Experimental and numerical investigation on heat transfer augmentation in a circular tube under forced convection with annular differential blockages/inserts

Investigation on heat transfer by generating turbulence in the fluid stream inside the circular tube is an innovative area of research for researchers. Hence, many techniques are been investigated and adopted for enhancement of heat transfer rate to reduce the size and the cost of the heat exchanger/circular tube. In the present study the effect of differential solid ring inserts /turbulators on heat transfer, friction factor of heat exchanger/circular tube was evaluated through experimentally and numerically. The experiments were conducted in range of 3000 ≤Re≤ 6500 and annular blockages 0 ≤ɸ≤50 %. The heat transfer rate was higher for differential combination of inserts as compared to tube fitted with uniform inserts. The maximum heat transfer was obtained by the use of differential metal circular ring inserts/blockages. From this study, Nusselt number, friction factor and enhancement factor are found as 2.5-3.5 times, 12% - 50.5% and 155% - 195%, respectively with water. Finally new possible correlations for predicting heat transfer and friction factor in the flow of water through the circular tube with differential blockages/inserts are proposed.