Heat Transfer Enhancement Techniques in Fluid and Convective Systems

Heat transfer enhancement in fluid and convective systems seeks to improve the rate of thermal exchange by deliberately disrupting boundary layers, increasing turbulence and promoting mixing. Common approaches include the insertion of passive devices such as twisted tapes, vortex generators and surface roughness elements, which create secondary flows and coherent vortices to elevate the local heat transfer coefficient. Utilisation of advanced working fluids—most notably nanofluids with suspended nanoparticles—further augments thermal conductivity and convective performance. Numerical simulations based on turbulence models alongside experimental visualisations have elucidated the influence of geometric parameters (twist ratio, pitch, blockage ratio) and flow conditions (Reynolds number) on Nusselt number, friction factor and overall thermal performance factor. Practical implementations span spiral‐coiled tubes in process industries, compact heat exchangers for supercritical CO₂ refrigeration and winglet‐enhanced channels in power plants. The design process involves balancing heat transfer gains against increased pressure drop, often quantified via a performance evaluation criterion to guide optimisation towards maximal energy efficiency and minimal pumping power.

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Heat Transfer Enhancement Techniques in Fluid and Convective Systems publication trend

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Technical terms

Nusselt number: Dimensionless ratio of convective to conductive heat transfer at a fluid–solid interface.

Reynolds number: Dimensionless value expressing the ratio of inertial to viscous forces in a flowing fluid.

Friction factor: Dimensionless measure of resistance to fluid flow within conduits, influencing pressure drop.

Thermal performance factor (PEC): Metric comparing heat transfer enhancement against the associated pressure drop penalty.

Vortex generator: Passive insert or surface feature that induces swirling flow to disrupt thermal boundary layers.

Nanofluid: Engineered suspension of nanoparticles in a base fluid to elevate thermal conductivity and convective heat transfer.

References

1. Efficiency enhancement of flat coiled tube using spiral twisted tape insert with various configurations; thermal, hydraulic and exergetic analysis. Results in Engineering (2024).
2. Heat exchangers for cooling supercritical carbon dioxide and heat transfer enhancement: A review and assessment. Energy Reports (2021).
3. Evaluation of Multiple Semi-Twisted Tape Inserts in a Heat Exchanger Pipe Using Al2O3 Nanofluid. Nanomaterials (2021).
4. Enhanced thermal performance of tubular heat exchanger using triangular wing vortex generator. Cogent Engineering (2022).