ARTICLE IN PRESS

Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 15511562

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Chemical Engineering Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ces

Hydrodynamics and heat transfer characteristics of a novel heat exchanger

with delta-winglet vortex generators
Yong-Gang Lei, Ya-Ling He , Li-Ting Tian, Pan Chu, Wen-Quan Tao
State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, School of Energy & Power Engineering, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian, Shaanxi 710049, China

a r t i c l e in fo

abstract

Article history:
Received 16 June 2008
Received in revised form
28 August 2009
Accepted 21 October 2009
Available online 6 November 2009

The effects of vortex generators on heat transfer and pressure drop of a novel heat exchanger are
investigated using computational uid dynamics (CFD) method. The Reynolds numbers based on n
collar outside diameter varied from 600 to 2600, the attack angle from 101 to 501, and the aspect ratio
from 1 to 4. The numerical results are also analyzed from the view point of eld synergy principle,
according to which the reduction of the intersection between velocity and temperature gradient is the
basic mechanism for augmentation of heat transfer. The results indicate that the enhanced
congurations produce the longitudinal vortices and accelerate the ow, which result in signicant
augmentations of heat transfer with modest pressure drop penalties. It was found that the deltawinglet vortex generator with an attack angle of 201and an aspect ratio of 2 provides the best integrated
performance over the range of Reynolds number computed. The Colburn j-factor of the optimal
conguration is shown to increase by 35.145.2% with a corresponding increase of 19.334.5% in the
friction factor.
& 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Heat transfer
Heat exchanger
Vortex generator
Computational uid dynamics (CFD)
Field synergy principle

1. Introduction
Fin-and-tube heat exchangers are widely used in various elds
such as chemical process, power generation, air-conditioning and
automobile. For n-and-tube heat exchangers, the dominant
thermal resistance is usually on the air side. Therefore, the
enhancement of heat transfer in n surface is critical to improve
the overall performance of heat exchangers. In order to reduce the
thermal resistance on the air side, many variants of the n
patterns like wave, slit and louver are widely used (Beecher and
Fagan, 1987; Achaichia and Cowell, 1988; Chang and Wang, 1997;
Wang et al., 1997; Kim and Bullard, 2002; Wongwises and
Chokeman, 2005). However, with signicantly improving the heat
transfer performance, the associated penalty of pressure drop is
also tremendous (Webb, 1994; Kays and London, 1998). However,
a secondary ow enhancement method, which uses vortex
generators to increase the heat transfer coefcient, only leads to
small increase in pressure drop. Using this method, the longitudinal vortex is generated by the vortex generators to cause ow
swirling and destabilizing, boundary layer modication and bulk
uid mixing. (Jacobi and Shah, 1995; Fiebig, 1998).
In general, the conguration of vortex generator on the n
surface-tube bank can be divided into common-ow-down

 Corresponding author. Tel.: + 86 29 8266 5930; fax: + 86 29 8266 9106.

E-mail address: yalinghe@mail.xjtu.edu.cn (Y.-L. He).

0009-2509/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ces.2009.10.017

conguration and common-ow-up conguration. For common-ow-down conguration, the VGs (vortex generators) pairs
are usually mounted behind the tube such that the VGs enhance
the mixing of the hot and cold uid and improve the poor heat
transfer in the wake region. In common-ow-up conguration,
the VGs are placed further upstream adjacent to the tube in
order to create a nozzle-like ow passage, which brings about
separation delay and narrows the wake. Many experimental
investigations were devoted to the hydrodynamics and heat
transfer characteristics of n-and-tube heat exchanger with
vortex generator in common-ow-down conguration. Fiebig
et al. (1993) experimentally investigated the inuence of the
wing-type vortex generators on heat transfer and pressure drop of
a n-and-tube heat exchanger. In their chosen geometry, the
vortex generators increase the heat transfer by 55% to 65% for the
inline tube arrangement with a corresponding increase of 2045%
in the apparent friction factor. Fiebig et al. (1994) also studied
local heat transfer and pressure drop of n-and-tube heat
exchanger with winglet vortex generators. According to their
results, much stronger vortex-induced heat transfer enhancement
for the staggered arrangement of at tubes than with round tubes.
Wang et al. (2002a) utilized a dye-injection technique to visualize
the ow structure for enlarged n-and-tube heat exchangers with
annular and delta-winglet vortex generators. They found that for
the same winglet height, the delta winglet shows more intensive
vertical motion and ow unsteadiness than those of the annular
winglet. However, the corresponding pressure drops of the delta

