Heat Transfer Enhancement in Structured Tubes

Structured tubes employ engineered surface modifications—such as dimples, corrugations, ribs and spirals—to disrupt the thermal boundary layer and stimulate secondary flows. By inducing controlled turbulence and mixing close to the wall, these features elevate local heat transfer coefficients and overall convective performance. The design of such structures involves a balance between augmentation of the Nusselt number and the associated pressure‐drop penalty, often quantified by a performance evaluation factor. Recent advances have focused on optimising geometric parameters (dimple shape, pitch and depth; corrugation pitch and height) to maximise thermal efficiency while minimising entropy generation and pumping power. Applications span industrial heat exchangers, solar pond energy extraction, refrigeration coils and automotive cooling systems, reflecting the global drive towards energy conservation and compact thermal management solutions.

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Heat Transfer Enhancement in Structured Tubes publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in heat transfer enhancement in structured tubes across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Nusselt number: Dimensionless measure of convective heat‐transfer enhancement over pure conduction.

Reynolds number: Dimensionless ratio of inertial to viscous forces, indicating flow regime.

Friction factor: Dimensionless coefficient quantifying pressure‐drop losses due to wall roughness or turbulence.

Performance evaluation factor: Metric combining heat‐transfer gain and pumping power penalty to assess net benefit.

Boundary layer: Thin fluid region adjacent to the wall where velocity and temperature gradients are steep.

References

1. Effect of dimple pitch on thermal-hydraulic performance of tubes enhanced with ellipsoidal and teardrop dimples. Case Studies in Thermal Engineering (2022).
2. Entropy generation analysis of turbulent flow in conical tubes with dimples: a numerical study. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (2023).
3. Influence of different geometrical dimple configurations on flow behaviour and thermal performance within a 3D circular pipe. Journal of Thermal Engineering (2024).
4. Efficient heat extraction from the storage zone of solar pond by structurally improved spiral pipes; numerical simulation/experimental validation. Energy Reports (2022).