Heat Transfer—Asian Research, 34 (2), 2005

Heat Transfer and Pressure Drop Characteristics of Finned Tube

Banks in Forced Convection (Comparison of the Heat Transfer
Characteristics between Spiral Fin and Serrated Fin)

Kiyoshi Kawaguchi, Kenichi Okui, and Takaharu Kashi

Faculty of Engineering, Toyama University, Toyama, 930-8555 Japan

In recent years the requirements for the reduction of energy consumption have
been increasing to solve the problems of global warming and the shortage of petroleum
resources. For example in the power generation field, as thermal power generation
occupied 60% of the power generation demand, an improvement in thermal efficiency
is greatly needed. This paper describes the clarification of heat transfer characteristics
of finned tube banks used for a heat exchanger in thermal power generation by testing
serrated finned tubes banks for a heat transfer improvement and conventional spiral
finned tube banks under the same test conditions. The equations to predict the heat
transfer coefficient necessary to design the heat exchanger are proposed. © 2005 Wiley
Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 34(2): 120–133, 2005; Published online in
Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/htj.20043

Key words: heat exchanger, heat transfer, spiral fin, serrated fin

1. Introduction

Recent years have brought increasing demands for reducing energy consumption in order to
solve the problems of global warming and dwindling petroleum resources. For example, in the field
of power generation, considerable improvement in the thermal efficiency of thermal power generation
equipment is required, given that thermal power accounts for 60% of power generation demand.

Thermal power generation has generally adopted power generation equipment consisting of
a boiler and a steam turbine. The efficiency of thermal power generation has increased from about
30% in the 1950s to about 40% at present, by adopting the reheat and regenerative cycle and employing
supercritical pressure plants. Meanwhile, combined-cycle-type power generation has brought a major
improvement in thermal efficiency. Combined-cycle-type power generation is a method that employs
a gas turbine and a steam cycle in combination; the steam turbine is driven by steam generated by
thermal energy from the gas turbine, by means of a heat exchanger for recovering exhaust heat.
Combined-cycle-type power generation has a thermal efficiency of 45% to 50%, and increasing
thermal efficiency requires improvement in the recovery efficiency of the heat exchanger. To attain
this end, heat transfer tubes must exhibit high heat transfer and low pressure drop. A spiral finned
tube with an extended fin has recently been used for this purpose; further, a serrated finned tube with
segmented fins to improve heat transfer performance has also come into use. The serrated finned tube
© 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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enhances heat transfer by disturbing flow, and the segmentation of the fins eases thermal stress so
that the fin height can be increased. Consequently keeping cost down becomes possible because of a
reduction in the number of finned tubes.

Many studies related to spiral fins that have been reported; among them Schmidt [1], Brauer
[2], Yudin and Tokhtarova [3], and Weyrauch [4] have reported heat transfer characteristics of finned
tube banks in inline and staggered arrangements. Kawamura [5, 6] has reported heat transfer and
pressure drop characteristics of finned tube banks used for heat recovery. On the other hand, Weierman
[7] has reported the comparison of heat transfer characteristics of serrated fins between inline and
staggered arrangements. However, comparisons of the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics
considering fin pitch in serrated and spiral finned tube banks under the same test conditions for heat
exchanger design have not been reported.

The pressure drop characteristics of finned tube banks under the same experimental conditions
using serrated and spiral finned tubes of equal size have been described in our previous report [8] in
order to clarify the merits of a serrated fin. The objective of the present study is to clarify the heat
transfer characteristics of finned tube banks using serrated and spiral finned tubes of equal size, and
to propose equations for predicting the heat transfer.These are required for heat exchanger design.
Moreover, a comparison of total performance in spiral and serrated fins is investigated.

Nomenclature

A1: experimental coefficient for tube rows in spiral finned tube banks
A2: experimental coefficient for tube rows in serrated finned tube banks
df: fin diameter, mm
do: tube diameter, mm
dv: equivalent diameter in volume, mm
Ga: mass flow velocity between tubes, kg/(m2s)
ha: heat transfer coefficient, W/(m2K)
hf: fin height, mm
nf: fin number per 1 m
NL: number of tube rows in air flow direction
NT: number of tube rows at right angles to air flow direction
Nu: Nusselt number = hadv / λ
pf: fin pitch, mm
Pr: Prandtl number
Rev: Reynolds number = Gadv / ρan
sf: fin gap, mm
SD: tube pitch, mm
SL: tube pitch in air flow direction, mm
ST: tube pitch at right angles to air flow direction, mm
tf: fin thickness, mm
λ: thermal conductivity of air, W/(m⋅K)
n: kinematic viscosity of air, m2/s
ρa: air density, kg/m3

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 2. Structure of Finned Tube Banks for Testing