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Y.-G. Lei et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 15511562

winglet are lower than those of the annular winglet at the same
Reynolds number. Wang et al. (2002b) investigated the local and
average heat transfer characteristics over a complete at tube-n
element with four vortex generators. The experiments were
performed using the naphthalene sublimation technique. They
pointed out that mean heat transfer enhancement observed was
as high as 47.5% over the no-winglet case. Leu et al. (2004) studied
the heat transfer and ow in the n-and-tube heat exchangers
with rectangular winglet-type vortex generators mounted behind
the tube. They found that the proposed technique is able to
generate longitudinal vortices and to improve the heat transfer
performance in the wake regions, and the case of a = 451 provides
the best heat transfer enhancement. Zhang et al. (2004)
conducted an experimental investigation of the effect of span
position of vortex generators on the local heat transfer coefcient
of three-row at tube bank n. They revealed that the vortex
generators should be mounted as close as possible to the tube
wall; the vortices generated by the upstream vortex generators
converge at wake region of the at tube. OBrien et al. (2004);
OBrien and Sohal (2005) tested local heat transfer in a narrow
rectangular duct tted with a circular tube, and/or delta-winglet
vortex generators. The duct was designed to simulate a single
passage in a n-and-tube heat exchanger. Joardar and Jacobi
(2005) carried out an experimental study of the effectiveness of
leading edge delta wings in a louvered-n compact heat
exchanger under both dry and wet surface conditions. They
reported an average heat transfer increases over the baseline case
of 21% for dry conditions and 23.4% for wet conditions, with a
pressure drop penalty smaller than 7%.
The investigations presented in the foregoing paper are aimed
at augmenting the heat transfer of heat exchangers by vortex
generators in common-ow-down conguration. More recently,
some experimental studies of a new type heat exchanger with
vortex generator in common-ow-up conguration are also
reported in the open literatures. Torii et al. (2002) proposed a
novel strategy that can augment heat transfer while reducing
pressure drop penalty in a n-and-tube heat exchanger at
relatively low Reynolds number ow conditions. In their studies,
delta-winglet-type vortex generators with common-ow-up conguration were deployed on the n surface. They found that, for
three-row tube bundles in a staggered arrangement with commonup-ow winglet pair built only in the rst row, the heat transfer
was increased by 1030%, and yet the pressure loss was reduced by
3455%. In a further study, Kwak et al. (2003) experimentally
investigated the performance of heat exchangers with various
numbers of transverse rows in staggered tube bundles. The winglet
pairs are placed beside the front row of the tube bundle. They
reported that the three rows of tube bundles provide the largest
pressure loss penalty. Allison and Dally (2007) conducted an
experimental study to investigate the effects of delta-winglet
vortex generators on the performance of a n-and-tube radiator. In
their studies, the winglets were arranged in ow-up conguration.
The results showed that the winglet surface had 87% of the heat
transfer capacity but only 53% of the pressure drop of the louver n
surface. Joardar and Jacobi (2008) experimentally studied the
characteristics of multirow inline-tube heat exchangers with two
different winglet congurations in common-ow-up arrangement.
They reported that vortex generator arrays can signicantly
enhance the performance of n-tube heat exchangers with ow
depths and n densities typical to those used in air-cooling and
refrigeration applications.
A comprehensive experimental investigation of a heat exchanger is very expensive because of the high equipment cost.
Although experimental data can be used for design and validating
numerical simulation results, the high cost of experiments
severely restricts its application. In comparison with experimen-

tal study, a validated computational uid dynamics method can

provide ow eld information at a much lower cost. Due to the
extraordinary fast development of computer hardware, numerical
simulations of heat exchangers are already possible (Biswas et al.,
1994; Fiebig et al., 1995; Chen et al., 1998a, 1998b; Jain et al.,
2003; Flavio et al.,2006; Wu and Tao, 2007; Joardar and Jacobi,
2007). Biswas et al. (1994) numerically simulated heat transfer
and ow structure in a three-row n-and-tube heat exchanger
with a pair of delta winglet. They reported that longitudinal
vortices generated by the winglets placed in the wake enhanced
the local heat transfer by 240% at a location about 12 times the
channel height downstream of the inlet. Fiebig et al. (1995)
carried out a numerical study of heat transfer enhancement in a
n-tube element for Reynolds number of 250 and 300. In their
studies, delta-winglet-type vortex generators with common-owdown conguration were punched out on the n surface. The
numerical results showed a maximum heat transfer augment of
31% using the delta-winglet pair. Chen et al. (1998a) numerically
investigated the effect of attack angles and aspect ratios of a
winglet on the heat transfer enhancement and pressure loss
penalty in a nned oval-tube heat transfer element. Velocity and
temperature elds, vortex formation, local heat transfer distributions and global results are presented. They found that the
winglet with attack angles of 301 and aspect ratio of 2 provides
the best heat transfer and pressure drop performance. In a further
study, Chen et al. (1998b, 2000) studied heat transfer and ow in
a nned oval-tube heat transfer element with in-line and
staggered delta winglet. The numerical results showed higher
heat transfer for the staggered delta-winglet array than for in-line
array. Jain et al. (2003) investigated the ow structure and heat
transfer characteristics in a channel with a built-in circular tube
and delta-winglet vortex generators. In their studies, the deltawinglet pairs mounted on the at surface in common-ow-up
arrangement. Min and Xu (2005) carried out a numerical study to
investigate the performance of a plain n, a n with punched
delta winglets and a louver n. They reported that the louver n
enhances heat transfer by 114.1139.1%, while the n with three
winglet rows enhances heat transfer by 46.576.1%. Wu and Tao
(2007) numerically studied the heat transfer enhancement of a
n-and-tube heat exchanger in aligned arrangement with deltawinglet pairs. They concluded that the inherent mechanism of
heat transfer augment by using delta winglet can be explained
from the viewpoint of eld synergy principle. Joardar and Jacobi
(2007) conducted a numerical study to investigate the ow
and heat transfer of multirow inline-tube heat exchangers with
three different winglet congurations in common-ow-up arrangement. The results indicated that the 3-VG-inline-array
conguration achieves enhancement up to 74% in j-factor over
the baseline case, with a corresponding increase of about 41% in
the pressure drop.
The foregoing literature reviews show that much of the
research related to the common-ow-down conguration has
been reported. However, there have been relatively fewer studies
focused on the common-ow-up conguration in the open
technical literatures. Notably, there are no reports of the effects
of the delta-winglet attack angles and aspect ratio for the n-andtube heat exchanger with delta vortex in common-ow-up
orientation. Moreover, very little research has been reported to
explain the physics of the reasons of heat transfer enhancement
by vortex generator in the open literatures. In this study, the focus
will be not only on the effects of the parameters on heat transfer
and uid ow but also on the inherent mechanism for enhancement of the convective heat transfer by delta vortex in commonow-up conguration rstly. Guo et al. (1998) proposed a novel
concept regarding the enhancement of convective heat transfer,
which is now called the eld synergy principle. They point out

