Applied Thermal Engineering 129 (2018) 1325–1332

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Experimental study of heat transfer performance of a tube with different

shaped pin fins
Liang Huang ⇑, Qingling Li ⇑, Hongyan Zhai
College of Electromechanical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042, Shandong, China

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

 Circular, elliptical and drop-shaped

pin fins were investigated.
 Naphthalene sublimation
experiments were conducted to
measure local heat transfer and the
pressure drop.
 The local heat transfer performance
on tube surfaces was higher.
 The drop-shaped pin fins were
beneficial for heat transfer.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The heat transfer performance of a tube with different pin fin shapes, including circular, elliptical and
Received 8 February 2017 drop-shaped, were investigated experimentally in the range of Re 0.5  105–4.1  105. Naphthalene sub-
Revised 29 September 2017 limation experiments were conducted to measure the local heat transfer on pin fins and on tube surfaces,
Accepted 3 October 2017
as well as the pressure drop. The results showed that the local heat transfer performance on tube surfaces
Available online 5 October 2017
was higher than that on pin fins due to the larger heat transfer area under the certain conditions. And the
heat transfer coefficients of pin finned tubes increased with the increase of Re for the given Re. Different
Keywords:
shapes of pin fins caused different resistance, and drop-shaped pin fins exibited lower pressure loss due
Heat transfer performance
Pressure drop
to the fairshaped geometry. Comparing the different shaped pin fins with the same cross-section areas,
Naphthalene sublimation the drop-shaped pin fins showed a significant effect on the heat transfer, considering both the heat trans-
Pin fins fer improvement and the pressure drop limit.
Geometry Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Numerous factors affected the heat transfer performances of a

pin finned tube, among which the geometry of the pin fins was a
Heat transfer with pin fins is of great importance for engineer- significant influence factor. Many special shaped pin fins were pro-
ing application [1–4]. Due to the complex nature of the flow distri- posed, such as elliptic [5–7], drop-shaped [8,9], triangle [7,10–12],
bution, it is difficult to accurately predict the heat transfer square [7,12,13–15], diamond-shaped [7,10,11,15,16], hexagon-
performance of pin finned tubes. Therefore, numerous researchers shaped [10,12,17], tapered cylinder [18], hollow/perforated circu-
have been engaged in investigating the heat transfer with pin fins lar [19], and so on. Circular was the most common pin fin shape,
by simulation and experimental study. which was superior to some extent in pressure drop. D. Yang
et al. [12] investigated the heat transfer performances of
⇑ Corresponding authors. microchannel heat sinks with five different pin-fin configurations
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (L. Huang), [email protected] (Q. Li). numerically and experimentally. Triangle, square, pentagon,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.10.014
1359-4311/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1326 L. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 129 (2018) 1325–1332

Nomenclature

Ap the effective sublimation areas of pin fin surface, m2 Shp Sherwood number of pin fin, dimensionless
As the effective sublimation areas of local surface, m2 Shs Sherwood number of local tube surface, dimensionless
At the cross-sectional area of test section, m2 Sp the cross-sectional area, m2
D the equivalent diameter, m Tw the temperature of the naphthalene specimen surface, K
D0 the external diameter of the pin finned tube, m U the section perimeter of pin fin, m
Dab the mass diffusion coefficient, dimensionless u the average velocity, m/s
E the efficiency of pin fin, dimensionless u0 the air flow velocity, m/s
Eu Euler number, dimensionless a the total mean coefficient of heat transfer, W/(m2 K)
Eu0 Euler number of the parent tube, dimensionless ap the heat transfer coefficient of pin fin, W/(m2 K)
k an aggregative indicator, dimensionless as the heat transfer coefficient of local tube surface,
l the height of pin fin, m W/(m2 K)
DM effective sublimation quantity of local tube surface, kg bp the mass transfer coefficient of pin fin, dimensionless
Dm effective sublimation quantity of pin fin, kg bs the local mass transfer coefficient, dimensionless
m a coefficient in Eq. (5) k the thermal conductivity of the air, W/(m K)
Nu Nusselt number, dimensionless kp the thermal conductivity of the pin fin, W/(m K)
Nu0 Nusselt number of the parent tube, dimensionless t the kinematic viscosity of the air, m2/s
Nup Nusselt numbers of the pin fin surface, dimensionless Dq the logarithmic mean concentration difference of the
Nus Nusselt numbers of the local tube surface, dimension- naphthalene specimen, kg/m3
less q the air density, kg/m3
DP the pressure drop, Pa qe the outlet naphthalene steam concentration, kg/m3
Pr Prandtl number, dimensionless qi the inlet naphthalene steam concentration, kg/m3
Pw the naphthalene vapor pressure of the specimen sur- qw the naphthalene steam concentration of specimen sur-
face, N/m2 face, kg/m3
Re Reynolds number, dimensionless s the effective sublimation time, s
Sc Schmidt number, dimensionless U angle of pin fin axis to the direction of air flow, °