2.1 Finned tube

In this study taking into account shapes which can be produced for practical use, two kinds
of serrated finned tubes and two kinds of spiral finned tubes were used. Figure 1 shows the shapes of
finned tubes for testing; Table 1 lists the specifications of the finned tubes. Figures 2 and 3 show the
appearances of the spiral and serrated finned tubes, respectively. The serrated finned tubes differ in
fin pitch, as do the spiral finned tubes. SP200 and SR200 have a fin pitch of 5.0 mm, and SP300 and
SR300 have a fin pitch of 3.3 mm. The spiral finned tube has a rectangular fin twisted spirally around
the tube, and the serrated finned tube has a segmented fin twisted spirally around the tube. The fins
are made of SPCC, and the tubes are made of STS370S. Fins are welded to the tube by high-frequency
resistance welding. Therefore, contact thermal resistance between the fins and the tubes can be
neglected.

2.2 Model of finned tube banks

The finned tube banks used in this study are configured in a staggered arrangement. Figure 4
shows the arrangement of the finned tube banks, and Table 2 lists the dimensions of the finned tube
banks. The tube pitch ST at right angles to the air flow direction is 40 mm or 45 mm. The tube pitch
SL in the air flow direction is 30 mm, 35 mm, or 40 mm. Six patterns are used for the arrangement of
finned tube banks. In arrangement A, SD = 36.1 mm; under this arrangement the end of a fin around
a tube may or may not contact the fin of the adjacent tube. The other arrangements for testing are
derived by widening the tube pitches in the air flow direction and at right angles to the air flow direction
in 5-mm increments from the values used in arrangement A. The finned tube banks for testing consist
of 5 rows arranged at right angles to the air flow direction, and 3 to 6 rows arranged in the air flow
direction. Because of the staggered arrangement, even-numbered rows of tube rows arranged at right
angles have 6 tubes. However, in the case of the top and bottom tubes, half of the tube lies outside
the duct, because the duct is insulated by thermal insulating material, and therefore heat transfer
analysis assumes the use of 5 rows. As Yudin and Tokhtarova [3] have reported, the average heat
transfer coefficient of finned tube banks is properly evaluated by employing more than 4 rows at least
arranged in the air flow direction; the heat transfer coefficient in a staggered arrangement became
constant when more than 3 rows are employed. Therefore, in this study the experiment was conducted

Fig. 1. Shape of finned tubes.

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 Table 1. Specifications of Finned Tubes

Fig. 2. Appearance of spiral finned tubes.

Fig. 3. Appearance of serrated finned tubes.

Fig. 4. Arrangement of finned tube banks.

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 Table 2. Arrangement of Finned Tube Banks

under the condition where the number of tube rows in the air flow direction ranges from 3 rows to 6
rows.

3. Experimental Apparatus and Method

Figure 5 shows the experimental apparatus. The apparatus consists of a circulation water
supply, an air supply, and a test section. Hot water flows in finned tubes, cool air flows out of the
tubes, and heat is exchanged between high-temperature water and low-temperature air.

3.1 Circulating water supply

The circulating water supply consists of a tank, a pump, a flow control valve, a quadrant-edge
orifice, a heater, and stainless pipes. The water is collected in the tank, which has the function of a
liquid separator, is pressurized by the pump, and supplied to the test section. The water passing by
the test section passes by the quadrant-edge orifice, is heated by the heater while rising, and returns
to the tank. The temperature of hot water is controlled to 60 °C by adjusting electric power to the
heater. At 60 °C, heat exchange between hot water and room-temperature air is possible, and heat
loss is minimized. The flow rate of the circulating water is adjusted by the flow control valve, and is
measured by the quadrant-edge orifice. The flow coefficient of the orifice is calibrated by experimen-
tation as a function of Reynolds number through the orifice. Throughout the experiments, the flow
rate of circulating water is 0.075 kg/s.

Fig. 5. Experimental apparatus.

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3.2 Air supply

Air is blown into a wind tunnel by a blower, passes by a duct section (with four quadrant-edge
nozzles, a grid for flow straightening, and wire netting) for measuring air flow rate, then a reducer
duct, the test section, and a mixing duct, and is discharged into the atmosphere. The duct section for
measuring air flow rate has four quadrant-edge nozzles having a diameter of 70 mm. Air flow rate is
measured by measuring differential pressure between positions upstream and downstream of the
nozzle by a manometer. Flow coefficient of the orifice is calibrated by experiment as a function of
Reynolds number through the nozzle. In this study, air flow rate ranges from 0.14 to 0.80 kg/s.

