TY - JOUR
T1 - Hydrothermal behavior of a novel conical twisted strip turbulator in a heated tube
T2 - A numerical analysis
AU - Abed, Azher M.
AU - Kanabar, Bhavesh
AU - Ramachandran, T.
AU - Shankhyan, Aman
AU - Chohan, Jasgurpreet Singh
AU - Karthikeyan, A.
AU - Gupta, Deepak
AU - Salah, Bashir
AU - Saleem, Waqas
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Authors.
PY - 2025/7
Y1 - 2025/7
N2 - The increasing use of heated pipes and heat exchangers has created a pressing need to enhance thermal efficiency. This research introduces a novel turbulator design known as the conical twisted strip turbulator. The turbulator design resembles a cone and is composed of several twisted strip tentacles. This unique configuration is expected to generate strong rotational and radial flow patterns, leading to enhanced heat transfer. A numerical analysis was conducted using the RNG k-epsilon model to investigate various geometric parameters of the turbulator. The study examined the twisted angle, which varied from 60 to 270°, the number of twisted strip tentacles, which ranged from 4 to 10, and the width of the twisted strip tentacles, which spanned from 1 to 4 mm. This comprehensive approach allows for a thorough understanding of how these parameters influence the hydrothermal characteristics. The findings reveal that incorporating the conical twisted strip turbulator can significantly elevate heat transfer and pressure drop - by factors of up to 3.31 and 5.45, respectively - when compared to a plain tube design. The optimal performance enhancement criteria of 1.93 was achieved with a turbulator featuring a twisted angle of 180°, six twisted strip tentacles, and a strip width of 4 mm. Moreover, the results showed that heat transfer and pressure drop are directly related to the twisted angle, the number of twisted strip tentacles, and the width of the twisted strip. However, the performance enhancement criteria may improve or worsen as these parameters increase.
AB - The increasing use of heated pipes and heat exchangers has created a pressing need to enhance thermal efficiency. This research introduces a novel turbulator design known as the conical twisted strip turbulator. The turbulator design resembles a cone and is composed of several twisted strip tentacles. This unique configuration is expected to generate strong rotational and radial flow patterns, leading to enhanced heat transfer. A numerical analysis was conducted using the RNG k-epsilon model to investigate various geometric parameters of the turbulator. The study examined the twisted angle, which varied from 60 to 270°, the number of twisted strip tentacles, which ranged from 4 to 10, and the width of the twisted strip tentacles, which spanned from 1 to 4 mm. This comprehensive approach allows for a thorough understanding of how these parameters influence the hydrothermal characteristics. The findings reveal that incorporating the conical twisted strip turbulator can significantly elevate heat transfer and pressure drop - by factors of up to 3.31 and 5.45, respectively - when compared to a plain tube design. The optimal performance enhancement criteria of 1.93 was achieved with a turbulator featuring a twisted angle of 180°, six twisted strip tentacles, and a strip width of 4 mm. Moreover, the results showed that heat transfer and pressure drop are directly related to the twisted angle, the number of twisted strip tentacles, and the width of the twisted strip. However, the performance enhancement criteria may improve or worsen as these parameters increase.
KW - Conical twisted strip turbulator
KW - Heat transfer
KW - Heated tube
KW - Pressure drop
KW - Thermal efficiency
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105005932225
U2 - 10.1016/j.csite.2025.106186
DO - 10.1016/j.csite.2025.106186
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105005932225
SN - 2214-157X
VL - 71
JO - Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
JF - Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
M1 - 106186
ER -