Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 42 (2012) 154162

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Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

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Thermohydraulics of laminar ow through a circular tube having integral helical

rib roughness and tted with centre-cleared twisted-tape
Suvanjan Bhattacharyya, Sujoy Kumar Saha
Mechanical Engineering Department, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah 711 103, India

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

Article history: The experimental friction factor and Nusselt number data for laminar ow through a circular duct having
Received 30 January 2012 integral helical rib roughness and tted with centre-cleared twisted-tape have been presented. Predictive
Received in revised form 10 May 2012 friction factor and Nusselt number correlations have also been presented. The thermohydraulic perfor-
Accepted 10 May 2012
mance has been evaluated. The major ndings of this experimental investigation are that the centre-
Available online 22 May 2012
cleared twisted tapes in combination with integral helical rib roughness perform signicantly better than
the individual enhancement technique acting alone for laminar ow through a circular duct up to a
Keywords:
certain amount of twisted-tape centre-clearance.
Laminar ow
Forced convection
2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Integral helical rib roughness
Twisted tapes
Heat transfer enhancement
Swirl ow

1. Introduction
Laminar ow is encountered in many industrial applications. In
case of laminar ow, there is major thermal resistance in the bulk
ow in addition to the dominant thermal resistance in the thin
boundary layer adjacent to the ow. Twisted-tape inserts are,
therefore, used to mix the gross ow effectively in laminar ow
to reduce the thermal resistance in the core ow through the chan-
nel. Integral helical ribs are also turbulators. Helical rib as shown in
Fig. 1 is made as integral surface to the duct wall. The dimension-
less geometric parameters that inuence the heat transfer and fric-
tion characteristics are the rib height and rib helix angle. Integral
rib-roughness has been used for the enhancement of tube-side
heat transfer coefcient in low-ow automotive radiators and in
this case, the ow Reynolds number is small and may be <2000.
Farrel et al. [1] tested one fully-ribbed and two broken ribbed at
radiator tube. They obtained friction factors for 200 < Re < 11, 000.
However, the heat transfer coefcients were obtained only for tur-
bulent ow with Re > 2000. The broken-ribbed tube with the high-
est e/Dh yielded the highest heat transfer coefcient as well as the
highest friction factor. Olsson and Sunden [2] tested two ribbed
radiator tubes with airow. The air heat transfer data were taken
with constant wall temperature and the data provide the axially
averaged heat transfer coefcient over the tube length. The
enhanced tubes showed higher friction factors than the smooth
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9830493430; fax: +91 3326682916.
E-mail address: sujoy_k_saha@hotmail.com (S.K. Saha).
tube in both laminar and turbulent regions. However, as the Rey-
nolds number decreased in the strictly laminar region, the friction
factors tended to converge and approach the smooth tube value.
Also, the laminarturbulent transition Reynolds number decreased
as the friction factor increased. Similar to the friction behaviour,
the Colburn j factors also tended to converge at low Reynolds num-
bers, and approached the smooth tube value. However, in contrast
to the friction factors, the j factors did not show a clear laminar
turbulent transition. Olsson and Sunden [3] investigated the effect
of rib congurations for the multiple V-ribbed channel.
Twisted tapes as shown in Figs. 2a and 2b cause the ow to spir-
al along the tube length. Continuous twisted-tape shown in Fig. 2a
has been extensively investigated. Varieties of twisted-tape have
been evaluated. They include short sections of twisted tapes at
the tube inlet, or periodically spaced along the tube length. Early
works on twisted tapes have been reported in [4,5]. Later works
have been reported in [628]. Fig. 2b shows the layout of a circular
duct having full-length centre cleared twisted-tape. The details and
method of making centre-cleared twisted-tape will be described in
Section 2.
Saha and Dutta [6] have observed that, for regularly spaced
twisted-tape elements, thermohydraulic performance of twisted
tapes with multiple twists in the tape module is not much different
from that with single twist in the tape module. Twisted tapes with
gradually decreasing pitch perform worse than their uniform-pitch
counterparts. Patil [7] has worked with varying width twisted-tape
inserts for which both friction factor and Nusselt number are lower
than those with full-width twisted tapes. Saha et al. [8,9] have

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 S. Bhattacharyya, S.K. Saha / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 42 (2012) 154162 155

