A Study of Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow Characteristics in Tube Banks

Heat exchangers are devices in which heat is transferred from one fluid to another at different temperatures with wide applications in many field of engineering such as power generation, chemical processing, electronics cooling, automotive, refrigeration and air-conditioning. The heat transfer from bank of tubes depends on geometric arrangement, Reynolds number and the position of tube in the bank. Tool many tube rows result to infinitesimal increase in heat transfer, large and bulky exchanger and increase cost of design. However, the determination of local heat transfer from surfaces with respect to their position in tube banks is paramount to the design of compact heat transfer equipment. unfortunately researches in that regard are limited. This work was carried out to investigate the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics associated with heated tube position in staggered and in-line tube banks in cross-flow using experimental and numerical methods. This will facilitate the design of a compact heat exchangers and reduce the the pumping power.