Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 374e383

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Applied Thermal Engineering

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

Heat transfer and pressure drop performance of twisted oval tube

heat exchanger
Xiang-hui Tan, Dong-sheng Zhu*, Guo-yan Zhou*, Li-ding Zeng
Key Laboratory of Pressure Systems and Safety of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong
Road, Shanghai 200237, PR China

h i g h l i g h t s

< Experimental study of the tube side heat transfer and pressure drop performance of a twisted oval tube heat exchanger.
< Experimental study of the shell side heat transfer and pressure drop performance of a twisted oval tube heat exchanger.
< Comparatively study of the shell side performance of a twisted oval tube heat exchanger with a rod baffle heat exchanger.
< Analyzing of the overall performance of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Twisted oval tube heat exchanger is a type of heat exchanger that aims at improving the heat transfer
Received 10 January 2012 coefficient of the tube side and also decreasing the pressure drop of the shell side. In the present work,
Accepted 21 June 2012 tube side and shell side heat transfer and pressure drop performances of a twisted oval tube heat
Available online 29 June 2012
exchanger has been experimentally studied. The tube side study shows that the tube side heat transfer
coefficient and pressure drop in a twisted oval tube are both higher than in a smooth round tube. The
Keywords:
shell side study shows that the lower the modified Froude number FrM, the higher the shell side heat
Twisted oval tube heat exchanger
transfer coefficient and pressure drop. In order to comparatively analyze its shell side performance of the
Heat transfer performance
Pressure drop performance
heat exchanger, a rod baffle heat exchanger with similar size of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger is
Overall performance designed and its performance is calculated with Gentry’s method. The comparative study shows that the
heat transfer coefficient of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger is higher and the pressure drop is lower
than the rod baffle heat exchanger. In order to evaluate the overall performance of the twisted oval tube
heat exchanger, a performance evaluation criterion considering both the tube side and shell side
performance of a heat exchanger is proposed and applied. The analyze of the overall performance of the
twisted oval tube shows that the twisted oval tube heat exchangers works more effective at low tube side
flow rate and high shell side flow rate.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Heat transfer enhancement technique is a very important tech-
nique to improve the efficiency of heat exchangers. From the point
of energy saving, improving the efficiency of heat exchangers can be
realized in two ways: promoting the heat transfer coefficient to
decrease the heat transfer area, decreasing the pressure drop to save
the cost of pump. Both active and passive techniques were used to
increase the heat transfer coefficient of a heat exchanger over
a century ago [1,2]. Twisted oval tube heat exchanger is a type of
* Corresponding authors. Tel./fax: þ86 21 64253708.
E-mail addresses: cedshzhu@ecust.edu.cn (D.-s. Zhu), zhougy@ecust.edu.cn
(G.-y. Zhou).
heat exchanger that aims at promoting the heat transfer coefficient
of the tube side and also decreasing the pressure drop of the shell
side. Applications of the twisted oval tube in chemical field can also
be found in [3]. Nowadays, more and more attention are paid on the
performance of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger [4,5].
Tubes that play an important role in this heat transfer
enhancement technique are made from normal round tubes. They
are formed into an oval section with a superimposed twist by some
special techniques. Two ends of the tubes remain round on the
consideration of assembling them with the tube sheet. Sketch of
this tube can be found in Fig. 1a. Geometrical parameters of the
twisted oval tube are 360
twist pitch(S), major axis (A) of the oval
section and minor axis (B) of the oval section. As has been shown in
Fig. 1b, when the tubes are arrayed in a same direction, they can be
supported by the tubes themselves but not baffles or rods that

1359-4311/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2012.06.037
 X.-h. Tan et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 374e383 375

Nomenclature S 360
twist pitch, m

Tf fluid temperature, K
A major axis of the twisted oval tube, m Tw wall temperature, K
Ac sectional area, m2 u velocity, m/s
As shell side flow area, m2 uq,max maximum tangential velocity, m/s
At tube side flow area, m2 V volume flow rate, m3/s
B minor axis of the twisted oval tube, m
Cp specific heat, J/(kg$K) Greek symbols
d smooth round tube diameter, m DP total pressure drop, Pa
de equivalent diameter, m DPb baffle flow pressure drop, Pa
dh hydraulic diameter, m DPl longitude flow pressure drop, Pa
dm logarithmic mean diameter, m DTm Logarithmic mean temperature difference, K
f friction factor h overall performance
F heat transfer area, m2 hM modified overall performance
FrM modified Froude number l thermal conductivity, W/(m$K)
gM maximum centrifugal acceleration, m/s2 m dynamic viscosity, Pa s
G mass flow rate, kg/s r density, kg/m3
h heat transfer coefficient, W/(m2$K) 4 viscosity correction factor
j heat transfer factor
jl j factor- laminar flow Subscripts
jt j factor- turbulent flow b baffle flow
K overall heat transfer coefficient,W/(m2$K) l longitude flow
Kb pressure drop coefficient t tube side
L length of tube, m s shell side
m constants for fitting correlations M modified
n constants for fitting correlations h hydraulic
Nr rod baffle number j heat transfer factor
Nu Nusselt number f friction factor
Pr Prandtl number o outlet/outer side
Q heat duty, W i inlet/inner side
T temperature, K w wall
Re Reynolds number