Nomenclature

A heat transfer area (m2) Resw Reynolds number based on swirl velocity = (qVsDh)/l
Ac axial ow cross-sectional area, = WDh - dDh (m2) (dimensionless)
Ao plain duct ow cross-sectional area, p4 D2 (m2) Re Reynolds number based on plain duct diame-
C twisted-tape centre-clearance (m) ter = (qV0Dh)/l (dimensionless)
p p
c non-dimensional twisted-tape centre-clearance, C/Dh Sw swirl parameter Resw = y Re= yp=p  4d=Dh
2 0:5
(dimensionless) 1 p=2y (dimensionless)
Cp constant pressure specic heat (J/kg K) T temperature (K)
D internal diameter of the plain duct (m) DTw wall to uid bulk temperature difference (K)
Dh hydraulic diameter of the test duct, =4Ao/P (m) Va mean axial velocity = m=_ qAc (m/s)
e rib height (m) Vo mean velocity based on plain duct diameter = m= _ qA0
f fully developed Fanning friction factor = 1=2 (m/s)
DP0 =qV 20 Dh =z (dimensionless) Vs actual swirl velocity at duct wall = Va[1 + (p/2y)2]0.5 (m/
fsw swirl ow friction factor, =DP 0 Dh =2qV 2s Ls f L=Ls s)
V 0 =V s 2 (dimensionless) X Prn, the value of n depends on the exponent of Pr in the
(fRe)sw fResw fRep  4d=Dh =p1 p=2y2 1 correlation
(dimensionless)  0:14
lb 1
Y  5:172
g gravitational acceleration (m/s2) l w

Gr Grashof number gbq2 D3h DT w =l2 (dimensionless) Y twist ratio = H/Dh (dimensionless)
Gz Graetz number mC _ p =kL (dimensionless) z axial length, the distance between the measuring pres-
H pitch for 180 rotation of twisted-tape (m) sure taps (m)
hz axially local heat transfer coefcient (W/(m2 K))
k uid thermal conductivity (W/(m K)) Greek symbols
L axial length, length of the duct (m) a rib helix angle,
Ls maximum helical ow length L1 p=2y2 1=2 (m) b coefcient of isobaric thermal expansion (K1)
LT length of twisted-tape (m) d tape thickness (m)
L non-dimensional twisted-tape length = LT/L (dimension- l uid dynamic viscosity (kg/ms)
less) q density of the uid (kg/m3)
_
m mass ow rate (kg/min) RL
Num axially averaged Nusselt number = 1L 0 hz Dkh dz (dimen- Subscripts
sionless) ax at axial ow condition
DPz pressure drop (mm) b at bulk uid temperature
DP0 pressure drop (N/m2) CC centre clearance
P wetted perimeter in the particular cross-section of the H hydraulic diameter
duct, rib pitch (m) m axially averaged
Pr uid Prandtl number = lCp/k (dimensionless) sw at swirl ow condition
Ra Rayleigh number = Gr  Pr w at duct wall temperature, with
Reax Reynolds number based on axial velocity = (qVaDh)/l w/o without
(dimensionless) z local value

introduced regularly spaced twisted-tape elements which are bet- Sarac et al. [16] have observed better performance with vortex
ter than full-length twisted tapes under certain circumstances. Li generators having propeller-type geometry. Jaishankar et al. [17]
et al. [10] have designed an optimal multi-layer spacer with opti- have observed better performance of twisted tapes with spacer
mal non-woven nets in the outer layers and twisted tapes in the at the trailing edge. Chang et al. [18] experienced enhanced heat
middle layer. Helical screw-tape inserts [11] behave the same transfer in case of shaker-bored piston cooling channel with
way as the twisted tapes. Twin and triple twisted tapes [12] are
also effective enhancement devices. Dewan et al. [13] have
reviewed the studies on twisted tapes. Hong et al. [14] have em-
ployed evenly spaced twisted tapes in a convergentdivergent
tube. Jagged twisted tapes perform better than the classical twisted
tapes [15].