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Y.-G. Lei et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 15511562

that the reduction of the intersection angle between the velocity

and temperature gradient is the basic mechanism for enhanced
convective heat transfer. Later, Tao et al. (2002a, 2002b) extended
the principle from parabolic ow to elliptic ow. An extension of
the eld synergy principle to more general transport phenomena
was conducted by He et al. (2004, 2005), and a comprehensive
review on the eld synergy principle was provided by Guo et al.
(2005). Recently, Tao et al. (2007) numerically studied the effects
of ve factors on wavy n and elliptic tube heat exchangers. Their
results were analyzed from the viewpoint of the eld synergy
principle and the effects of the ve factors on the heat transfer
performance can be well described by this principle. The detailed
description of the eld synergy principle is not stated in this paper
for the simplicity of presentation and it can be found from the
above papers.
In the present work, the numerical study of a new type of the
n-and-tube heat exchanger with delta winglet in common-owup arrangement was performed, using the commercial software
FLUENT. The effects of the delta-winglet attack angles and aspect
ratio on the uid ow and heat transfer of the n-and-tube heat
exchanger were examined. Meanwhile, the numerical results
were explained from the view point of eld synergy principle, and
the angle of volume average intersection between the velocity
and temperature gradient within the computational domain was
determined. Finally, the trend of heat transfer was compared with
the trend of average intersection angle with the same parameter
to see whether the two trends are consistent with the new
principle. The criterion of the ow area-goodness factor will be
used to evaluate the heat transfer and pressure drop performance
of the n-and-tube heat exchanger.

2. Model description
2.1. Computational domain
The schematic diagram of core region of a plain n-and-tube
heat exchanger is shown in Fig. 1(a) with two rows of tubes along
the ow direction. The airow direction is x-direction, n span
wise direction is y-direction, and n thickness direction is
z-direction. As the total n construction has the symmetry
characters in the y-direction, a calculation element was dened
as the shadowed part of the gure. In the present study, heat
exchangers with different winglet geometries (attack angle and
aspect ratio) are computed. The geometric dimensions of the heat
exchangers are listed in Table 1. The isometric view of deltawinglet vortex generators on the n surface-tube bank is shown
in Fig. 1(b). The delta winglet is arranged in common-ow-up
conguration in the gure. The position and geometry of deltawinglet vortex generators are presented schematically in Fig. 1(c).
There are three geometrical parameters to describe a delta
winglet: angle of attack (b), aspect ratio (L), and winglet
thickness. As shown in Fig. 1(c), b is the angle of the winglet
with respect to the incoming ow direction. L is based on the
relative side lengths of the delta winglet and is dened as L = b/a.
In the present study, all of the winglets have equal heights b of
0.8Fp whereby the winglet length (a) is altered to vary L. The
values of b used in this investigation are 101, 201, 301, 401 and 501.
The chosen values of L are 1, 2, 3 and 4. For all cases, the thickness
of the delta winglet is kept constant at 0.2 mm. Fig. 1(d) presents
the pictorial view of the computational domain, where the
upstream and downstream parts of the computation domain are
not presented proportionately in order to save the space. The
domain was extended 5 times relative to the original heat transfer
zone for the exit section to ensure that no ow recirculation exists
at the outlet and the local one-way ow boundary condition can

1553

be used. At the entrance of the heat transfer region, the domain

was extended 1 time of the original heat transfer zone to ensure
the inlet uniformity.
2.2. Governing equations
The governing equations for continuity, momentum and
energy in the computational domain can be expressed as follows:
Continuity:
@
rui 0
@xi

Momentum:


@
@
@u
@p
rui uk
m k 
@xi
@xi
@xi
@xk

Energy:


@
@
k @T
rui T
@xi
@xi Cp @xi

2.3. Boundary conditions

The uid is assumed to be incompressible with constant
property and the ow is laminar and in steady state condition. In
the solid surface of ns and vortex generators, uid-solid
conjugated heat transfer was modeled. The boundary conditions
in three regions are described as follows:
(a) In the upstream-extended region (inlet)
At the inlet boundary
u uin const;

v w 0;

T Tin const

4a

At the upper and lower boundaries

@u
@v
@T

0; w 0;
0
@z
@z
@z
At the front and back boundaries:
@u
@w

0;
@y
@y

v 0;

@T
0
@y

4b

4c

(b) In the downstream extended region (outlet)

At the upper and lower boundaries:
@u
@v

0;
@z
@z

w 0;

@T
0
@z

5a

At the front and back boundaries:

@u
@w

0;
@y
@y

v 0;

@T
0
@y

5b

At the outlet boundary:

@u
@v
@w
@T

0
@x
@x
@x
@x

5c

(c) In the n coil region

At the upper and lower boundaries:
Velocity condition:
uvw0

6a

Temperature condition: periodic conditions

At the front and back boundaries:
Fluid region:
@u
@w

0;
@y
@y

v 0;

@T
0
@y

6b

Fin surface region:

uvw0

@T
0
@y

6c

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Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a n-and-tube heat exchanger with delta-winglet vortex generators and computation domain: (a) schematic of core region of a plain n-andtube heat exchanger, (b) isometric view of delta-winglet vortex generators on the n surface-tube bank, (c) dimensions and position of the vortex generators and (d)
computational domain.

Table 1
Geometric dimension for the studied heat exchangers.
Dimension

Value

Tube row number

Fin collar outside diameter (mm)
Transverse pitch (mm)
Longitudinal pitch (mm)
Fin pitch (mm)
Fin thickness (mm)
Air ow direction length (mm)
Angle of attack (1)
Aspect ratio

2
10.23
25.4
22
3.2
0.13
44
10, 20, 30, 40, 50
1, 2, 3, 4

Tube region:
u v w 0;

T Twt const

6d

3. Solution method
3.1. Grid generation and independency validation
The geometry and the uid ow of the heat exchangers
with delta-winglet vortex generators are complex. The
quality and quantity of the meshes are very important for the
accuracy and time of the numerical simulations. Therefore,

the grid system must be generated with great care and effort
so that the near-wall gradients are appropriately resolved,
and the second ow pattern can be captured. The computational
meshes were generated using Gambit, which is packaged
with FLUENT software. The computational domain was
divided into three parts in the ow direction: the upstreamextended region, the n coil region and the upstream-extended
region. The mesh topologies are given in Fig. 2. Structured meshes
were used in the upstream-extended and downstream-extended
regions, while unstructured meshes were employed in the n coil
region. The regions adjacent to the tubes, ns and delta-winglet
vortex generators were meshed much ner with the help of
successive ratio scheme in GAMBIT. It is believed that these
efforts are required in order to capture the correct ow and heat
transfer eld. In this study, a very large difference in cell volume
between adjacent cells was avoided and a very high quality of
mesh (skewnesso 0.7) has been ensured throughout the
computational domain. Before any computational result can be
deemed enough to illuminate the physical phenomenon, the
computational results must be justied through the grid
independence test. In the present computation, a series of grid
independence tests have been conducted to mesh models to
ensure that optimized computational mesh was obtained. Four
different grid densities of about 150 000, 250 000, 400 000 and
600 000 cells were used for both the baseline and enhance
conguration. It was found that the difference in heat transfer
coefcient between the two highest grid densities was within 2%.

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1555

technique with under-relax predictions of velocity and

pressure was used. Default under-relaxation factors of 0.3
and 0.6 were used for the pressure and momentum,
respectively. The convergence criterion is that the normalized
residuals are less than 10  4 for the ow equations and 108
for the energy equation. In order to ensure the balance of
energy, the overall heat ux from the air-side heat transfer
surface was checked to be equal that gained by airow
through the heat exchanger. The present computations were
carried on four processors of a Pentium 4 workstation with
4 GB RAM and 2.00 GHz CPUs.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Parameter denitions
In compact heat exchanger, the performance parameters
depend on the geometry and ow conditions. The ow condition
can be characterized by Reynolds number base on n collar
outside diameter. For a given ow condition, the heat transfer and
pressure drop of heat exchangers can be described by Colburn
j-factor and friction factor. The denitions of Reynolds number,
Colburn j-factor and friction factor are as follows:
 
rUc Dc
hm
2Dp Ac
7
; j
Pr2=3 ; f
Re
m
rUc Cp
rUc2 Ao
where Uc is the uid velocity at the minimum cross-section of the
tube row, Dc the n collar outside diameter, Ac the minimum free
ow area, Ao the total heat transfer area, Dp the total pressure
drop over the n length and hm is the mean heat transfer
coefcient of the heat exchanger, which is determined by
hm

Fig. 2. Mesh topology: (a) side view of the upstream-extended region, (b) irregular
meshing of the n coil region and (c) detail of the grid on the vortex generator.