a normal shell tube heat exchanger needs. This special geometrical
characteristic can form a longitude flow channel which will
considerably reduce the pressure drop of the heat exchanger.
From the point of analyzing the heat transfer and pressure drop
performance of the tube side of a twisted oval tube heat exchanger,
Asmantas et al. [6] tested the performance of twisted oval tube to
Fig. 1. Sketch of twisted oval tube and self supported twisted oval tubes a. Sketch of
twisted oval tube. b. Sketch of self supported oval tubes.
get the heat transfer and pressure drop correlations in the early
stage. Considering the effect of Pr and geometrical parameters on
the performance of the twisted oval tube, Si et al. and Gao et al. [7,8]
tested the performance of twisted oval tubes with different A, B and
S in turbulent state. In their experiments, diesel oil, water and air
are all chosen as the flowing media. Their result shows that the
twisted oval tube will perform better at low Re and high viscosity.
Bishara et al. [9] simulated the laminar flow in a twisted oval tube at
Re < 1200. They found that it is the secondary flow that caused by
the torsion of the tubes that resulted in the heat transfer
enhancement and pressure drop increment. Gao et al. [10] also
studied the phenomenon of boiling when the twisted oval tube
technique is combined with porous media technique.
On the purpose of obtaining the heat transfer and pressure drop
correlations, Meng et al. [11] also studied the flow in a twisted oval
tube numerically at Re ¼ 500e1500. Yang et al. [12] studied the
performance of the twisted oval tube from laminar state to turbu-
lent state. Performances of the twisted oval tube were also
compared with normal round tube in their study. Results show that
the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop of a twisted oval tube
are both higher than a smooth round tube. Correlations that reflect
the heat transfer and pressure drop performance of twisted oval
tube heat exchanger have also been reviewed by Yang et al. [12].
On the aspect of the shell side, many researches focused on the
research of turbulent intensity [13], boundary layer depth [14] and
heat diffusion coefficient [15]. Numerical models for predicting
the shell side heat transfer and pressure drop performance of
the twisted oval tube heat exchanger has also been published in the
past few decades [16]. Based on the shell side heat and fluid flow
376 X.-h. Tan et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 374e383
characteristics of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger [17], opti-
mization methods for the twisted oval tube heat exchanger have
also been proposed [18].
Influenced by the centrifugal force field, criterions that charac-
terize the twisting of the flow in the twisted oval tube bundle are
Reynolds number Re and Froude number Fr. Fr can be calculated
asFr ¼ u2s =ðdh;t;o gM Þ.WheregM ¼ 2u2q;max =A. Considering the time
cost when the fluid flow past a helical pitch with uq,max is the same
with the time cost when the fluid flow past axial length S with us.
So uq,max can be calculated as: uq;max ¼ pAus =S.Then Fr can be
expressed asFr ¼ S2 =ð2p2 Adh;t;o Þ. Omitting the constant 2p2, the
modified Froude number FrM can be defined asFrM ¼ S2 =ðAdh;t;o Þ.
Based on this, experimental and numerical studies have also been
applied on the purpose of obtaining the shell side heat transfer and
pressure drop correlations of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger
[7,19e21].
Correlations of the shell side heat transfer factor and friction
factor can be found in Si et al.’s [7] and Dzyubenko et al.’s [19e21]
research in Table 1. Among these three sets of correlations, two sets
of Dzyubenko et al.’s correlations are derived based on a heat
exchanger with a hexagonal shell. It is also the same with the
present study. Their correlations are fitted in the range of
FrM ¼ 64,231 < FrM < 392 and 232 < FrM<2440 as described in
Table 1.
From all of the above we can find that most of the researches
focused on the heat transfer and pressure drop of just one side of
the twisted oval tube heat exchanger. Only the tube side perfor-
mance of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger has been compared
with traditional shell-tube heat exchangers. Nevertheless, when
