A numerical study for solid and serrated annular finned tube bundles

Abstract

Annular finned tube bundles are commonly used for heat recovery systems. Nowadays, heat recovery systems are important in the energy economy. Cross-flow heat exchangers, one of the heat exchanger types are suitable for waste heat recovery systems. Annular fins are utilized in cross-flow heat exchangers for a long time. In this study, two types of annular fin geometry, namely solid and serrated fins, were studied numerically in the cross-flow heat exchangers. All numerical analyses are performed in ANSYA-FLUENT program and the fin geometries are designed in 3-D geometry. Numerical results obtained for two different geometry fins are validated separately with the literature. It is seen that analysis results are found to be compatible with the literature. In numerical analyses, five different Reynolds Numbers and six different geometric parameters are studied. Effects of these parameters are investigated to determine the flow and thermal performance. According to analysis results, the thermal performance of the serrated annular fin geometry is about 8.2% higher than the solid fin geometry, while the flow performance decreases by 7.5%.