Q
Ao  LMTD

where Q is heat transfer capacity and LMTD is the log-mean

temperature difference, which is determined as
LMTD

As a compromise between the convergent time and solution

precision, the nal grid system adopted was about 165 000
control volumes for the baseline conguration and about
480 000 for the enhance heat exchangers with delta-winglet
vortex generators.

3.2. Numerical method

The CFD software FLUENT was used for the numerical simulations. The governing equations along with the
boundary conditions were iteratively solved by the nite
volume method using SIMPLE pressurevelocity coupling
algorithm. This numerical approach stores scalar variables
at the center of the control volume. The face values of scalar
variables are also required for the convection terms and their
values are gained from interpolation. The segregated approach is
used to solve a single variable eld by considering all cells
at the same time, and then solve the eld of next variable
by again considering all cells at the same time. The convective
terms in governing equations were discretized by QUICK
scheme with three-order precision. Because of the nonlinearity
of the equation set being solved by FLUENT, the iterative

Tw  T in  Tw  T out
lnTw  T in =Tw  T out 

The mean temperature and pressure of a cross-section are

dened as follows:
RR
RR
UT dA
p dA
; p RRA
10
T RRA
A U dA
A dA
The total heat transfer, pressure loss are expressed as follows:
_ p T out  T in ;
Q mC

Dp p in  p out

11

For the presentation of numerical results in terms of the eld

synergy principle, the following quantity is introduced:
~ jjgradTj
M SjU

12

Obviously, the production of velocity vector and temperature

gradient reaches its peak value when the intersection angle
between velocity and temperature gradient becomes zero.
The local intersection angle is determined by the following
equation:

y cos1

@T
@T
U @T
@x V @y W @z
~ jjgradTj
jU

13

and the average intersection angle of the computation domain of

the n area can be obtained from the local intersection angle by

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numerical integration,
P
y dv
ym Pi;j;k i;j;k
dvi;j;k

14

where dvi, j, k is the volume element of the control volume (i, j, k).
4.2. Model validation
In order to verify the present numerical work, the model
validation was conducted with the help of a n-and-tube heat
exchanger without winglet at rst. The heat exchanger has the
same diameter as that used by Wang et al. (1996). The geometric
parameters of the heat exchanger are listed as follows: the n
collar outside diameter of 10.23 mm, the n pitch of 3.2 mm,
transverse pitch of 25.4 mm and longitudinal pitch of 22 mm. The
Re number ranges from 600 to 2600, corresponding to the frontal
air velocity that ranges from 0.53 to 2.30 m/s. Fig. 3(a) shows the
comparison of Colburn j-factor between numerical prediction and
experimental results. It can be observed that the numerically
predicted Colburn j-factor is about 1.57.8% higher than the
experimental results of Wang et al. (1996). The comparison of

0.030
0.025

Experimental
Numerical

0.020

friction factor between numerical and experimental results is

shown in Fig. 3(b). When compared to the experimental data of
Wang et al. (1996), the deviation of friction factor is between 1.6%
and 9.2%. The excellent agreement between the numerical results
and experimental data indicates the reliability of the physical
model.
4.3. Flow patterns, distributions of temperature and
local heat transfer
4.3.1. Flow patterns
Swirling motion is generated by ow separation along the side
edge of the vortex generator due to the pressure difference
between the upstream and downstream sides. The swirling
motion is described by the longitudinal vortices. The longitudinal
vortices structure carried by a delta-winglet vortex generator is
presented in Fig. 4. The results correspond to a Reynolds number
of 1000, an angle of attack of 201 and an aspect ratio of 2.
In addition to the longitudinal vortices created by the delta
winglet, a nozzle-like passage ow is generated between the tube
and the winglet due to the common-ow-up placement of the
delta winglet. In order to achieve a better understanding of
the local ow pattern, the velocity vectors on a plane for both the
enhanced and un-enhanced congurations are plotted in Fig. 5 at
Re=1000. The plane is close to the bottom n surface at a normal
distance of z= 0.3 mm from the bottom n. It can be seen from
Fig. 5 that the recirculation occurs widely at the backward of the
tubes, which further deteriorates the heat transfer. When the
vortex generator with common-ow-up arrangement is
employed, a nozzle-like passage appears between the tube and
delta-winglet vortex generator. The uid accelerates in the

0.015
0.010
0.005
0.000

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Re
Fig. 4. Longitudinal vortex structure.

0.10
Experimental
Numerical

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0.00
500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Re
Fig. 3. Comparison of Colburn j-factor and friction factor between numerical and
experimental results: (a) Colburn j-factor and (b) friction factor.