3.3 Test section

The test section consists of a rectangular duct and finned tube banks in the duct. The duct
measures 200 mm in width, 200 mm in height, and 320 mm in length, and joints for circulating water
are installed at the ends of finned tube banks. The water temperature is measured by K-type
thermocouples installed at the inlet and outlet of each tube. The air temperature upstream of the finned
tube banks is measured by three K-type thermocouples installed at the inlet of the test section, and
the air temperature downstream of the finned tube banks is measured by five K-type thermocouples
installed in the mixing duct. Heat exchange quantity measured at the air flow side was confirmed to
be almost equal to that measured at the circulating water side. The heat exchange quantity measured
at the air flow side was calculated as a product of air mass flow rate, air specific heat and air
temperature difference between inlet and outlet of test section. Heat exchange quantity measured at
the circulating water side was calculated as a product of water mass flow rate, water specific heat and
water temperature difference between inlet and outlet of test section. The differential pressure between
upstream and downstream of finned tube banks was measured by a pressure transducer through the
pressure taps mounted on the side wall surface of the test section. A heat insulator is mounted on the
outer surface of test section in order to minimize heat radiated from the duct and the joint. Maximum
calculated heat loss is 10 W, which is less than 0.65% the minimum heat exchange rate, and therefore
can be ignored.

4. Experimental Results

4.1 Effects of fin shape

4.1.1 Effects of fin type

Figure 6 shows the relationship between the Nusselt number Nu and the Reynolds number
Rev for serrated and spiral finned tube banks with a fin pitch of 5 mm. The finned tubes used for testing
are SP200 and SR200. Equivalent diameter in volume dv is used for representative length in Reynolds
number, and velocity between tubes Ga / ρa is used for representative velocity, where equivalent
diameter in volume dv is defined as the diameter of cylinder which has a volume equal to tube and
fins. The values of the diameter of SP200, SR200, SP300, and SR300 are 21.7 mm, 21.1 mm, 23.6
mm, and 22.7 mm, respectively. Velocity between tubes is defined air flow rate divided by minimum
cross-section area of air flow channel, where the minimum cross-section area is calculated by
subtracting the projected area of the first finned tube row from the air flow channel area of duct. The
value of velocity between tubes is from 5 to 35 m/s. Equivalent diameter in volume dv is also used
for representative length in Nusselt number. Heat transfer coefficient on the air flow side is calculated

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 Fig. 6. Effect of fin type on heat transfer characteristics in case of nf = 200/m.

by overall heat transfer coefficient which is derived by the thermal efficiency defined by inlet and
outlet air temperature, inlet and outlet water temperature, and number of heat transfer unit. Logarith-
mic mean temperature difference between air flow and circulating water is used for temperature
difference. Tube and fin surface area are used for heat transfer area.

In the finned tube banks with a fin pitch of 5 mm, regardless of the arrangement (arrangement
A–F), the serrated fin exhibits a higher heat transfer coefficient than the spiral fin. The heat transfer
coefficient of the serrated fin is up to 1.25 times that of the spiral fin. Although the heat transfer area
of the serrated fin is only 0.88 times that of the spiral fin, the increase in the heat transfer coefficient
is greater than the reduction in the surface area. The segmented fins of the serrated fin tubes restrict
the growth of temperature boundary layer and increase turbulence of flow around the fins, which
enhance heat transfer.

Figure 7 shows the relationship between the Nusselt number Nu and the Reynolds number
Rev for SP300 and SR300. In the finned tube banks with a fin pitch of 3.3 mm, regardless of the

Fig. 7. Effect of fin type on heat transfer characteristics in case of nf = 300/m.

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arrangement, the serrated fin exhibits a higher heat transfer coefficient, and is up to 1.1 times the heat
transfer coefficient of the spiral fin. The reasons are believed to be that in the serrated fins with small
fin pitch, heat transfer is also enhanced because of turbulence generated by the segmented fins.
However, the improvement is not as great as the case of tubes SR200 versus SP200. The heat transfer
area of the serrated fin is only 0.88 times that of the spiral fin, so the increase of heat transfer
performance cannot be expected in the same size heat exchanger.

4.1.2 Effect of fin pitch

Figure 8 shows the comparison of two kinds of spiral finned tubes with different fin pitch
while Fig. 9 shows the comparison of two kinds of serrated finned tubes with different fin pitch. The
fin pitches of tubes SP200 and SP300 are 5.0 mm and 3.3 mm, respectively. The decrease in fin pitch
increases the heat transfer area by a factor of 1.42. Tubes SR200 and SR300 have fin pitches of 5.0
mm and 3.3 mm, respectively, and the decrease in fin pitch increases the heat transfer area by a factor
of 1.41. Regardless of the arrangement or whether the fins are spiral or serrated, narrower fin spacing
increases the heat transfer coefficient. The maximum increase in the heat transfer coefficient for spiral
fins is 30%, and that for serrated fins is 10%. The increase for the serrated fin is smaller than that for
the spiral fin. The reasoning is that, in the spiral fins, smaller fin pitch restricts the growth of
temperature boundary layer, while in the serrated fins smaller fin pitch restricts the air flow into the
fin gap because of the segmented fins.