hexagon and circle geometriew were chosen as the cross sections the researches focused on different parameters and application
of the pin fins. The results showed that triangle-shaped pin fins fields. It was a challenge to achieve both the heat transfer enhance-
represented the highest pressure drop, while circular pin fins rep- ment and the relatively low pressure loss. Experimental results
resented the lowest. I. Kotcioglu et al. [17] studied the thermal per- could provide references for engineering application. However,
formance and pressure drop of the pin-fins with various compared with simulation, actual manufacturing of pin finned
geometries, including cylindrical, hexagonal and square pin-fins, tubes with different geometries may be difficult.
in a rectangular channel experimentally. The results showed that In this paper, the heat transfer performance of a tube with dif-
the hexagonal geometry was beneficial for the heat transfer, while ferent shaped pin fins, including circular, elliptical and drop-
the circular pin-fins array had a smaller pressure drop compared to shaped, were investigated using naphthalene sublimation experi-
the square and hexagonal pin-fins arrays. S. Ndao et al. [20] per- ments. The objective of this paper was to improve the understand-
formed experiments to investigate the effects of pin fin shape ing of the local heat transfer of pin fin and tube surfaces at different
and configuration on the single-phase heat transfer characteristics angle to the flow, and the comparison of the heat transfer perfor-
of jet impingement on micro pin fins. The micro pin fins were cir- mance with different shaped pin fins, so as to help engineers
cular, hydrofoil, square and elliptical pin fins. The circular pin fins design more efficient pin finned tubes.
along with the square pin fins displayed the highest heat transfer
coefficients for the given conditions.
However, when fluid flowed around the circular pin fins, the 2. Experimental
seperation zone at the tail of the pin fin was broad, resulting in
the high pressure loss. J. Hua et al. [7] carried out experiments 2.1. Experimental setup
on flow resistance characteristic of various shapes of pin fins,
including the influences of different sizes, as well as shapes. A ser- Experiments were carried out in a suction-mode wind tunnel as
ies of circular, ellipse, square, diamond and triangle shaped pin fins shown in Fig. 1. The air was drawn into the wind tunnel by the
were produced. The shape of pin fin affected the resistance charac- blower which was installed at the tail of the wind tunnel, so that
teristics of pin fins, in which the circular pin fin was the largest and air preheating by the blower would be avoided. In order to reduce
the oval one was the smallest. Q. Li et al. [5] investigated the heat the mechanical vibration, there was a flexible tube between the
transfer and flow resistance characteristics of short elliptic pin fins blower and the wind tunnel. The test section was made of 10 mm
in a crossflow of air experimentally. The results showed that ellip- thick organic glass with a cross section of 400 mm wide and 250
tic pin fins represented somewhat higher heat transfer perfor- mm high. The pin fin tube made of wax (or naphthalene) was
mance and much lower resistance compared with circular pin always placed in the middle of the test section for every run. The
fins in the Reynolds number range from 1000 to 10000. air flow velocity in the wind tunnel was measured with an
Pin fins were contributed to the heat transfer performance anemometer, which was rectified by the vortex street flowmeter,
enhancement through the increase of the heat transfer area and and the air temperature in the wind tunnel was measured with a
the spoiler effect. The usage of pin fins could indeed increase the thermometer. The pressure drop was measured by two pressure
heat transfer performance, but also increase the pressure loss. taps located ahead of and behind the test section along the
Though extensive researches had been done on the application of streamwise direction with a differential pressure gauge. The mea-
pin fins, it was still inconclusive on the optimum geometry, since surement accuracy of the air flow velocity, air temperature and
 L. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 129 (2018) 1325–1332 1327

