An experimental investigation in forced convective heat transfer and friction factor of air flow over aligned round and flattened tube banks.

Heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop are studied experimentally for airflow over aligned round and flattened tube configurations. The Reynolds number is based on the outer diameter of the round tube or the outside transverse diameter of the flattened tube, which is used for various flows, ranging from 133 to 800 with a constant input heat flux. In the present work, a total of 30 samples of round and flattened tubes heat exchangers with three transverse pitches, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.5, were studied to investigate their thermal performance. The results indicate that the relative gain in the overall Nusselt number is about 32.5 to 60.6% in flattened tubes, while the reduction range in the friction factor is about 11 to 30.6%. Correlations are proposed for the overall Nusselt number, friction factor, and Colburn j–factor for both round and flattened tube banks. A higher value means that a deviation error of 9.9% in the round tube banks and 10.1% in the flattened tube banks are expected. In addition, the best value for thermal performance for the flattened tube bundle was found to be coincident with a smaller Reynolds number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]