A new correlation for predicting the hydrothermal characteristics over flat tube banks

The flat tubes are necessary apparatus to design the modern heat exchangers. In this context, a CFD (computational fluid dynamics) study has been achieved to explore the influence of the flat tube size on the heat transfer characteristics in cross-flow over flat tube banks. The calculations are performed with the help of the computer software (Fluent) which is based on the finite volume method to solve the continuity, momentum and energy equations. The numerical investigations are achieved for laminar flow (Reynolds numbers changing from 50 to 800), two dimensional flows and incompressible fluids. Some predicted results are compared with available experimental data of the literature and a satisfactory agreement is observed. The obtained results show a decrease in the heat transfer coefficient with increased size of the flat tube. A new valuable empirical correlation is suggested for the prediction of heat transfer coefficients over a flat tube bank. The proposed correlation may be useful for engineers to predict the heat transfer rates in such devices without requirements of experimental measurements.