twisted oval tube technique is used as a heat transfer enhancement
technique, two sides of the heat transfer and pressure drop
performances will both be different from traditional heat
exchangers. So the evaluation of the twisted oval tube heat
exchanger should be carried out based on the performance of the
two sides of the heat exchanger.
Aiming at obtaining the overall performance of the twisted
oval tube heat exchanger, the heat transfer and pressure drop
performance of the two sides of the twisted oval tube heat
exchanger will be experimentally studied in the present work.
A rod baffle heat exchanger will be designed and compared to
analyze the overall performance of the tested twisted oval tube
heat exchanger. Also a new criterion for evaluating the overall
performance of heat exchangers will be established and used
to evaluate the performance of twisted oval tube heat
exchanger.
Table 1
Shell side heat transfer and pressure drop correlations of twisted oval tube heat exchangers.
Researchers Range and parameters
Si Qin et al. [6] 7 tubes
Shell diameter 0.08 m
S/de ¼ 6.86e11.9
FrM ¼ 231e392
2000 < Re<104
Fluid: Water and oil
Dzyubenko et al. [18,19] 37 tubes
FrM ¼ 232e2440
Hexagonal shell
Fluid: air
2000 < Re<5  104
Dzyubenkoet al. [20] 37 tubes
FrM ¼ 64
Hexagonal shell
Fluid: air
2000 < Re<5  104
2. Experimental study of tube side heat transfer and pressure
drop performance
2.1. Tube side experimental apparatus and data reduction
2.1.1. Experimental apparatus
An experimental system for testing the heat transfer coefficient
and pressure drop performance of a twisted oval tube is illustrated
in Fig. 2. A double-pipe heat exchanger with hot water flowing in
the shell side and cold water flowing in the tube side is applied. The
outer tube of the heat exchanger is a round tube with inner
diameter equals 40 mm and wall thickness equals 2.5 mm. The
inner tube is twisted oval tube. Detailed sectional parameters of the
double tube heat exchanger can be found in Fig. 3 Units in Fig. 3 are
mm. Before the tests start, water in hot water tank would be heated
by the steam which flows in the coiled pipes, and also it will be self
circulated by a centrifugal pump to ensure the homogeneity of
temperature. Both the cold water tank and hot water tank are
equipped to 30 m3 to fulfill the demand of water during the tests.
Length of the tested section is 3 m. The upstream tube section of the
tested tube is made long and straight in order to ensure a fully
developed flow. Shut-off valves are installed to regulate the velocity
of the hot water and cold water. The whole system including the
two tanks, the test section and the pipes that connect all of them
are wrapped with glass fiber to insulate them from the
surroundings.
Parameters that measured are shell/tube side volume flow rate,
shell/tube side inlet/outlet bulk temperature and tube side pressure
drop. All of the temperatures are measured with T-type thermo-
couples which are calibrated in a same temperature with an
accuracy of 0.25%. Two electromagnetic flow meters with an
uncertainty of 0.5% are equipped to measure the shell/tube side
flow rate. Pressure drop of the tested twisted oval tube is measured
using the differential pressure transmitter with an accuracy of
0.075%. In addition, the measurement uncertainties of tube
diameter and tube length are about 0.5% and 0.04%, respectively.
The relative accuracy of each physical parameter is about 0.5%.
During the tests, cold water in the tube side is pumped from the
cold water tank, and it is heated in the double-pipe heat exchanger
by the hot water which flows in the shell side. The shell side flow
rate is fixed at its maximum value and tube side flow rate is
regulated to ensure that the temperature of the shell side water
changes little. It means that the shell side Re and Pr can be assumed
as constants. For each test run with a constant shell and tube side
flow rate, the system is assumed to be in a steady state on the
Correlations
0:4347 ð1 þ 3:6Fr 0:357 ÞPr0:33
Nu ¼ 0:2379Re0:7602 FrM M
f ¼ 9:461Re0:4928 FrM
0:078 ð1 þ 3:6Fr 0:357 Þ
M
!0:55
0:357 Þ Tw
Nu ¼ 0:023Re0:8 ð1 þ 3:6FrM Pr0:4
Tf
f ¼ 0:3164Re0:25 ð1 þ 3:6FrM
0:357 Þ
!0:55
Tw
Nu ¼ 0:0521Re0:8 Pr0:4
Tf
f ¼ 1.095Re0.25
 X.-h. Tan et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 374e383 377

