Authors: Ajay Malviya, Dr. Satnam Singh
Abstract: The present work focuses on the CFD-based evaluation of thermal performance and Nusselt number enhancement in a heat exchanger using modified twisted tape inserts. Twisted tape inserts are widely used passive methods for improving heat transfer in internal flow systems. In this study, four geometries were analyzed: Plain Twisted Tape (PTT), Double-Hole Perforated Twisted Tape (DHPTT), Curved-Slot Twisted Tape (CSTT), and Multi-Hole Perforated Twisted Tape (MHPTT). A circular pipe of 44 mm outer diameter, 42 mm inner diameter, and 400 mm length was modeled with a 1 mm thick twisted tape. The total twist angle was 1800°, forming five complete rotations with an 80 mm twist pitch. The CFD model was developed in ANSYS Fluent using a polyhedral mesh of 472,350 cells. Water was used as the working fluid, while the pipe and tape were modeled as aluminum. The inlet velocity and temperature were 0.6 m/s and 293 K, and the pipe wall temperature was 365 K. The standard k-epsilon model was used for turbulent flow analysis. Results showed that MHPTT achieved the highest outlet temperature of 345.99 K, temperature rise of 52.99 K, and 18.09% change. The Nusselt number also increased with Reynolds number. Overall, MHPTT gave the best thermal performance.
DOI: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20556413