1 Anemometer, 2 Pin finned tube, 3 Thermometer, 4 Flexible tube, 5 Blower

(a)

(b)
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram (a) and picture (b) of the suction-mode wind tunnel. Air was drawn into the wind tunnel by the blower. Pin finned tube was placed in the middle of
the test section made of 10 mm thick organic glass. The air flow velocity was measured with an anemometer, and the air temperature was measured with a thermometer. The
pressure drop was measured by two pressure taps located ahead of and behind the test section along the streamwise direction with a differential pressure gauge. A flexible
tube was set between the blower and the wind tunnel to reduce the mechanical vibration.

Fig. 2. Geometries of pin finned tube and arrangement of pin fins. Three different shapes of pin fin with the same cross-section area, as circular pin, elliptical pin and drop-
shaped pin, were designed and tested in staggered arrangement with the same longitudinal spacing of SD. Only one pin fin or local tube surface were made of naphthalene,
while the others were made of wax. The naphthalene specimen were successively shifted to set different angles U to the direction of air flow, where U termed as the angle
between the axis of the naphthalene specimen and the direction of air flow.

the pressure drop were controlled within ±1.0%. Right before and 2.2. Pin fin assembly
right after the experiment, the weight of the naphthalene specimen
was measured by the electronic scale with the standard deviation of The pin finned tube and the arrangement of pin fins on the tube
0.1 mg, so as to determine the mass loss of the naphthalene surface were shown in Fig. 2. Three different shapes of pin fin, as
specimen. circular pin, elliptical pin and drop-shaped pin, were designed
1328 L. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 129 (2018) 1325–1332

and tested in staggered arrangement with the same longitudinal ap D

Nup ¼ ¼ ðPr=ScÞn Shp ð7Þ
spacing of 25 mm. In order to compare the heat transfer perfor- k
mance of pin fins with different shapes, the pin fins had the same
cross-section area. as D
Nus ¼ ¼ ðPr=ScÞn Shs ð8Þ
k
2.3. Naphthalene sublimation experiments where, as was the heat transfer coefficient of local tube surface, W/
(m2 K); the Prandtl number Pr was 0.703, the index n was 0.43 [22],
The naphthalene sublimation experiments were carried out to and the Schmidt number Sc was 2.5 [23] in this experiment. The
study the heat transfer performance of a tube with different pin Sherwood number of pin fin Shp and that of local tube surface Shs
fin tubes. Only one pin fin or local tube surface were made of naph- could be obtained by heat/mass transfer analogy.
thalene, while the others were made of wax. The naphthalene pin The mass transfer coefficient of pin fin bp and the local mass
fin or naphthalene local tube surface were successively shifted to transfer coefficient bs were defined as below.
set different angles U to the direction of air flow, where U termed
as the angle between the axis of the naphthalene specimen and the Dm DM
bp ¼ bs ¼ ð9Þ
direction of air flow, as shown in Fig. 2(b). Since only one pin fin or Ap sDq As sDq
local tube surface was made of naphthalene, once the naphthalene
specimen changed the location, the angle U was changed accord- where, Dm and DM were effective sublimation quantity of pin fin
ingly, as the direction of air flow was fixed. Before experiments, and local tube surface, respectively, kg; s was the effective sublima-
the naphthalene specimen with very smooth surfaces must be kept tion time, s; Dq was the logarithmic mean concentration difference
at room temperature for more than 24 h, so as to achieve full ther- of the naphthalene specimen, kg/m3.
mal equilibrium with the environment. By measuring the mass loss
ðqw qi Þ ðqw qe Þ
of the test naphthalene specimen, air flow velocity and air temper- Dq ¼ ð10Þ
ln½ðqw qi Þ=ðqw qe ފ
ature in the wind tunnel, the heat transfer performance could be
obtained by heat/mass transfer analogy [8]. where, qw was the naphthalene steam concentration of specimen
surface, kg/m3; qi was the inlet naphthalene steam concentration,
2.4. Data processing kg/m3; qe was the outlet naphthalene steam concentration, kg/m3.
qw could be obtained by the following equation [21].
The Reynolds numbers were based on the equivalent diameter
D and the average velocity u, defined as follows. qw ¼ P w =T w Rn ð11Þ
uD T w was the temperature of the naphthalene specimen surface, K,
Re ¼ ð1Þ
t which could be replaced by the flowing air temperature [21]. P w
was the naphthalene vapor pressure of the specimen surface, N/
0:4  0:25
 