1.Tube side flow meter 2.Tube side valve

3.Cold water pump 4.Cold water tank

5. Differential pressure transmitter 6.Hot water tank

7.Coiled pipe 8.Hot water pump

9. Shell side valve 10. Shell side flow meter

11. Data Acquisition System 12. Twisted oval tube

13. Twisted oval tube heat exchanger

Tube side fluid

Shell side fluid

Measurement

* Testing point of temperature

× Testing point of pressure

Fig. 2. Testing system of the tube side heat transfer and pressure drop performance.

condition that all temperature fluctuations of not exceed 0.2
C,  

and the fluctuation of the pressure difference is less than 1%. Qt ¼ Gt Cp;t Tc;o  Tc;i (3b)
A smooth round tube and a twisted oval tube made from the
former one are tested with the testing system introduced above. All Considering the hot fluid flows in the shell side, and there may
of the tubes are made of stainless steel with a length of 3 m. Inner still exists little heat elimination, Q is assumed to be equal withQt.
and outer diameter of the round tube is 25 mm and 20 mm Because that the twisted oval tube is made from a smooth round
respectively. The twisted oval tube which is made from the smooth tube, the heat transfer area of the tested heat exchanger is calcu-
round tube has an oval section. As shown in Fig. 1a, major axis A and lated as:
minor axis B of the twisted oval tube is 29 mm and 19.5 mm,
respectively. The wall thickness is 2.5 mm. The 360
twist pitch is F ¼ pdr;o Lt (4)
230 mm.
Logarithmic mean temperature difference DTm and logarithmic
mean diameter dm are calculated as:
2.1.2. Data reduction method
The fouling resistance of the double-tube heat exchanger is    
Ts;o  Tt;i  Ts;i  Tt;o
assumed to be zero. From Fourier Law and basic equations of heat DTm ¼    (5)
transfer process, heat transfer coefficient of the double tube heat ln Ts;o  Tt;i Ts;i  Tt;o
exchanger K can be derived as follow:
dh;t;o  dh;t;i
K ¼ Q =ðF DTm Þ (1) dm ¼   (6)
ln dh;t;o =dh;t;i

1 dr;i ddm 1 Heat transfer performance of fluid flowing in the tube/shell side
¼ þ þ (2)
K ht dr;o lw dr;o hs of the above heat exchanger can be calculated as:

lt lt n
Where ht and hs are the tube side and shell side heat transfer ht ¼ jt Pr0:4
t ¼ mt;j Ret t:j Pr0:4
t (7)
coefficient, respectively. Q is the heat duty. Shell side and tube side dh;t;i dh;t;i
heat duty, Qs and Qt can be calculated as:
ls ls n ;j
  hs ¼ js Pr0:3
s ¼ ms;j Res s Pr0:3
s (8)
Qs ¼ Gs Cp;s Th;i  Th;o (3a) dh;s dh;s

Where ht and hs are the Nusselt number of tube side and shell side,
respectively. jt and js are tube side and shell side heat transfer
factors, respectively. Exponent of Pr are set as 0.4 and 0.3 for fluid
that to be heated and cooled, respectively.
From Eq. (8) and considering that the shell side Re and Pr is
assumed as constants, the heat transfer coefficient of the shell side
can be assumed to be a constant. By definingC ¼ 1/ho þ (ddm)/(ldt,o),
Eq. (2) can be derived as:

1 lt n
¼ m Re t;j Pr0:4
t þC (9)
K dt;o t;j t

Fig. 3. Sketch of shell side cross section of the double tube heat exchanger. Pressure drop DPt of the tested tubes can be expressed as:
378 X.-h. Tan et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 374e383

DPt ¼ ft
Lt rt u2t
(10) a
dt;i 2
Equation (13a)
Where ft is the friction factor of the tested tube, ft, ut and Ret can be Dittus-Bolter equation (equation (14a))
200
expressed as:
Vt rt ut dh;t

Nusselt number Nu
n
ft ¼ mt;f Ret t;f ut ¼ Ret ¼ ; (11)
At mt 100

Hydraulic diameters that mentioned above are all calculated

with the following method:
4  Ac
dh ¼ (12)
C
30
So sets of (Ret,K) and (Ret,ft) can be obtained after the experi-
mental tests. With the help of least square method, mt,h, nt,h, C, mt,f,
4000 10000 30000
nt,f can be fitted. And the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop Reynolds number Re
correlations of the tested tubes can be directly derived. Similar
testing method and data reduction method can also be found [12]. b
The uncertainty is estimated with the method suggested by 0.04
Moffat [22] and Kline [23]. According to the accuracy of the testing Equation (13b)
apparatuses and the data reduction method the uncertainty of Blasius equation (equation (14b))
overall heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are 7.5% and
4.8%, respectively. This degree of accuracy can be accepted by the 0.032
industry. friction factor f

2.2. Results and discussions of the tube side heat transfer and
pressure drop performance 0.024

2.2.1. Verification of the testing system

Heat transfer factor and friction factor correlations (shown in Eq.
(13a) and Eq. (13b)) of the smooth round tube in a turbulent state
are fitted in order to confirm the reliability of the testing system. 3000 10000 30000
The Correlations are compared with the predictions of Reynolds number Re
DittuseBoelter correlation (Eq. (14a)) and Blasius correlation (Eq.
Fig. 4. Verification of the tube side performances of the testing system. a. Verification
(14b)) in Fig. 4a and b of the tube side heat transfer performance of the testing system. b. Verification of the
tube side pressure drop performance of the testing system.
j ¼ 0:0420Re0:74 (13a)

