• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.291-299
• /
• 2010

Aspect-ratio-based numerical analysis is carried out to investigate the air-side convective heat transfer characteristics in compact heat exchangers with circular tubes and flat tubes-plate fins. The RNG $k-{\varepsilon}$ model is adopted for turbulence analysis. The numerical analysis is carried out for aspect ratios ranging from 3.06 to 5.44 and for Reynolds numbers ranging from 1,000 to 10,000. The calculated results indicate a correlation between the friction factor and Colburn j factor in the compact heat exchanger system for the range of aspect ratios under consideration. The results obtained for circular tubes and flat tubes-plate fins in this study can be utilized to realize the optimal design of an air conditioning system.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.31 no.12
• /
• pp.994-1001
• /
• 2007

Numerical analysis has been carried out to investigate air-side convective heat transfer characteristics in a compact heat exchanger with circular tubes and continuous plate fins. Simulation results such as air velocity and temperature distributions are presented, and heat transfer coefficients are compared with previous experimental correlations. Three models of standard and RNG $k-{\varepsilon}$, and Reynolds stress are applied for turbulence model applicability. Predicted heat transfer coefficient from the models of standard and RNG $k-{\varepsilon}$ are very close to those of the heat transfer correlations while there are relatively large difference, more than 17 percentage in the result from the Reynolds stress model. From the calculated results a correlation for Colburn j factor in the compact heat exchanger system is suggested.