Single-phase flow heat transfer characteristics in helically coiled tube heat exchangers

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this review is to present a summary of the published papers of the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics for single-phase flow in helically coiled tubes. The effect of geometrical parameters such as curvature ratio, coil pitch and working conditions such as Reynolds number, Dean number, flow rate and flow arrangement on heat transfer and pressure drop in helically coiled tubes are determined in the light of the experimental, numerical and analytical studies in the literature. Also, the effect of using nanofluids in comparison with conventional fluids, using enhanced surfaces such as corrugated, micro-finned, dimpled with regards to smooth surfaces and wire coil insert usage in helically coiled tubes are discussed. The correlations proposed for determination of Nusselt number and friction factor in helically coiled tubes are presented in detail separately under laminar and turbulent flow regimes. The studies show that usage of helically coiled tube merely gives higher heat transfer rate and pressure drop in comparison to straight one, additionally, the heat transfer performance increases with the inclusion of the combination of other passive heat transfer enhancement methods to helically coiled tube. Moreover, the subject of single-phase flow in helically coiled tubes is ascertained to be worth researching due to the fact that there are limited number of studies and is still no empirical or analytical model/correlation in the case of using enhanced surfaces and wire coil insert. Forthcoming researches on this issue in the near future will be considered as pioneer ones in literature.