The distribution of Nu and f with Re are shown in Fig. 5a and b,

f ¼ 0:3474Re0:26
j ¼ 0:023Re0:80
f ¼ 0:3164Re0:25
The heat transfer factor correlation fitted from the experimental
data for turbulent flow agrees well with the DittuseBoelter corre-
lation with a deviation between 5.63% and 11%, and the average
absolute deviation is 3.58%. The friction factor correlation fitted
from the experimental data for turbulent flow agrees well with the
Blasius correlation with a deviation between 1.75% and 0.94%, and
the absolute deviation is 1.05%. From the comparison, it can be
proved that the experimental system and data reduction method
for obtaining the heat transfer factor and friction factor correlations
of the tested tube are effective.
2.2.2. Heat transfer and pressure drop performance of twisted oval
tube
With the method mentioned above, heat transfer factor and
friction factor of the tested twisted oval tube with S ¼ 230 mm can
be fitted as:
j ¼ 0:2363Re0:5728
f ¼ 0:1430Re0:1690
(13b) respectively. In these two figures, heat transfer and pressure drop
correlations which are derived from Gao et al. [8] and Yang et al.
(14a) [12] are also presented. From Fig. 5a, it can be found that Nusselt
number correlation fitted from the experimental data agrees well
with Yang et al. and Gao et al.’s results. Average difference between
(14b)
Eq. (15a) and Gao et al.’s result is 14.09% and it is 5.19% between Eq.
(15a) and Yang et al.’s result. Nevertheless, differences of pressure
drop between them are significant.
Though the twisted oval tube which is made from the round
tube, But it has a different hydraulic diameter with the later one. It
means that same Nusselt number and friction factor will result in
different h andDP. So analyzing its heat transfer enhancement by
comparing Nu and f is not reasonable.
So heat transfer and pressure drop performance of the twisted
oval tube and smooth round tube is presented in the form of heat
transfer coefficient h and pressure dropDP in the present study.
They are calculated from, Eq. (7), Eq. (10) and Eq. (15a) and (15b).
Fig. 6 gives the distribution of heat transfer coefficient and pressure
drop with Re for the tested tubes in the range of 4000 < Re<6  104,
Referring to Fig. 6a, it can be observed that the heat transfer
performance of the twisted oval tube is higher than the smooth
round tube. The improvement ranges from 21% to 31% and it is
24.05% in average. Referring to Fig. 6b, it can be observed that the
(15a) pressure drop of the twisted oval tube is also higher than the
smooth round tube. Bishara et al.’s [9] numerical result shows that
(15b) there exists intensive secondary flow in the twisted oval tube when
 X.-h. Tan et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 374e383 379

a a
[8]
9000 h derived from equation(13a) for smooth round tube
Gao et al.

heat transfer coefficient h(W/(m ·K))

[12] h derived from equation(15a) for twisted oval tube
200 Yang et al.

2
Derived from equation (15a) 6000
Nusselt number Nu

100

3000

30

4000 10000 30000

Reynolds number Re 4000 10000 30000
Reynolds number Re
b
0.08 b
[8] ΔP derived from equation (13b) for smooth round tube
Gao et al.
[12] ΔP derived from equation (13b) for twisted oval tube
Yang et al.
Equation (15b)

pressure drop ΔP(Pa)

0.04 1000
fricion factor f

100

4000 10000 30000 4000 10000 30000

Reynolds number Re Reynolds number Re

Fig. 5. Fitting curve of tube side heat transfer and pressure drop correlations of the Fig. 6. Heat transfer and pressure drop performances of smooth round tube and
twisted oval tube with S ¼ 230 mm a. Fitting curve of tube side heat transfer corre- twisted oval tube. a. Heat transfer performances of smooth round tube and twisted
lation. b. Fitting curve of tube side pressure drop correlation. oval tube. b. Pressure drop performances of smooth round tube and twisted oval tube.

Re is low. This also may be the mechanism of heat transfer
enhancement and pressure drop increment of the twisted oval tube
when the fluid is in turbulent state.
3. Experimental study of shell side heat transfer and pressure
drop performance
3.1. Shell side experimental apparatus and data reduction
3.1.1. Experimental apparatus
A testing system for testing the shell side heat transfer and
pressure drop performance of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger
is shown in Fig. 7. Length of the tested shell side is 2.5 m. Tubes with
the same size of twisted oval tube that has been tested mentioned
above are applied in the twisted oval tube heat exchanger. Sectional
parameters of the shell side can be found in Fig. 8. Units in Fig. 8 are
mm. The circulating system is almost the same with Fig. 1 but
changes the double-pipe heat exchanger to a twisted oval tube heat
exchanger. Hot water which has been heated by the coiled pipe in
the hot water tank flows in the shell side. And it will be cooled by
the cold water which flows in the tube side. All of the fluids in the
system are circulated by centrifugal pumps. Pipes that connecting
all of the components are zinc planted to avoid corrosion. The
whole system including the water tank, the test unit and the pipes
are wrapped with glass fiber to insulate them from surroundings.
The volume flow rate of the water are measured with a elec-
tromagnetic flow meters with an accuracy of 0.5%. Inlet/outlet
temperatures of the shell/tube fluids are measured with T-type
thermocouples with an accuracy of 0.25%. Pressure drop of the
shell side fluid is measured with a differential pressure transmitter
with an accuracy of 0.075%. The testing points of the shell side
pressure drop are set to exclude the pressure drop of the inlet/
outlet nozzles and the pressure drop between the nozzles and the
shell. In addition, the measurement uncertainties of tube diameter
and tube length are about 0.5% and 0.04%, respectively. The relative
accuracy of each physical parameter is about 0.5%.
During the test, the volume flow rate of the tube side fluid is
assigned to be a constant, and the volume rate of the shell side fluid
ranges from 8 to 120 m3/h. And it is adjusted by a butterfly valve.
Fluid is assumed to be in a steady state on the condition that the
fluctuations of all temperatures not exceed 0.2
C, and the fluc-
tuation of the pressure difference was less than 1%. Five minutes
later after the fluid is in a steady state, all the temperature, pressure
difference and flow rate will be saved by an Agilent 34970A auto-
matically every 5 s.
3.1.2. Data reduction
During the data reduction, all fouling thermal resistances are set
as zero. Considering that the twisted oval tubes are all formed from
a round tube, the heat transfer area of the heat exchanger can be
calculated asF ¼ 37pdt,oLt.
380 X.-h. Tan et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 374e383

