FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER FOR FLOW PAST ELLIPTIC TUBES IN FIN-TUBE HEAT EXCHANGERS

摘要

The flow and temperature fields past elliptic tubes are in general complex, since they depend on the tube shape, flow, thermal and other factors. The flow and heat transfer characteristics have been investigated by developing a three-dimensional computational code based on SIMPLE algorithm using finite volume technique to solve the conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy. A body-fitted, multi-block structured grid capable of accommodating different tube shapes has been generated. The results show that the elliptic tube shows better combined thermal-hydraulic characteristics compared to circular tube due to the streamlined surface of the elliptic tube.