Fig. 5. Velocity vectors on the plane close to a bottom plane: (a) the pain n
geometry and (b) vortex generator with b = 20o and L = 2.
%

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4.3.2. Temperature distribution

Figs. 6(a) and (b) present the temperature distribution of the
outside surface for the plain n geometry and vortex generator. It
is observed that the distribution of temperature is symmetrical
with respect to the plane z =Fp/2 for plain n geometry, but
asymmetrical for vortex generator because the swirling ow
rearranges the temperature distribution in the uid. When
Figs. 6(a) and (b) are compared, it is realized that the air
temperature on the outlet surface of the vortex generator is
higher than that of the plain n geometry. The numerical results
also indicated that the average temperature difference of air
between inlet and outlet for vortex generator is larger than that
for plain n geometry and the total heat transfer rate is increased.
The reason for the phenomenon can be attributed to the
following. The swirling ows generated by vortex generator
reduce the thickness of the thermal boundary layer near the n
surface and then reduce the air-side thermal resistance. On the
other hand, the common-ow-up conguration of the vortex
generator brings about a nozzle-like passage. Thus, the uid
between the tube and delta winglet is accelerated and
consequently the poor heat transfer zone on the n surface is
narrowed consequently.
4.3.3. Local heat transfer distribution
Fig. 7 represents the distribution of span-average Nusselt
number along the length of the n-and-tube heat exchanger with
and without the vortex generator. For both the baseline and
enhanced congurations, the distributions of the span-average
Nusselt number behave similarly up to the location of the leading
edge of the delta winglet. The Nusselt number is very large at the
inlet region and decreases gradually along the ow direction until
a specied position. The temperature gradient is maximum at the
leading edge of the n bottom for the rst time, and then both the
velocity and thermal boundary layers develop along the ow
direction that result in the decrease of heat transfer. In front of the

rst tube, the span-average Nusselt number abruptly increases

due to the formation of horseshoe vortices, which brings about
better mixing and enhances heat transfer in this region. However,
the trends of the span-average Nusselt number for the two
congurations beyond the location of the leading edge of the delta
winglet become quite different. For the plain n geometry, the
Nusselt number is low in the wake region behind the tube where
uid recirculation with low velocity causes poor heat transfer.
Nevertheless, for the enhanced conguration, the span-average
Nusselt number starts increasing at the leading edge of delta
winglet. The values of the span-average Nusselt number for the
enhanced conguration are higher than that of the baseline
conguration. It was mentioned earlier that the vortex generator
creates an acceleration ow and longitudinal vortex, which lead
the stream ow into the wake region and enhance the mixing of

55
50
without vortex generators
with vortex generators

45
40
Nu (x)

constrict passage and signicantly delays separation. Thus, size of

the recirculation zone and form-drag across the tube are
narrowed.

1557

35
30
25
20
15
10

10

20
x, mm

30

40

50

Fig. 7. Distribution of span-average heat transfer coefcient on the bottom plane

for the plain n geometry and vortex generator with b = 20o and L = 2.
%

Fig. 6. Temperature distribution of the outlet surface (x= 44 mm) at Re =1000 for: (a) the plain(nandita, plain or pain?)n geometry and (b) the vortex generator with b = 201
and L =2.

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Y.-G. Lei et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 15511562

the hot and cold uid. This is the reason why the local Nusselt
number behind the delta winglet is greatly improved.

89

4.4. Effect of attack angle

100

h (W m-2 K-1)

80

60

40

Re = 600
Re = 1400
Re = 2200

10

20
30
attack angle ()

40

Fig. 8. Effect of attack angle on heat transfer coefcient.

50

intersection angle ()

87

86

85

84

10

20
30
attack angle ()

40

50

3.5
Re = 600
Re = 1400
Re = 2200

3.0
2.5
M x104 (Ks-1)

The effect of attack angle on heat transfer coefcient is shown

in Fig. 8. The corresponding heat transfer coefcient for the plain
n geometry (01) is also included for comparison. It is clear that
the heat transfer coefcient of all heat exchangers with delta
winglet is higher than that of plain n-and-tube heat exchanger. It
can also be seen from Fig. 8 that the heat transfer coefcient
increases with increase in attack angle, and increase in tendency
is weakened gradually.
Fig. 9(a) depicts the variation of the average intersection
angle between velocity and temperature gradient, and Fig. 9(b)
illustrates the variation of module production with attack angle. It
can be seen from Fig. 9(a) that the average intersection angle
decreases with increase in attack angle, which indicates better
synergy between velocity and temperature gradient. Fig. 9(b)
shows the module production decreases with increase in attack
angle. It can be observed that the positive effect of the
intersection angle is much larger than the negative effective
effect of the module production decrease. Thus, we can say that
the heat transfer enhancement with increase in attack angle is
coincident with the eld synergy principle. Fig. 9(a) also shows
that the average intersection angle increases with increase in Re
number, which implies the deterioration of the synergy between
velocity and temperature gradient. While at the same time, as can
be seen from Fig. 9(b), the value of module production quickly
increases with increase in Re number. Accordant with the eld
synergy principle, increase in heat transfer coefcient with Re
number resulted from increase in module production.
Fig. 10 presents the Colburn j-factor and friction factor versus Re
for vortex generators and plain n geometry. For convenience,
VG10, VG20, VG30, VG40 and VG50, hereinafter, are used to represent
vortex generators with attack angles of 101, 201, 301, 401 and 501
and VG0 refers to plain n geometry. It is clear that the Colburn
j-factors of all enhanced heat exchangers are higher than that of the
plain n geometry. For the computed range of Re number between
600 and 2600, the Colburn j-factor is shown to increase by
27.234.8% for VG10 and by 46.059.4% for VG50. The results
presented in Fig. 10(a) also show that the Colburn j-factor increases
with increase in attack angle at the same Reynolds number. Fig.