Fig. 2a. Layout of a circular duct containing a full-length twisted-tape (full width
Fig. 1. Circular duct with helical ribs. and no centre-clearance).
156 S. Bhattacharyya, S.K. Saha / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 42 (2012) 154162
Fig. 2b. Circular duct having full-length twisted-tape (with centre clearance).
twisted-tape insert. Two co-rotating helical vortices superimposed
over the main swirling ow exist in twisted-tape generated swirl
ow, Cazan and Aidun [19]. The close proximity of the two co-
rotating vortices creates a local reversing ow at the pipe centre-
line. Helical vortices are generated by vortices originating inside
the twisted tape swirler. The main rotational ow accelerates the
co-rotating vortices and decelerates the counter-rotating vortices.
As a result, the counter-rotating vortices disappear while the co-
rotating vortices reach the same maximum tangential velocity as
the main ow. Thus the tangential velocity near the wall is approx-
imately doubled by the presence of the secondary vortices. Rama-
krishna et al. [20] have recently worked with twisted-tape having
spaces in between. Hans et al. [21] have made a review of various
roughness element geometries employed in solar air heaters for
performance enhancement.
Saha and co-workers [2226] have studied experimentally lam-
inar ow through square and rectangular ducts having twisted
tapes with oblique teeth, axial corrugations, transverse ribs and
wire coil inserts. Hasim et al. [27] and Zimparov et al. [28] have
contributed on combined heat transfer enhancement techniques.
Saha [29] has presented has worked on axial corrugations and
twisted-tape having centre clearance and obtained promising
results.
It has been observed from the literature review that the com-
bined effect of integral helical rib roughness and centre-cleared
twisted-tape inserts has not been studied in the past. The uid ow
due to helical ribs coupled with centre-cleared twisted-tape-gen-
erated swirl ow is likely to give better mixing in the ow resulting
in increased heat and momentum diffusion. This may increase heat
transfer even if it may also give increased pressure drop. In this pa-
per, therefore, the laminar ow experimental heat transfer and
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the experimental rig.
pressure drop results of combined effect of integral helical ribs
and full-length centre-cleared twisted-tape inserts in circular
ducts are presented. Friction factor and Nusselt number correla-
tions are presented. Also the performance of this combined geom-
etry is evaluated.
2. Experimental set-up, operating procedure and data
reduction
The pressure drop measurements were taken in a 13 mm ID and
2 m long circular acrylic duct in which there was integral helical
ribs. Heat transfer tests were carried out in a stainless steel duct
having same dimension as that of pressure drop tests. Fig. 3 shows
the experimental rig. Plates. 1 and 2 show the pressure drop and
heat transfer experimental set up, respectively. Heat transfer test
section was electrically heated by nichrome heater. Uniform wall
heat ux boundary condition was imposed. Nichrome heater wire
had porcelain bead insulation on it. There was no direct contact of
the nichrome heater wire with the duct wall. First, there was bre
glass tape insulation (electrical but not thermal) on the duct wall.
Then the porcelain-bead covered nichrome heater wire was
wrapped on the duct wall. Two consecutive turns of the heater
wire touched each other in each duct. The thermal conductivity
of the duct wall material was high enough and the duct wall thick-
ness was sufcient to ensure uniform wall heat ux. Asbestos rope
and glasswool insulated the heat transfer test section after the hea-
ter wire. Finally the test section was covered with jute bag for fur-
ther thermal insulation.
Twisted tapes (twist ratio, y = 2.5) were made of stainless steel.
Integral helical ribs of two different heights and helix angles were
used. A central rectangular cut was made from a at stainless steel
strip and then it was given the helical shape of a typical twisted-
tape. Servotherm medium oil of Indian Oil Corporation was used
as the working uid. Wide Prandtl number range (235537) was
