Periodically Fully-Developed Flow and Heat Transfer Over Flat Tubes Using a Control Volume Finite-Element Method
T. L. Fullertona and N. K. Anandb
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA.
atlf719@tamu.edu
bnkanand@tamu.edu
ABSTRACT
A Control Volume Finite-Element Method in conjunction with imposed periodically fully-developed flow conditions was used to perform a two-dimensional, laminar, steady-flow numerical study comparing the performance of a flat tube to that of a round tube in a simulated heat exchanger device for the case of specified heat flux along the tube walls. The Reynolds number range for the study was 40-200 and the Prandtl number was 0.7 for all cases studied. For the cases studied, the heat transfer enhancement ratio was less than one indicating that the round tube outperformed the flat tube based on heat transfer considerations alone. However, for all cases studied, the heat transfer performance ratio was greater than one indicating that if both heat transfer performance and required pumping power are considered, the flat tube outperformed the round tube.
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