20

Re = 600
Re = 1400
Re = 2200

88

2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0

10

20
30
attack angle ()

40

50

Fig. 9. Variations of average intersection angle and module production with attack
angle: (a) variation of intersection angle and (b) variation of module production.

10(b) indicates that the friction factor of enhance heat exchanger is

everywhere superior to the plain n geometry and its strength
increases with increase in attack angle. It is also interesting to note
that the tendency increases with increase in attack angle.
Proper evaluation is important for comparing the integrated
performance of different heat exchangers. Both heat transfer and
pressure drop are important parameters for heat exchanger
performance evaluation. It is desirable to obtain the highest heat
transfer rate at the lowest pressure drop, so the criterion of
London area-goodness factor, j/f, is used as a comparison criterion
in the present study. Fig. 11 shows the integrated performance for
vortex generators with different attack angles and plain n
geometry. For VG50, the j/f curve is over the curve of plain n
geometry and then falls below at approximately Re=1800. The
reason for this phenomenon is that the pressure drop penalty
outweighs the heat transfer enhancement by the VG50 at high Re
number. It is also observed from the gure that the j/f values of
VG10 ,VG20 ,VG30 and VG40 are higher than that of plain n
geometry for the Re range under consideration and the best
integrated heat transfer and pressure drop performance occurs at
about b = 201.

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Y.-G. Lei et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 15511562

1559

0.50

0.035

VG0
VG10
VG20
VG30
VG40
VG50

0.03
0.025

0.45
0.40
0.35

j/f

0.02

VG0
VG10
VG20
VG30
VG40
VG50

0.015

0.30
0.25

0.01

0.20

500

1000

1500

500

2000 2500 3000

1000

Re

1500
Re

2000

2500

3000

Fig. 11. j/f versus Re for vortex generators and plain n geometry.

0.10

0.08

0.06

80
h (W m-1K-1)

100

VG0
VG10
VG20
VG30
VG40
VG50

0.04

60

40
0.02
500

1000

1500

2000

Re = 600
Re = 1400
Re = 2200

2500 3000

Re
Fig. 10. Colburn j-factor and friction factor versus Re for vortex generators and
plain n geometry: (a) j versus Re and (b) f versus Re.

20

2
3
aspect ratio

Fig. 12. Effect of aspect ratio on heat transfer coefcient.

4.5. Effect of wing aspect ratio

To examine the effect of wing aspect ratio, wing aspect
ratios varying from 1 to 4 at attack angle 201 are simulated.
The Reynolds numbers are taken as 600, 1400 and 2200
(the corresponding inlet velocities are 0.53, 1.23 and 1.94 m/s,
respectively). Computational results are shown in Fig. 12. It is
observed that the heat transfer coefcient increases with increase in
aspect ratio, but the increasing tendency is gradually weakened.
The eld synergy presentations are presented in Fig. 13. It can
be seen from Fig. 13(a) that the average intersection angle
decreases with increase in aspect ratio. The aspect ratio has little
effect on y when L Z2. The module production of velocity and
temperature gradient is shown in Fig. 13(b). According to the
gure, the module production increases slowly with increase in
aspect ratio. The above results explain why the heat transfer
coefcient increases with increase in aspect ratio and why the
increasing tendency become slow for larger aspect ratio. So, the
increase in heat transfer with increase in attack angle can be
explained by the eld synergy principle.
Fig. 14(a) shows the computational results of Colburn j-factor for
L =1, 2, 3, 4 and b =201. It is observed that the Colburn j-factor

increases by increasing the aspect ratio at the same Reynolds number.

Also looking at the gure, it is interesting to note that the
improvement of heat transfer becomes smaller with increase in
aspect ratio when L Z2, which means that the effect of aspect ratio
on heat transfer is not sensitive when L Z2. The phenomenon can be
explained by eld synergy principle as mentioned above.
Computational results of friction factor for L =1, 2, 3, 4 and b =201
are plotted in Fig. 14(b). According to the gure, the friction factor
increases with increase in aspect ratio at the same Reynolds number,
and the dependency is stronger and stronger. The numerical results
indicate that the delta-winglet vortex generator with b =201 and L =2
provides the best overall performance over the Reynolds number
range under consideration. The optimal conguration increases the
Colburn j-factor by 35.145.2%, and simultaneously increases the
friction factor by 19.334.5%.

