A comparative study about the performance of several enhanced heat transfer technologies for gas heat exchangers is presented. A Reynolds number range from 100 to 50,000 is considered for plate heat exchangers and the tube side of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. A volumetric performance measure has been adopted to evaluate the comparative performance of widely different technologies. The performance parameter, based on the heat transfer rate per unit pumping power, is suitable for different geometries, Reynolds numbers, and fluid properties. Modern technologies can achieve significant heat transfer enhancement, but comparison reveals that recent advances offer only marginal improvements that are often associated with more complex technology. Care must be exercised in choosing a technology because the best performing one is not necessarily the preferred choice since construction, retrofit, and maintenance costs may significantly alter the economic viability. However, there is an intrinsic interest in the comparative performance of very different technologies. Our performance evaluation indicates an upper limit may exist for single-mode convective heat transfer enhancement and compound enhancement may exceed this limit.

Issue Section:
Heat Exchangers
Keywords:
Augmentation and Enhancement, Forced Convection, Heat Exchangers
Topics:
Heat exchangers, Heat transfer
1.
Andrews, M. J., and Fletcher, L. S., 1994, “Technical Assessment of Heat Exchanger Enhancement Technologies,” GRI Topical Technical Report 94/0247, Gas Research Institute/Heat Transfer Research, Inc., College Station, TX, Apr.
2.
Bergles, A. E., Jensen, M. K., Somerscales, E. F. C., and Manglik, R. M., 1991, “Literature Review of Heat Transfer Enhancement Technology for Heat Exchangers in Gas-Fired Applications,” GRI Topical Technical Report, GRI 91-0146.
3.
Carnavos
T. C.
,
1980
, “
Heat Transfer Performance of Internally Finned Tubes
,”
Heat Transfer Engineering
, Vol.
4
, No.
1
, pp.
32
–
37
.
4.
Dittus, F. W., and Boelter, L. M. K., 1930, University of California at Berkley, Publications on Engineering, Vol. 2, p. 443.
5.
Dhir, V. K., Chang, F., and Yu, J., 1990, “Enhancement of Single Phase Forced Convection Heat Transfer in Tubes Using Staged Tangential Flow Injection,” Final Report, June 1987–Dec. 1989, GRI report No. GRI-90/0134.
6.
Dhir, V. K., and Chang, F., 1992, “Heat Transfer Enhancement Using Tangential Injection,” ASHRAE Transactions, Vol. 98, BA-92-4-1.
7.
Incropera, F. P., and Dewitt, D. P., Fundamentals of Heat and Mass Transfer, 3rd ed., Wiley, New York.
8.
Kays, W. M., and London, A. L., 1964, Compact Heat Exchangers, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York.
9.
Manglik, R. M., and Bergles, A. E., 1992, “Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Correlations for Twisted-Tape Inserts in Isothermal Tubes: Part II—Transition and Turbulent Flows,” in: Enhanced Heat Transfer, M. B. Pate and M. K. Jensen, eds., ASME HTD-Vol. 202, pp. 99–106.
10.
Razgaitis
R.
, and
Holman
J. P.
,
1976
, “
A Survey of Heat Transfer in Confined Swirl Flow
,”
Heat and Mass Transfer Processes
, Vol.
2
, pp.
831
–
866
.
11.
Sethumadhavan
R.
, and
Rao
M. R.
,
1983
, “
Turbulent Flow Heat Transfer and Fluid Friction in Helical-Wire-Coil-Inserted Tubes
,”
Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer
, Vol.
26
, No.
12
, pp.
1833
–
1845
.
12.
Smith, J. L., 1966, “Prediction of Heat Transfer and Friction Data for Heat Exchanger Design,” ASME Paper No. 66-WA/HT-59.
13.
Snider
D. M.
, and
Andrews
M. J.
,
1994
, “
Rayleigh–Taylor and Shear Driven Mixing With an Unstable Thermal Stratification
,”
Physics of Fluids
, Vol.
6
(
10
), October, pp.
3324
–
3334
.
14.
Soland, J. G., Mack, W. M., Jr., and Rohensow, W. M., 1977, “Performance Ranking of Plate-Fin Heat Exchanger Surfaces,” ASME, Paper No. 76-WA/HT-31.
15.
Son, D., and Dhir, V. K., 1993, “Enhancement of Heat Transfer in an Annulus Using Tangential Flow Injection,” in: Heat Transfer in Turbulent Flows, ASME HTD-Vol. 246.
16.
Thorsen
R.
, and
Landis
F.
,
1968
, “
Friction and Heat Transfer Characteristics in Turbulent Swirl Flow Subject to Large Transverse Temperature Gradients
,”
JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER
, Vol.
90
, pp.
87
–
89
.
17.
Tung, V. X., Dhir, V. K., Chang, F., Karagozian, A. R., and Zhou, F., 1989, “Enhancement of Forced Convection Heat Transfer in Tubes Using Staged Tangential Flow Injection,” Annual Report, June 1987–Sept. 1988, GRI report No. GRI-89/020.
18.
Tuzla, K., and Chen, J. C., 1993, “Enhanced Heat Transfer for Gas Convective Exchangers,” Final Report, Oct. 1988–Dec. 1991, GRI report No. GRI-93/0305.
19.
Tuzla, K., and Chen, J. C., 1994, Personal Communication Containing Experimental Measurements of Pressure Drop and Heat Transfer Coefficient; the Data are Reported in Andrews and Fletcher (1994).
20.
Webb
R. L.
, and
Scott
M. J.
,
1980
, “
A Parametric Analysis of the Performance of Intemally Finned Tubes for Heat Exchanger Application
,”
JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER
, Vol.
102
, pp.
38
–
43
.
21.
Webb, R. L., 1994, Principles of Enhanced Heat Transfer, Wiley, New York.
22.
Wirtz, R. A., Greiner, M., and Snyder, B., 1990, “Free Shear Layer and Swirl Flow Heat Transfer Enhancement,” Final Report, Sept. 1987-Dec. 1989, GRI report No. GRI-90/0088.
This content is only available via PDF.
Copyright © 1996
 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers
You do not currently have access to this content.