achieved by using this oil. Twisted tapes were placed at the centre
of the duct cross-section by SS lugs.
 S. Bhattacharyya, S.K. Saha / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 42 (2012) 154162
Plate 1. Pressure drop experimental set up.
Plate 2. Heat transfer experimental set up.
Oil mass ow rate was measured by rotameters. Isothermal
pressure drops were measured by vertical mercury manometer.
The local enhancement due to ribs quickly dissipates due to
boundary layer mixing dissipation downstream of the ribs. Hence,
rational selection of the rib heights and rib helix angle requires
knowledge of the local heat transfer coefcient. Therefore, heat
transfer test section outer wall temperatures were measured at se-
ven axial locations (each axial station had four thermocouples
ninety degrees apart along the duct periphery) by copperconstan-
tan thermocouples and digital multimeter. Typically, there was
only 3.54.8% of maximum wall temperature variation in periphe-
ral outside wall temperature measured at four locations in an axial
station. Similar results have been observed for all cases irrespective
of Reynolds number and Prandtl number. The peripheral wall tem-
perature variation is due to buoyancy, effects of rib heights and rib
helix angles, and tape-induced swirl.
Thermocouples were installed on the duct outside wall by braz-
ing. Axial locations of thermocouples were 5 cm, 50 cm, 1.00 m,
1.25 m, 1.5 m, 1.75 m and 1.95 m along the downstream direction
157
Plate 3. Centre-cleared twisted-tape.
from the onset of heating at the upstream end of the duct. Duct in-
side wall temperatures were evaluated by calculating duct-wall
temperature drop from the one-dimensional radial heat conduc-
tion equation.
Oil bulk-mean temperatures at inlet and outlet of the test sec-
tion were also measured by copperconstantan thermocouples.
The oil temperature at outlet was measured after the mixing cham-
ber [item 9, Fig. 3] and this was uniform. The mixing chamber was
a cylindrical box of rectangular cross-section. The mixing chamber
had rectangular plates arranged inside in such a fashion that the
working uid moved in a serpentine path. This gave a uniform
temperature of the working uid at its exit plane. At other loca-
tions, the uid bulk-mean temperatures were interpolated since
the uid bulk-mean temperature increases linearly for the uniform
wall heat ux boundary condition. The duct wall temperature also
rises linearly in the downstream fully developed region. Heat input
to the test section was evaluated by measuring resistance of and
voltage across the heater wires and the enthalpy rise of oil in its
passage through the test duct. Peripherally local temperatures in
an axial station were arithmetically averaged to get axially local
temperature and Nusselt number. Then axially local Nusselt num-
bers were averaged by trapezoidal rule. The electrical energy input
and the enthalpy rise of the oil matched within 3.5%. The enthalpy
rise of the oil was taken as the thermal energy input to the heat
transfer test section. Fanning Friction factor was evaluated. Plates.
1 and 2 show the pressure drop and heat transfer experimental set
up, respectively. Plate. 3 shows the centre-cleared twisted-tape.
Experimental uncertainty was determined by the method of Kline
and McClintock [30]. The uncertainty in Reynolds number, Prandtl
number, friction factor and Nusselt number were +4.2%, 5.6%,
6.3% and 7.5%, respectively. The uid temperature rise along
the heated duct is not very high and uid thermal properties being
well documented, therefore, the uncertainties in uid properties
variation have been neglected without much loss in accuracy.
The details of uncertainty analysis are shown in Appendix A.
3. Results and discussion
Swirl parameter, Sw, Manglik and Bergles [31] and other related
parameters have been clearly dened in the nomenclature. Sw
takes care of the swirl generated by the tape twist.
The present experimental set up was validated by comparing
present friction factor data (Fig. 4) and Nusselt number data
(Fig. 5) with standard correlations. The data agreed within 11
and 10%, respectively.
158 S. Bhattacharyya, S.K. Saha / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 42 (2012) 154162