1.Tube side flow meter 2.Tube side valve

3.Cold water pump 4.Cold water tank

5. Differential pressure transmitter 6.Hot water tank

7.Coiled pipe 8.Hot water pump

9. Shell side valve 10. Shell side flow meter

11. Data Acquisition System 12. Twisted oval tube

13. Twisted oval tube heat exchanger

Tube side fluid

Shell side fluid

Measurement

* Testing point of temperature

× Testing point of pressure

Fig. 7. Testing system of shell side heat transfer and pressure drop performance.

Heat transfer coefficient of the tube side can be calculated from The uncertainty is estimated with the method suggested by
Eq. (15a). Then from Eq. (8) and Eq. (15a), the shell side heat Moffat [22] and Kline [23]. According to the accuracy of the testing
transfer coefficient can be derived: apparatuses and the data reduction method the uncertainty of shell
side heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are 8.9% and 4.8%,
1 respectively. This degree of accuracy can be accepted by the
hs ¼ (16)
1 dr;i ddm industry.
 þ
K 0:2363Re0:5728
t Pr0:4
t d r;o lw dr;o
3.2. Results and discussions of the shell side heat transfer and
The heat transfer coefficient of the shell side can also be
pressure drop performance
expressed as:

ls ls n
3.2.1. Shell side heat transfer and pressure drop performance of
hs ¼ js Pr0:3
s ¼ ms;h Res s;h Pr0:3
s (17) twisted oval tube heat exchanger
dh;s dh;s
Referring to the method that has been used by Dzyubenko
The pressure drop of the shell side can be expressed as follow: [19e21] in analyzing the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop
of a twisted oval tube heat exchanger, The modified Froude number
Ls rs u2s FrM ¼ S2/dh,t,oA is defined and used in the present study. It is 79 for
DPs ¼ fs (18)
dh;s 2 the present heat exchanger. Heat transfer factor j and friction factor
f can be correlated as:
Where the pressure drop DPs can be measured by the differential
pressure transmitter, fs, us and Res can be expressed as follow: j ¼ 0:1255Re0:67 (20a)

n Vs rs us dh;s When 4000 < Re<85,000,FrM ¼ 79

fs ¼ ms;f Res s;f ; us ¼ Res ¼ (19)
As ms
f ¼ 42:1244Re0:6576 (20b)
The equations for calculating heat transfer coefficient K, loga-
rithmic mean temperatureDTm, logarithmic mean diameter dm, and When 1000 < Re<8000,FrM ¼ 79
hydraulic diameters mentioned above are the same with Eqs. (1)
and (2), Eqs. (5) and (6) and Eq. (12). f ¼ 0:6664Re0:1956 (20c)
So sets of(Res,hs) and(Res,fs) can be obtained after the experi- When 8000  Re<40,000,FrM ¼ 79
mental tests. With the help of least square method, ms,h, ns,h, ms,f, The correlations of heat transfer factor and friction factor are
ns,f can be fitted. And the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop also shown in Fig. 9a and b, respectively. From the figures it can be
correlations of the testes tubes can be directly fitted. found that the heat transfer factor grows with the Re and the fric-
tion factor decrease with the Re. It also can be found that the slope
of the friction factor correlation exists a change in Fig. 9b at
Re ¼ 8000. It may be caused by the change of the fluid state.
1.inner side of the hexagon shell Comparisons of heat transfer factor and friction factor of heat
2.outer side of the twisted exchanger with FrM ¼ 79 and heat exchanger with FrM ¼ 64 can be
found in Fig. 9, From Fig. 9 it is clear that the heat transfer perfor-
elliptical tube mance of heat exchanger with FrM ¼ 64 is better than the heat
exchanger with FrM ¼ 79. But in Fig. 9b, it can be found that, their
friction factors are almost the same. It denotes that the shell side
Fig. 8. Sketch of shell side cross section of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger. heat transfer coefficient of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger can
 X.-h. Tan et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 374e383 381

a Table 2
Parameters of rod baffle heat exchanger.
Current Data Point
Items Parameters Items Parameters
Equation (20a)
Dzyubenko
[19] Shell diameter, mm 224 Rod diameter, mm 5
Baffle ring spacing, mm 230 Baffle Number 9
heat transfer factor j

