Analytical Investigation on the Ribbed Double Pipe Heat Exchanger

This paper presents the findings obtained by modeling a Double Pipe Heat Exchanger (DPHE) fitted with repeated ribs from the inside. An analytical procedure was developed on MATLAB employing empirical equations and correlations recommended by other researcher in the field. Several parameters were investigated in this study including the effect of rib pitch to height ratio (P/e). These parameters were studied at Reynolds number ranging from 2500 to 150000. Different installation configurations (i.e. P/e) were investigated, too. An enhancement of 4 times in the heat transfer in terms of Stanton number was achieved at the expense of 38 times increase of pressure drop across the flow in terms of friction facto values. These results are in good agreement with those obtained experimentally which validates the developed modeling of the ribbed annulus flow.

Key words: Double Pipe Heat exchangers, heat transfer enhancement, ribbing, Counter flow.