Effect of geometrical parameters on heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of plate fin and tube heat exchangers

In this study, the influences of the changes in fin geometry on heat transfer and pressure drop of a plate fin and tube heat exchanger are investigated, numerically. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program called Fluent is used in the analysis. The segment of one tenth of fin is used in the modeling, due to symmetrical condition. The results of heat transfer, static, and total pressure drop values of ten different fins are tabulated and the normalized values of them are, also, given for the comparison of the models. The distance between fins is found to have a considerable effect on pressure drop. It is observed that placing the fin tube at downstream region affects heat transfer positively. Another important result of the study is that increasing ellipticity of the fin tube increases the heat transfer while it, also, results in an important reduction in pressure drop. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.