[20-21]
100 Dzyubenko
[7]
Tube pitch, mm 30 Tube length, mm 2500
Si Qin Baffle ring inner diameter, mm 216 Tube Number 37
Baffle ring outer diameter, mm 220 Tube layout angel,
90

30
also been accepted by the commercial heat exchanger design
software HTRI (Heat Transfer Research Inc.). Basic approach of this
method is expressed as follow:
10 Calculating of heat transfer performance
1000 10000 100000
Reynolds number Re h ¼ 4jPr0:3 l=de (21)
b for laminar flow: j ¼ jl ¼ Cl Re0:6 for turbulent flow:
Current Data Point
j ¼ jt ¼ Ct Re0:8
Equation (20b) and (20c)
[19] WhereCl,Ct are parameters related to the geometric parameters
B.V. Dzyubenko
0.3 [20-21] of the rod baffle heat exchanger.
B.V. Dzyubenko
[7] Calculating of pressure drop performance:
Si Qin
friction factor f

DPl ¼ 24rfLu2l =dh (22)

0.1
DP b ¼ 0:5Nr Kb ru2b (23)

DP ¼ DPl þ DPb (24)

0.04

1000 10000 100000
Reynolds number Re
Fig. 9. Correlations of shell side heat transfer and pressure drop performance. a.
Correlation of shell side heat transfer factor j. b. Correlation of shell side friction factor f.
be improved by increasing FrM but will result in little increase of
pressure drop.
In order to analyze the applicability of these correlations in
Table 1 whenFrM ¼ 79, FrM ¼ 79 is substituted into the equations in
Table 1 and compared with Eq. (20a),(20b) and (20c) in Fig. 9, Heat
transfer and pressure drop correlations of the twisted oval tube
heat exchanger with FrM ¼ 64 is also presented from the point of
comparative analysis. From Fig. 9a, it can be found that both
Dzyubenko and Si’s heat transfer factor correlation consists well
with the present data in the range of 4000 < Re < 10,000, But their
difference is notable when Re 10,000. From Fig. 9b, it also can be
found that Si’s friction factor correlation agrees well with the
present data in the range of Re > 8000.
3.2.2. Heat transfer and pressure drop performance compared with
rod baffle heat exchanger
In order to comparatively analyzing the heat transfer and
pressure drop performance of the tested heat exchanger, a rod
baffle heat exchanger with similar geometric parameters with the
tested twisted oval tube heat exchanger is designed. Commons of
the two heat exchangers are that the fluid in the shell side flows
both longitudinally and the shell side hydraulic diameters of the
two heat exchangers are equal. Details of the rod baffle heat
exchanger can be found in Table 2. The tube layout angel is set as
90
according to TEMA.
The heat transfer and pressure drop performances of the rod
baffle heat exchanger are calculated with Gentry’s [24] method.
This method is proposed based on mass of experiments and has
Comparison of the performances of rod baffle heat exchanger
and twisted oval tube heat exchanger is presented in Fig. 10. The
comparison is carried out in the valuable range of Eq. (20a),(20b)
and (20c). From Fig. 10a it can be found that the heat transfer
coefficient of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger is 1.7 times of
the rod baffle heat exchanger in average. And the pressure drop is
0.27 times of the rod baffle heat exchanger in average. Also it can
be found that with the increasing of mass flow rate, the heat
transfer coefficient of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger
increases significantly but with little increase of the pressure drop.
From the calculating result of rod baffle heat exchanger, it can also
be found that majority pressure drop of the rod baffle heat
exchanger is formed from the rod baffles and it occupies 90.5% in
average in the range of 2 kg/sGs  16 kg/s in this case. That’s
because when the fluid flowing through the rod baffle, there exists
a sudden change of the flow area. It is this change that increases
the pressure drop significantly but with little increase of the heat
transfer coefficient. But this does not happen in a twisted oval tube
heat exchanger.
3.2.3. Overall performance of twisted oval tube heat exchanger
On the basis of ration of heat transfer coefficient at the same
pressure drop of two heat exchangers, performance evaluation
criterion h defined as h ¼ (Nu/Nu0)/(f/f0)1/3 has been proposed by
Webb [25]. Parameters with subscript “0” denote that these
parameters are from the heat exchanger which is the object to be
compared. This performance evaluation criterion has been widely
used in evaluating the overall performance of enhanced heat
transfer tubes. It is obvious that only one side of the heat exchanger
(shell side or tube side) is included in this criterion. But for
a twisted oval tube heat exchanger, both the tube side and shell side
geometric parameters differs from rod baffle heat exchanger or any
other shell-tube type heat exchangers. So both the tube side and
the shell side performance should be included in the analysis of its
overall performance.
382 X.-h. Tan et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 374e383

a
10000
Rod baffle heat exchanger
heat transfer coefficient h (W/m ·K)