10 1000

Exp Data
Correlation
c=0.6

c=0.2
1 c=0

c=0.4

c=0.4, only tt
f

fRe
100

0.1

0.01
1 10 100 1000
Re
10
Friction factor Vs Reynolds number 10 100 1000

Re
Fig. 4. Validation of the experimental setup: comparison of present experimental
plain circular tube friction factor data with plain circular tube correlation.
Fig. 6. Effect of centre clearance of twisted-tape on friction factor P/e = 20.0437, e/
Dh = 0.07692.

10

1000
9

8
P/e=20.0437

Correlation P/e=35.6481
7
Exp Data P/e=35.6481, only rib
Linear (Correlation)
6
Nu

f.Re

5 100

1
10 100 1000 10
10 100 1000
Re
Re
Nussely number vs. Reynolds number
Fig. 7. Effect of rib pitch on friction factor c = 0.4, e/Dh = 0.1026.
Fig. 5. Validation of the experimental setup: comparison of present experimental
plain circular tube Nusselt number data with plain circular tube correlation.

Figs. 47 and Figs. 811 show the friction factor and Nusselt
number data, respectively. Data have been generated for the fol- Both friction factor and Nusselt number decrease [Figs. 4 and 8,
lowing values of the parameters: respectively] with increase in the value of c, i.e. centre clearance
initially; however, after c = 0.4 and with further increase of c, no
Centre clearance (c) = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6. appreciable changes in friction factor and Nusselt number occur.
Rib helix angle (h) = 30 (rib pitch, P/e = 35.6481) and 60 (rib This is due to the decrease in the tape-surface area in the initial
pitch, P/e = 20.0437). stages of c P 0; whereas at the later stages with the appreciable
Rib height (e/Dh) = 0.07692, 0.1026. centre-clearance, the boundary layer shape and thickness do not
 S. Bhattacharyya, S.K. Saha / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 42 (2012) 154162 159

1000 100

e/Dh=0.1026
e/Dh=0.07692 e/Dh=0.07692
e/Dh=0.07692, only rib e/Dh=0.1026
e/Dh=0.07692, only rib
fRe

NuY
100 10

10
1
10 100 1000
1000 10000
Re ReX

Fig. 8. Effect of rib height on friction factor. P/e = 35.6481, c = 0.6. Fig. 10. Effect of rib height on Nusselt number. c = 0.4, rib helix angle = 30.

100 100

c=0.4

c=0.2

c=0 P/e=20.0437

c=0.6 P/e=35.6481

c=0.6, only tt P/e=35.6481,only rib

NuY

NuY

10 10

1 1
100 1000 10000 100 1000 10000
ReX ReX

Fig. 9. Effect of centre clearance of twisted-tape on Nusselt number. Rib helix Fig. 11. Effect of rib pitch on Nusselt number. e/Dh, c = 0.6.
angle = 60, e/Dh = 0.1026.

change appreciably and the velocity and temperature proles do
not become further shallower. Also, if we critically observe the
Figs. 68, it is seen that friction factor increases 80150% with
combined use of helical ribs and twisted-tape as compared to the
separate cases of helical ribs and twisted tapes. Approximately
95280 percent increase in Nusselt number is observed from the
Figs. 911. In the absence of any reliable and relevant correlations,
the present results could not be compared. Notwithstanding the
fact that both friction factor and Nusselt number behave similarly,
i.e., they increase with the increase in the rib helix angle and rib
height, the friction factor is strong functions of rib height and rib
helix angle. However, there is relatively weak effect of rib height
on Nusselt number and Nusselt number is a stronger function of
rib helix angle. The effect of twist ratio of the twisted-tape has
not been studied in this investigation since it is now well estab-
lished that the twisted tapes function effectively only for twist ra-
tio 2.55. The above result is expected and it is explained by the
160 S. Bhattacharyya, S.K. Saha / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 42 (2012) 154162