u ¼ u0  þ 1 =2 ð2Þ m2, which could be obtained by the Sogin formula [23].
0:4  0:25 0:25  D0
log Pw ¼ 11:884 6713=T w ð12Þ
where 0.4 and 0.25 were the cross section width and height of the
test section; u0 was the air flow velocity measured by the Therefore,
anemometer; D0 was the external diameter of the pin finned tube,
m; t was the kinematic viscosity of the air, m2/s.
qw ¼ 5:847  1011 =½10ð3729=T W Þ  T w Š ð13Þ
The average Nusselt number could reflect the intensity of heat The naphthalene concentration of pin fin before and after the
transfer, defined as below. experiment could be obtained as follows.
aD qi ¼ 0 qe ¼ Dm=suAt ð14Þ
Nu ¼ ð3Þ
k
where, At was the cross-sectional area of test section, m2.
where a was the total mean coefficient of heat transfer, W/(m2 K); k
The naphthalene concentration of local tube surface before and
was the thermal conductivity of the air, W/(m K). The average Nus-
after the experiment could be obtained as follows.
selt number Nu [5] could be obtained by the Nusselt numbers of the
pin fin surface Nup and the local tube surface Nus . qi ¼ 0 qe ¼ DM=suAt ð15Þ
aD Nup Ap E þ Nus As So, the mass diffusion coefficient could be [21]
Nu ¼ ¼ ð4Þ
k Ap þ As
Dab ¼ t=Sc ð16Þ
E was the efficiency of pin fin, defined as:
The Sherwood number of pin fin Shp and that of local tube sur-
thðmlÞ face Shs could be obtained as below [21].
E¼ ð5Þ
ml
bp D
m was a coefficient defined as Shp ¼ ð17Þ
Dab
12
ap U

m¼ ð6Þ bs D
k p Sp Shs ¼ ð18Þ
Dab
where, Ap and As were the effective sublimation areas of pin fin sur-
face and local surface, m2, respectively; l was the height of pin fin, The Euler number Eu could be defined as
m; ap was the heat transfer coefficient of pin fin, W/(m2 K); kp DP
was the thermal conductivity of the pin fin, W/(m
K); U was the sec- Eu ¼ ð19Þ
qu2
tion perimeter of pin fin, m; Sp was the cross-sectional area, m2.
The Nusselt numbers of the pin fin surface Nup and the local where, DP was the pressure drop measured by the differential pres-
tube surface Nus could be defined as follows [21]. sure gauge, Pa; q was the air density, kg/m3.
 L. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 129 (2018) 1325–1332 1329

To comprehensively estimate the heat transfer performance of a where, Nu0 and Eu0 were the Nusselt number and the Euler number
tube with different pin fin shapes, an aggregative indicator k was of the parent tube. If k > 1, the comprehensive heat transfer perfor-
proposed, considering the heat transfer improvement and the pres- mance of the pin-finned tube was superior to that of the parent tube
sure drop limit. with the same volume and resistance.
1=3
k ¼ ðNu=Nu0 ÞRe =ðEu=Eu0 ÞRe ð20Þ
3. Results and discussion

3.0 3.1. Uncertainty analysis

experimental results In order to validate the reliability of the present experimental

2.8 linear fitting results system, the heat transfer performance of the fluid flowing around
the cylinder were compared with correlations proposed by M. A.
Mbxeed [24] as follows.
2.6
lgNu

Nu ¼ 0:0296Re0:8 Pr 0:43 ð4  104 < Re < 107 Þ

2.4 The Nusselt number was plotted under different Reynolds num-
bers as shown in Fig. 3. The comparison results indicated that the
0.8159 0.43
Nu=0.02496Re Pr maximum deviation could reach 7.09%, which showed a good reli-
2.2 ability of our experiment.

