Effect of serrated circular rings on heat transfer augmentation of circular tube heat exchanger

Limiting energy resources has led researchers to find new innovative ways to enhance heat exchanging devices thermal performance in power generating systems. Thus, the present paper analyzes passive techniques of enhancing the thermal performance of a single tube heat exchanger. Experimental and numerical investigation on heat transfer enhancement using aserrated circular ring with twisted tape is carried out. The work incorporates the determination of Nusselt number, friction factor, thermal performance factor for serrated circular ring with twisted tape with variation in diameter ratio (0.8 and 0.85) and pitch ratio (2 and 3). Air is used as a working fluid with Reynolds number 6000–24000. The experiment is conducted by providing a constant wall heat flux of 1000 W/m2 to the system and thereby taking results at a steady state. The experimental and computational findings obtained for the smooth tube case are compared with the standard correlations of Dittus–Boelter and Blasius. Based on experimental and numerical investigation, there is 5.16 times augmentation in heat transfer and 3.05 times improvement in thermal performance factor over the smooth tube heat exchanger. In addition, the study of entropy generation rate for every geometrical parameter has been conducted, and their influence on the system’s thermal behaviour is presented. The results obtained in the present study may help the researchers of the same research area to find similar inserts and new ways of enhancing the thermal performance of heat exchangers.