5. Conclusions
In this paper, the heat transfer and uid ow performance of nand-tube heat exchangers with delta-winglet vortex generators were

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Y.-G. Lei et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 15511562

0.04

88.0
Re = 600
Re = 1400
Re = 2200

87.5
87.0

= 1.0
= 2.0
= 3.0
= 4.0

0.03
0.025

86.5
86.0

intersection angle ()

0.035

0.02

85.5

0.015
85.0
84.5
84.0

2
3
aspect ratio

0.01
500

1500

2000 2500 3000

Re
0.1

3.0
2.5

= 1.0
= 2.0
= 3.0
= 4.0

0.08
Re = 600
Re = 1400
Re = 2200

2.0
M x104 (Ks-1)

1000

1.5

0.06

1.0
0.5
0.0

0.04
500
0

2
3
aspect ratio

Fig. 13. Variations of average intersection angle and module production with
respect ratio: (a) variation of intersection angle and (b) variation of module
production.

studied using the CFD method. The delta-winglet vortex generators

are arranged in a common-ow-up orientation to improve tube wake
management. The effects of different attack angles b (b =101, 201, 301,
401 and 501) and aspect ratios L (L =1, 2, 3 and 4) were investigated
for Reynolds numbers between 600 and 2600, which correspond to
inlet velocities between 0.53 and 2.30 m/s. The numerical results
were analyzed from the viewpoint of the eld synergy principle. The
major ndings are summarized as follows:

(1) Longitudinal vortices can be generated by delta-winglet

vortex generators, and improve the heat transfer performance. On the other hand, the common-ow-up orientation
creates the accelerated ow between the winglet and tube
surface. The ow acceleration delays the separation from the
tube, reduces form-drag across the tube and aids the uid into
the wake recirculation zone. Therefore, the delta-winglet
vortex generators in common-ow-up arrangement can
signicantly enhance heat transfer performance of n-andtube heat exchangers without an excessive amount of
pressure drop penalty.

1000

1500

2000 2500 3000

Re
Fig. 14. Colburn j-factor and friction factor versus Re for vortex generators with
different aspect ratios (b = 201): (a) j versus Re and (b) f versus Re.

(2) For all n-and-tube heat exchangers with delta-winglet

vortex generators, the heat coefcient increases with increase
in Reynolds number. The augmentation of heat transfer is
resulted from increase in the module product of velocity and
temperature gradient. However, the synergy between the
velocity and the temperature gradient becomes weaker with
increase in Re number, leading to a less increasing tendency of
heat transfer coefcient with Re number.
(3) Although an increase in attack angle leads to increase in heat
transfer coefcient, the tendency is not very strong. Increase
in heat transfer coefcient is due to decrease in the
intersection angle between the velocity and temperature
gradient. The friction factor increases with increase in attack
angle and the increasing tendency is strengthened gradually.
(4) Both the heat transfer coefcient and friction factor increase
with increase in attack angle. The enhancement of heat
transfer can also be explained by decrease in the intersection
angle between the velocity and temperature gradient and
increase in the module product.
(5) The overall heat transfer and pressure drop performance of heat
exchangers is evaluated using London area-goodness factor, j/f.
The computed results indicated that the j/f ratio decreases with
increase in Reynolds number for all enhanced heat exchangers.

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Y.-G. Lei et al. / Chemical Engineering Science 65 (2010) 15511562

In addition, the improvements of j/f ratio compared to the unenhanced heat exchanger are smaller and smaller with increase
in Reynolds number. It implies that the vortex generators placed
in common-ow-up arrangement are more effective for lower
Reynolds numbers than for higher Reynolds numbers.
(6) For the Reynolds number range under consideration, the
= 2 provides
= 201 and E
delta-winglet vortex generator with a
the best ratio of j/f. The optimal conguration increases the
Colburn j-factor by 35.145.2%, and simultaneously increases
the friction factor by 19.334.5%.

Notation
total heat transfer area, m2
Ao
Ac
minimum free ow area, m2
a
winglet length, m
b
winglet height, m
specic heat, J/(kg K)
Cp
Dc
n collar outside diameter (Do + 2d), m
tube outside diameter, m
Do
f
friction factor
n pitch, m
Fp
h
heat transfer coefcient, W/(m2 K)
j
Colburn j-factor
k
thermal conductivity, W/(m K)
LMTD log-mean temperature difference, K
M
module production
N
the number of control volume or point
Nu
Nusselt number
p
pressure, Pa
pressure drop in ow direction, Pa
Dp
Pr
Prandtl number
Q
heat transfer capacity, W
Re
Reynolds number based on n collar outside diameter
S1
span wise tube pitch, m
longitudinal tube pitch, m
S2
T
temperature, K
U, V, Wx, y, z velocity components, m/s
velocity at the minimum cross-section area, m/s
Uc
~
velocity vector
U
x, y, z Cartesian coordinates
Greek symbols

b
d
y

m
r

wing angle of attack

n thickness, m
the local intersection angle
dynamic viscosity, Ns/m2
density, kg/m3

Subscripts
ave
in
out
w

average value
inlet parameter
outlet parameter
wall conditions

Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the Key Project of National Natural
Science Foundation of China (No.U0934005), and the National
Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2007CB206902).

1561

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