5.0 5.5
3.2. Local heat transfer of pin fins
lgRe

Fig. 3. Verification of mean Nu for cylinder. The heat transfer performance of the
Fig. 4 showed the local heat transfer of pin fins with different
fluid flowing around the cylinder were tested and fitted to a linear. The comparison angle U to the flow at different Re. Re had significant influence
results between the experimental results and M. A. Mbxeed expression indicated on the local heat transfer of pin fins. As the increases of Re, the
that the maximum deviation could reach 7.09%, which showed a good reliability of change tendencies of Nup with U of different shaped pin fins were
our experiment.
similar. Though the pin fins had the same cross-section area, the

1400 1400
1300 Re=406218 Re=406218
(a) Re=320078
1300 (b)
1200 Re=320078
1200
Re=228817 Re=228817
1100 Re=138069 1100 Re=138069
1000 Re=52442 1000 Re=52442
900 900
800 800
700 700
Nup

Nup

600 600
500 500
400 400
300 300
200 200
100 100
0 0
0 45 90 135 180 0 45 90 135 180

1400
1300 Re=406218
(c) Re=320078
1200
Re=228817
1100 Re=138069
1000 Re=52442
900
800
700
Nup

600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0 45 90 135 180

Fig. 4. Local heat transfer performance of pin fins Nup with different angle U to the flow at different Re (a) circular; (b) elliptical; (c) drop-shaped.
1330 L. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 129 (2018) 1325–1332

side areas of elliptical pin fins were larger, resulting in the higher more uniform. Since the flow disturbed by the pin fins with differ-
local heat transfer performance. Due to the flow acceleration and ent shapes became different, there was variability in the heat
the role of spoiler with pin fins, Nup increased with U till U = transfer with different shaped pin fins. For the given value of Re,
90°, and then decreased. U = 90° indicated the narrowest flow the heat transfer on the tube surfaces with circular pin fins was
channel, where the air velocity was the maximum, promoting higher than that of with elliptical and drop-shaped pin fins.
the heat transfer. The maximum heat transfer may also correspond
to the boundary layer separation point on the pin surface [25]. 3.4. Average heat transfer of pin finned tubes

The relationship of Nu with Re for different pin finned tubes was

3.3. Local heat transfer on tube surfaces shown in Fig. 6. It could be found that the increase of Re was

Fig. 5 showed the local heat transfer on tube surfaces with dif- 1000
ferent pin fins and different angle U to the flow at different Re. 900 smooth tube
Since the effective heat transfer area on tube surfaces were larger
800 drop-shaped
than that of pin fins, the local heat transfer performance on tube elliptical
surfaces was higher than that on pin fins. Similar results were 700
circular
obtained for the pin fins of circular, elliptical and drop-shaped. 600
Nus increased with U till U = 90°, followed by a decline with the
500

Nu
increasing angle. With the air flow approaching the pin fins, the
flow was accelerated between the pin fins, especially in the narrow 400
channels. The increased velocity promoted heat transfer on the 300
tube surfaces between the pin fins. Since the pin fins had the same 200
cross-section area and were arranged with the same longitudinal
spacing, the channels between the circular pin fins were narrower 100
than that of elliptical and drop-shaped pin fins. Therefore, the local 0
heat transfer performance Nus on tube surfaces with circular pin 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
-5
fins was much higher. Also, the pin fins could improve the heat Re 10
transfer by disturbing the flow to intensify the mixing of flow. As
the flow proceeded downstream till U = 180°, the flow became Fig. 6. Variation of average Nu with Re for different pin finned tubes.

3000 2200
Re=406218 Re=406218
2800 (a) Re=320078 2000 (b) Re=320078
2600
Re=228817 1800 Re=228817
2400 Re=138069 Re=138069
2200 Re=52442
1600
Re=52442
2000 1400
1800
1600 1200
Nus
Nus

1400 1000
1200 800
1000
800 600
600 400
400
200
200
0 0
0 45 90 135 180 0 45 90 135 180

