Experimental studies on heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of laminar flow through a circular tube fitted with regularly spaced helical screw-tape inserts

Experimental investigation of heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of circular tube fitted with full-length helical screw element of different twist ratio, and helical screw inserts with spacer length 100, 200, 300 and 400 rum have been studied with uniform heat flux under laminar flow condition. The experimental data obtained are verified with those obtained from plain tube published data. The effect of spacer length on heat transfer augmentation and friction factor, and the effect of twist ratio on heat transfer augmentation and friction factor have been presented separately. The decrease in Nusselt number for the helical twist with spacer length is within 10% for each subsequent 100 mm increase in spacer length. The decrease in friction factor is nearly two times lower than the full length helical twist at low Reynolds number, and four times lower than the full length helical twist at high Reynolds number for all twist ratio. The regularly spaced helical screw inserts can safely be used for heat transfer augmentation without much increase in pressure drop than full length helical screw inserts. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.