fact that, in case of only twisted tapes, there is only swirl ow;  Criterion 1 Basic geometry xed, pumping power xed
whereas there is additional uid mixing due to ow separation, increase heat transfer Performance ratio R1 given is by
reattachment and recirculation of uid in presence of integral heli- Eqs. (1) and (2).
cal ribs. Also, there is faster momentum and thermal energy diffu-
sion and transport in both molecular and bulk ow levels causing Nucom
R11 1
additional pressure loss and faster heat transmission. The inertia Nuohr
force due to swirl ow generated by twisted tapes enhances the
periodic boundary layer separation and reattachment with tem- Nucom
R12 2
perature and velocity proles atter, caused by integral helical ribs Nuocctt
and hence there is the enhancement. It is also observed from the
Nucom at a given Re, Recom is obtained from the correlation
Figures that the effect of ribs is equally prominent on Nusselt num-
for the case of combined enhancement techniques. Nuohr
ber and friction factor, because the thermal boundary layer and the
and Nuocctt for the cases with ohr and occtt are taken
hydrodynamic boundary layer are equally affected. This again re-
at the Re, Reohr and Reocctt where Reohr and Reocctt are calcu-
minds the Reynolds analogy. However, the thermohydraulic per-
lated from the constant pumping power consideration as
formance evaluation has shown that the combined use of
given in Eq. (3) below:
integral helical rib roughness and twisted tapes (with and without
  1=3
centre-clearance) are better than the individual enhancement fcom
technique and the combined use is recommended. Reohr;occtt Re3com 3
fohr;occtt
 Criterion 2 basic geometry xed, heat duty xed reduce
4. Correlations pumping power performance ratio R2 is given by Eqs. (4)
and (5).
One major objective of the present work has been to develop 3
fRe com
correlations for friction factor and Nusselt number to predict pres- R21 3
4
fRe ohr
sure drop and heat transfer coefcient. These correlations have
been developed by log-linear regression analysis. 3
The laminar ow is inuenced by the following conditions: (1) fRe com
R22 3
5
the thermal boundary condition, (2) entrance region effect, (3) nat- fRe occtt
ural convection at low Reynolds number, (4) uid property varia-
For a given Re, Recom, the Nucom is obtained from the correlation.
tion across the boundary layer, and (5) the duct cross-sectional
Reohr,occtt corresponding to Nuohr,occtt is obtained from the correla-
shape. Correlations developed here take care of all these effects.
tion for the cases with ohr and occtt. The subscripts com, ohr
The heat transfer data are presented for uniform wall heat ux
and occtt refer to combined enhancement techniques, only helical
boundary condition. The friction factor data are for the isothermal
rib and only centre-cleared twisted-tape, respectively.
condition. Non-isothermal friction factor data can easily be ob-
The performance ratios R1 and R2 are given in Tables 1 and 2,
tained by usual viscosity corrections.
respectively. The cases in Tables 1 and 2 are referred by two digits;
Correlation for predicting friction factor for combined centre-
cleared twisted-tape and integral helical rib roughness is given
by Eq. (1):
  Table 1
p 2  2d=Dh 2 Performance ratio R1. Case: First digit for rib pitch and second digit for rib height.
fReSw 17:355 1 106 Sw2:67 1=7
p  4d=Dh R1
!
1 exp0:05259c  exp0:04267 sin a 22 12 21 11
 1 1
e=Dh 0:738 c = 0.2 R11 R12 R11 R12 R11 R12 R11 R12
1.32 1.33 1.33 1.31 1.35 1.59 1.55 1.57
c = 0.4 R11 R12 R11 R12 R11 R12 R11 R12
The corresponding Nusselt number correlation is given by Eq. 1.61 1.65 1.66 1.68 1.54 1.52 1.53 1.57
(2) c = 0.6 R11 R12 R11 R12 R11 R12 R11 R12
1.59 1.66 1.62 1.66 1.62 1.68 1.56 1.55
2 30:1
1 0:06938Gz0:9428 2:5 7:9558  0:14 c=0 R11 R12 R11 R12 R11 R12 R11 R12
6 7 lb 1.37 1.39 1.37 1.37 1.37 1.35 1.35 1.37
Num 5:1724 106 Sw:Pr0:565 2:655 2:0 5 
lw
1:5198  1015 Reax :Ra2:18
!
1 exp0:09565c  exp0:08638 sin a
 1 2 Table 2
e=Dh 0:6198 Performance ratio R2. Case: First digit for rib pitch and second digit for rib height.

All correlations have been developed by log-linear regression R2

analysis. The correlations predict experimental data within 22 12 21 11
11.43%. c = 0.2 R21 R22 R21 R22 R21 R22 R21 R22
0.71 0.75 0.68 0.69 0.67 0.68 0.72 0.69
c = 0.4 R21 R22 R21 R22 R21 R22 R21 R22
5. Performance evaluation
0.47 0.45 0.48 0.46 0.49 0.53 0.55 0.67
c = 0.6 R21 R22 R21 R22 R21 R22 R21 R22
Bergles et al. [32] have suggested several criteria for the perfor-
0.47 0.52 0.51 0.46 0.48 0.51 0.53 0.65
mance evaluation of enhancement devices. The performance of the
c=0 R21 R22 R21 R22 R21 R22 R21 R22
present geometry has been evaluated on the basis of the following
0.71 0.75 0.72 0.68 0.66 0.6 0.66 0.67
two important criteria:
 S. Bhattacharyya, S.K. Saha / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 42 (2012) 154162 161

"
2
2
2
2 #0:5
rst digit is due to rib pitch (1, 20.0437; 2, 35.6481) and second Df 1 @f @f @f @f
digit is due to rib height (1, 0.07692; 2, 0.1026). The values of c DDP DLp DD DRe
f f @DP @Lp @D @Re
for cases 1, 2, 3 and 4 are 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0, respectively.
From the tables it is observed that all the cases with c P 0 are A:2
better than c = 0. However, c = 0.6 is worse than c = 0.4 and, there- or,
fore, it may be concluded that c > 0.4 would not perform better. "


