Effect of Tube Pitches on Performance of Rectangular Finned Elliptical Tube Bundles

Abstract:

A standard kε model was used to analyze the effect of transverse tube pitch and longitudinal tube pitch on the flow and heat transfer performance of rectangular finned elliptical tube bundles. It is found that the performance differs significantly in different transverse tube pitches, while the effect of longitudinal tube pitch could be ignored. The comprehensive performance is reduced with the increasing of transverse tube pitch. With the existing of disturbing holes, the impact of transverse tube pitch is enhanced, but the function of longitudinal tube pitch is weakened. The presence of disturbing holes reduces the performance of tube bundles.

Key words:automotive wind tunnel heat exchanger; rectangular finned elliptical tube bundles; flow and heat transfer characteristics; tube pitch; disturbing hole