Numerical study on turbulent heat transfer performance of a new parallel-flow shell and tube heat exchanger with sinusoidal wavy tapes using RSM analysis

The response surface methodology (RSM) method is employed to investigate the turbulent heat transfer performance of a new parallel-flow shell and tube heat exchanger with clamping plate baffle (CPB) and sinusoidal wavy tapes (STHX-CPBSWT). 25 CFD runs are adopted to study the effect of four parameters (tape pitch, tape amplitude, tape width and Re) on thermal-hydraulic performance based on central composite design of RSM. In addition, another 25 CFD runs are carried out to obtain the thermal-hydraulic performance of STHX with CPB and equilateral triangle cross sectioned wire coil (STHX-CPBETWC) using RSM under the same Re to make a comparison. The flow structures are showed and the heat transfer mechanism is revealed. The results show that the sinusoidal wavy tapes make the fluid flow in a wavy manner and induce many distinct longitudinal swirling vortexes than the conventional round rod baffle, CPB and equilateral triangle cross sectioned wire coil. The sinusoidal wavy tape can enhance heat transfer as effectively as the equilateral triangle cross sectioned wire coil does in turbulent regime. In the investigated range, the average Nu_, f and PEC of STHX-CPBSWT are 2.2%, 25.2% and 0.5% larger than those of STHX-CPBETWC respectively.