2
2 #0:5
This is irrespective of any rib pitch and rib height. It has also been Df DDP 2 DLp 2 3 DD 2DRe
A:3
observed that the combined integral helical rib and with and with- f DP Lp D Re
out centre-cleared twisted-tape performs better than the individ-
ual enhancement technique acting alone. From Tables 1 and 2 it DP / h A:4
is observed that there is 4568% increase in heat transfer for con-
stant pumping power and 2555% reduction in pumping power for DDP Dh
constant heat duty depending upon the integral helical rib pitch ) A:5
DP h
and rib height.
In case of combined enhancement techniques, the thermal 4m_
Re A:6
boundary layer is more disturbed than the hydrodynamic bound- pDl
ary layer by integral helical rib in the duct. The velocity prole is
less at than the temperature prole. Momentum loss due to mix- "   2 #0:5
DRe Dm _ 2 DD
ing of uid with asymmetric velocity proles is more. But, the A:7
Re _
m D
hydrodynamic boundary layer decays faster than the thermal
boundary layer. The thermal boundary layer separation and reat-
The uncertainty in friction factor has been calculated from the
tachment is more frequent than the hydrodynamic boundary layer.
above equations.
Therefore, the increase in heat transfer is more than the increase in
pressure drop.
A.1.2. Nusselt number

6. Conclusions
hD
Nu A:8
The experimental friction factor and Nusselt number data for k
laminar ow through a circular duct having integral helical ribs "
2
2
2 #0:5
and tted with centre-cleared twisted-tape have been presented. DNu 1 @ @ @
NuDh NuDD NuDk
Predictive friction factor and Nusselt number correlations have Nu Nu @h @D @k
also been presented. The thermohydraulic performance has been
evaluated. The major ndings of this experimental investigation or
are that the centre-cleared twisted tapes in combination with inte- ( 2  )0:5

gral helical rib roughness perform signicantly better than the
DNu Dh DD 2
A:9
individual enhancement technique acting alone for laminar ow Nu h D
through a circular duct up to a certain amount of twisted-tape cen-
tre-clearance. This research nding is useful in designing tubes for q00
h A:10
heat exchangers. T wi  T b
"
2
2
2 #0:5
Acknowledgments Dh 1 @h @h @h
Dq00 DT wi DT b
h h @q00 @T wi @T b
The author gratefully acknowledges the generous nancial sup-
port of the MHRD, DST, CSIR, Government of India for the current "

2
2 #0:5
research. Dh Dq00 2 DT wi DT b
A:11
h q00 T wi  T b T wi  T b
Appendix A. Uncertainty analysis
0:5 h 2 i
q00 _ p T bo  T bi
V =R mC A:12
All the quantities that are measured to estimate the Nusselt pDLh
number and the friction factor are subject to certain uncertainties
due to errors in the measurement. These individual uncertainties
2 2  @ 00 2   30:5
@
@R
q00 DR @V _ 2
q DV @@m_ q00 Dm
as well as the combined effect of these are presented here. The 6 n o2 7
analysis is carried out on the basis of the suggestion made by Saha
Dq00 16 6 @T@ q00 DT bo
7
7

[29]. q00 q00 6
4 n
bo
o2  n
7
o2 5
@ 00 @ 00
2 @ 00
@T q DT bi @D q DD @L q DLh
bi h
A.1. Analysis
2
DR2
DV 2 30:5
1 4
First the analysis for the friction factor is presented. The analy- _ p RDT b =V 2 2 R
1mC V 2 2
6 1mC _ 7
p RDT b =V
sis for the Nusselt number is presented after that. 6
Dm_ 2  2 7
6 1 1 DT bo 7
Dq 00 6  2 _
m
 2 DT b 7
6 2 2 7 A:13
6 1RmCV 1RmC V
7
A.1.1. Friction factor q00 6 _ p DT
b
_ p DT
b 7
6  2
  2 7
6 1 DT bi DD 2 DLh 7
4  2 DT b D Lh 5

( ) 2
1 DP qD3 1RmC
_
V
p DT b
f A:1
2 Lp Re2 l2 where DTb = Tbo  Tbi
162 S. Bhattacharyya, S.K. Saha / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 42 (2012) 154162
The uncertainty in Nusselt number has been calculated from the
above equations.
The accuracies of the measured quantities are in given below in
the tabular form:
Quantity Accuracy Quantity Accuracy
DD h 0.00002 m DL 0.001 m
_
Dm 1.667E5 kg/s Dh 0.001 m
DT 0.025 C DV 0.1 V
DR 0.0000 X
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