat flux deviation, dimensionless

\({Y}_{u}\) :

Correction factor of overall heat transfer coefficient caused by velocity deviation, dimensionless

\(\alpha\) :

Helix angle, degrees

\({\tau }_{s}\) :

Wall shear stress, N/m2

\(\xi\) :

Deposit bond strength, N·s/m2

\(v\) :

Kinematic viscosity, m2/s

\(\mu\) :

Dynamic viscosity, Pa·s

\({\rho }_{w}\) :

Density of water, kg/m3

\({\rho }_{f}\) :

Density of fouling, kg/m3

\(\phi\) :

Covering particle volume fractions, dimensionless

ave :

Average value

f :

Fouling condition

p :

Plain surface

ref :

The reference point

w :

Working water

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding support from the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (YQ2020E019), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52106203). We are also grateful to Mr. Zhenbo Tang, Guoquan Lyu and Zilong Zhao for helping in experimentations. In addition, Yuan Wang especially thanks to Dr. Shen Wei and Ms. Chenyu Ma for valuable discussion during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Building Science, School of Architecture, Beijing Key Laboratory of Indoor Air Quality Evaluation and Control, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Yuan Wang

  2. School of Architecture, Key Laboratory of Cold Region Urban and Rural Human Settlement Environment Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China

    Yuan Wang, Chao Shen, Zhihao Wan & Yang Yao

  3. Wieland Thermal Solutions (Shanghai) Co., LTD, Shanghai, 201402, China

    Zhong Luo

Authors
  1. Yuan Wang
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  2. Chao Shen
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Contributions

Y.W. conceived and designed the study with the assistance from C.S. Y.W. built the experimental apparatus. Y.W. performed the data calculations, mapping work and analysis with the assistance from Z.W. Y.W. and C.S. formulated the structure of the manuscript. Y.W. wrote the manuscript with support from C.S., Z.L. and Y.Y. All authors participated in the discussions and improvements of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chao Shen or Yang Yao.

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Wang, Y., Shen, C., Wan, Z. et al. Investigation on the fouling mechanism at different water velocities in internally enhanced tubes. Heat Mass Transfer 58, 1485–1506 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-022-03177-3

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