Effectiveness-NTU analyses in a double tube heat exchanger equipped with wavy strip considering various angles

• Double tube heat exchanger equipped with wavy strip turbulators was studied.
• The effects of wavy strip angles on the effectiveness were investigated.
• Variation of the effectiveness with hot and cold water flow rate was presented.
• The effectiveness increases with the decrease of wavy strip angle.
• The friction factor increases with the decrease of wavy strip angle.

In the present study, effectiveness-NTU analyses in a double tube heat exchanger equipped with wavy strip considering various angles were experimentally studied. Moreover, variation of the effectiveness with hot water Reynolds numbers for different cold water flow rates were presented. These turbulators with different angles of 45°, 60°, 90°, 120° and 150° were made of galvanized plates with thickness of 1 mm and were installed in the inner tube of heat exchanger. The experiments were carried out at Reynolds numbers of 3000–13,500 at turbulent flow regime. Throughout the experiments, hot and cold water flowed through the inner pipe and the space between the pipes (annulus), respectively. It was tried to keep the inlet hot and cold water temperatures at constant values. Effectiveness-NTU analyses were made for the conditions with and without wavy strips including their different angles and compared to each other. Results showed the considerable effect of turbulators on effectiveness (ε) and number of heat transfer units (NTU) of double tube heat exchanger. In addition, some empirical correlations expressing the results were also developed based on curve fitting.