Analysis of Pressure Drop and Heat Transfer in a Double-pipe Heat exchanger Equipped with Coiled Wire by Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

In this study, Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis has been used for predicting Nusselt number, friction factor, and the overall enhancement efficiency in a double pipe heat exchanger under different Reynolds numbers and several of coiled wires geometries. A three-dimensional model has been used for investigation of the parameters in a simple tube and coiled wire inserted tubes. The results show that in the heat exchangers with coiled wires, the Nusselt number, and friction coefficient increases up to 2.2-3 times and 1.1-1.35 times respectively. By increasing the Reynolds number, the Nusselt number and the overall enhancement efficiency increase and the friction factor reduces. In addition, it was observed that by decreasing the wires curvature length, the friction coefficient and the Nusselt number increase. The average relative error between the CFD predictions and experimental data for simple tube is about 8% and for coiled wire geometry is about 8 to 18%. The CFD predictions have been compared to the experimental data and showed pretty good agreement, so the model presented in this study is suitable for predicting the Nusselt numbers and friction factor in the heat exchangers equipped with coiled wires.