2200
Re=406218
2000 (c) Re=320078
1800 Re=228817
Re=138069
1600
Re=52442
1400
1200
Nus

1000
800
600
400
200
0
0 45 90 135 180

Fig. 5. Local heat transfer performance on tube surfaces Nus with different angle U to the flow at different Re (a) circular pin fin; (b) elliptical pin fin; (c) drop-shaped pin fin.
 L. Huang et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 129 (2018) 1325–1332 1331

benificial for the average heat transfer. And the average heat trans- 2.6
fer performance of pin finned tubes were higher than that of
2.4
smooth tube, due to the increase of the heat transfer area and
the spoiler effect of the pin fins. Both the pin fins and the tube sur- circular
2.2
elliptical
faces between the pin fins made significant contributions to the
2.0 drop-shaped
heat transfer. For the given value of Re and other given conditions,
the heat transfer performance of pin finned tubes with circular, 1.8
eppliptical and drop-shaped pin fins didn’t appear to be much

k
different. 1.6

1.4
3.5. Resistance characteristics of pin finned tubes
1.2
Fig. 7 showed the comparison of the heat transfer resistance 1.0
characteristics of pin finned tubes with smooth tube. Obviously,
pin fins brought great pressure drop, and different shapes of pin
0 1x105 2x105 3x105 4x105
fins caused different resistance. The Euler number Eu decreased Re
with increasing Re, and followed the sequence of circular pin
finned tube > elliptical pin finned tube > drop-shaped pin finned Fig. 8. Variation of the aggregative indicator k with Re for different pin finned tubes.
k comprehensively reflected the heat transfer performance considering both the
tube > smooth tube. Due to the blockage effect of the pin fins to
heat transfer improvement and the pressure drop limit. If k > 1, the comprehensive
the flow, the pressure loss of the flow for pin finned tubes was heat transfer performance of the pin-finned tube was superior to that of the parent
higher than that of the smooth tube. As the flow characteristics tube with the same volume and resistance.
of the pin fins, flow separation occurred at downstreams. However,
since drop-shaped pin fin was close to fairshaped, the seperation
zone at the tail of the pin fin was narrow, resulting in the low pres- drop limit, an aggregative indicator k was proposed, and the rela-
sure loss. tionship between k and Re was shown in Fig. 8. It can be seen that
F. Wang et al. [9] studied flow and heat transfer characteristics the k values of three different shaped pin finned tubes all exceeded
in rectangular channel with drop-shaped pin fins. They found that 1, which indicated that the comprehensive heat transfer perfor-
two vertical structures, as horseshoe and wake vortices, con- mance of the pin-finned tubes was superior to that of the smooth
tributed to the local heat transfer. Horseshoes were formed in tube. The comprehensive heat transfer performance of the pin-
the flow around a blunt body and roll up at the pin rim, while finned tubes increased with the increase of Re. The drop-shaped
wakes were induced by flow separation. It could be speculated that pin fins showed a significant effect on the heat transfer, with rela-
the flow separation of circular pin fins occurred earlier than that of tively higher k value.
elliptical and drop-shaped pin fins considering their boundary
dimension. The drop-shaped pin finned tube yielded lower pres- 4. Conclusion
sure drop compared to elliptical pin finned tube and circular pin
finned tube, and elliptical pin finned tube yielded lower pressure Naphthalene sublimation experiments were conducted to
drop compared to circular pin finned tube, owing to the consider- investigate the heat transfer performance of pin finned tubes with
ably weaker flow separation. Moreover, the windward blockage different shaped pin fins, including the local heat transfer on pin
under drop-shaped and elliptical pin fins was less than that of cir- fins and on tube surfaces. The local heat transfer performance on
cular pin fins, which force the flow to follow a weakly twisted path tube surfaces was higher than that on pin fins under the certain
around the pins and resulted in a decrease in pressure drop. condition. For the given Re of 0.5  105–4.1  105, the heat trans-
fer coefficients of pin finned tubes increased with the increase of
3.6. Comprehensive heat transfer of pin finned tubes Re, and were all higher than that of the smooth tube. But the heat
transfer performance of pin finned tubes with circular, eppliptical
To comprehensively estimate the heat transfer performance and drop-shaped pin fins didn’t appear to be much different. Dif-
considering both the heat transfer improvement and the pressure ferent shapes of pin fins caused different resistance, and drop-
shaped pin fins exhibited lower pressure loss due to the fairshaped
geometry. Comprehensively, the drop-shaped pin fins showed a
0.60
significant effect on the heat transfer, considering both the heat
0.55 transfer improvement and the pressure drop limit.
0.50
Acknowledgements
0.45
The authors would like to thank Xumei Tao for useful discus-
0.40
Eu

smooth tube sions and helps.

0.35 drop-shaped
elliptical References
0.30
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