Twisted oval tube heat exchanger

2

8000

6000

4000

2000

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
mass flow rate Gs(kg/s)

b 10000
8000 Rod baffle heat exchanger
Twisted oval tube heat exchanger
pressure drop ΔP (Pa)

6000

4000

2000

0 5 10 15
mass flow rate Gs(kg/s)
Fig. 12. Comparison of shell side performances of rod baffle heat exchanger and
Fig. 10. Comparison of shell side performances of rod baffle heat exchanger and twisted oval tube heat exchanger. a. Comparison of shell side heat transfer coefficient.
twisted oval tube heat exchanger. a. Comparison of shell side heat transfer coefficient. b. Comparison shell side pressure drop.
b. Comparison shell side pressure drop.

Referring to the performance evaluation criterion proposed by These two figures denote that the twisted oval tube heat
Webb [25], cost of the pump is extended including the pressure exchanger behaves better than the rod baffle heat exchanger and it
drop of both the tube side and the shell side in the present work. is 2.75 in average. The overall performance of the twisted oval tube
And a modified evaluation criterion hM ¼ (K/K0)/((DPtVt þ DPsVs)/ heat exchanger in Fig. 12a can be found increases with the shell side
(DPt0Vt0 þ DPs0Vs0)) is defined. By setting rod baffle heat exchangers flow rate which varies from 2.23 to 4.4 when the tube side flow rate
as the object that to be compared, the distribution of overall is 3 kg/s and varies from 1.33 to 2.8 when the tube side flow rate is
performance versus tube/shell side mass flow rate is shown in 12 kg/s. In Fig. 11b, the overall performance factor decreases with
Fig. 11. Details of the distribution can also be found in Fig. 12. the tube side flow rate which varies from 4.38 to 1.26 when the
shell side flow rate is 4 kg/s and varies from 4.78 to 2.11 when the
shell side flow rate is 13 kg/s. So it can be concluded that the
twisted oval tube heat exchangers is preferred to work at low tube
side flow rate and high shell side flow rate.

4. Conclusions

In the present work, an experimental study of heat transfer and

Fig. 11. Overall performance of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger.
pressure drop performance of twisted oval tube heat exchanger has
been carried out. The tube side performance has been compared
with smooth round tube and the shell side performance has been
compared with rod baffle heat exchanger whose shell side fluid
flows also longitudinally. In order to analyze the overall perfor-
mance of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger, a new performance
evaluation criterion of heat exchanger has been established. It has
been used to evaluate the overall performance of the twisted oval
tube heat exchanger by setting the rod baffle heat exchanger as the
object to be compared. Major findings are as follow:
 X.-h. Tan et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 50 (2013) 374e383
(1) An experimental system for testing the heat transfer and
pressure drop performance of twisted oval tube is established
and verified. Bases on this, a smooth round tube with
d ¼ 25 mm and a twisted oval tube with A ¼ 29 mm,
B ¼ 19.5 mm and S ¼ 230 mm has been experimentally studied.
Heat transfer and pressure drop correlations of the tested tube
has also been fitted and compared with the round tube. The
result shows that the heat transfer coefficient of the twisted is
higher than the smooth round tube at the cost of some incre-
ment of pressure drop.
(2) An experimental system for testing the shell side heat transfer
and pressure drop performance of a twisted oval tube heat
exchanger has been established. A twisted oval tube heat
exchanger has been assembled. Its shell side heat transfer and
pressure drop performance have been studied experimentally.
Correlations for calculating its performance are derived out and
compared with former studies. The result shows that with the
increasing of FrM, the shell side heat transfer coefficient and
pressure drop of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger will both
be promoted.
(3) On the purpose of comparing the shell side heat transfer and
pressure drop performance of the twisted oval tube heat
exchanger with other shell tube type heat exchangers, a rod
baffle heat exchanger is designed and its heat transfer and
pressure drop performance have been calculated with the
correlation from Gentry. The comparison result show that the
rod baffle heat exchanger works with a higher shell side heat
transfer coefficient and lower shell side pressure drop than the
rod baffle heat exchanger.
(4) Considering that when the twisted oval tube technique is been
used as a heat transfer enhancement technique, both the tube
side and shell side are different from traditional heat
exchangers. So when analyzing the overall performance of the
heat exchanger, both the shell side and tube side performance
should be included in the overall performance factor. From this
point of view, a modified performance criterion evaluation hM is
defined and utilized in the analyzing of the overall performance
of the twisted oval tube heat exchanger. The analyzing result
shows that the twisted oval tube heat exchangers is preferred to
work at low tube side flow rate and high shell side flow rate.
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