4.2 Effect of tube arrangement

4.2.1 Effect of transverse tube pitch ST

Figure 10 shows the characteristics of heat transfer for all 6 arrangements of spiral fin tubes
(SP200), and Fig. 11 shows the characteristics of heat transfer for all 6 arrangements of serrated fin
tubes (SR200). In each arrangement, SL is fixed at 30 mm, 35 mm, or 40 mm, and ST at 40 mm or 45
mm. The Nusselt number tends to increase with decreasing tube pitch, but the effect is not consider-
able. Similar results are obtained for other finned tubes (tubes SP300, SR300).

Fig. 8. Effect of fin pitch on heat transfer Fig. 9. Effect of fin pitch on heat transfer
characteristics in case of spiral fin. characteristics in case of serrated fin.

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 Fig. 11. Effect of finned tubes arrangement on
Fig. 10. Effect of finned tubes arrangement on heat transfer characteristics in case of serrated
heat transfer characteristics in case of spiral fin. fin.

4.2.2 Effect of stream-wise tube pitch SL

Similar to the cases depicted in Fig. 10 and Fig. 11, ST is fixed at 40 mm or 45 mm, and SL at
30 mm, 35 mm, or 40 mm. The Nusselt number tends to increase with decreasing tube pitch, but the
effect is not considerable. Similar results are obtained for other finned tubes (tubes SP300, SR300).
Arrangements with smaller tube pitch have higher heat transfer coefficient as well as fin pitch. As
mentioned above, in arrangement A, SD = 36.1 mm, and the end of fins around the tube may or may
not come into contact with the fin on the adjacent tube. In arrangement F, which has the largest tube
pitch, SD = 45.9 mm, the value of SD / dv ranges from 1.54 (tube SP300A) to 2.21 (tube SP200F). In
the area of practical arrangement, the heat transfer coefficient seems to be unaffected by the tube pitch,
since the increase in tube pitch is relatively small.

4.3 Effect of number of tube rows NL in air flow direction

Figures 12 and 13 show the Nusselt number for various numbers of stream-wise tube rows in
the case of arrangement B for tubes SP300 and SR300, respectively. In this study, NL was varied from
3 to 6. The results show that, for both spiral and serrated fins, the heat transfer coefficient increases
with the number of tube rows. However, the rate of increase tends to decrease with each successive
increase in the number of tube rows. The reason is believed to be that the turbulence generated by the
wakes of tubes and fins increases with the number of tube rows, which enhances heat transfer. The
number of tube rows does not affect the difference in reduction rate of heat transfer coefficient between
spiral and serrated fins.

4.4 Equations for predicting Nusselt number

In this study, Nusselt number characteristics with a change in Reynolds number were
determined under the following conditions: two kinds of spiral finned tubes, two kinds of serrated
finned tubes, six different arrangements, and four kinds of tube rows. Our proposed equations for
predicting Nusselt number use the parameters of fin gap, equivalent diameter in volume, and the
number of tube rows, which affect the heat transfer characteristics considerably. In a previous study,

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 Fig. 12. Effect of number of finned tube rows Fig. 13. Effect of number of finned tube rows
on heat transfer characteristics in on heat transfer characteristics in case of
case of spiral fin. serrated fin.

it was clarified that fin pitch affects the heat transfer coefficient considerably, and fin gap indicating
the size of air flow channel also affects the heat transfer, so fin gap obtained by subtracting fin
thickness from fin pitch is employed as a parameter impacting on heat transfer. Equation (1) was
obtained for spiral finned tube banks, and Eq. (2) was obtained for serrated finned tube banks. A1 and
A2 are experimental coefficients for tube rows, whose values are shown in Table 3.

−0.264
 sf 
Nu = A1 ⋅ Re0.787
v Pr1 / 3   (1)
 dv 
Applicable range 7000 ≤ Rev ≤ 50,000

sf
0.107 ≤ ≤ 0.185
dv

−0.0620
 sf 
Nu = A2 ⋅ Re0.784
v Pr1 / 3   (2)
 dv 
Applicable range 7000 ≤ Rev ≤ 50,000

sf
0.112 ≤ ≤ 0.198
dv

Table 3. Coefficient for Finned Tube Rows

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 Fig. 14. Comparison of experimental results and conventional equation in case of spiral fin.

Schmidt [1], Briggs [9], and Kawamura [5] have proposed the equations for predicting the
heat transfer coefficient in a spiral fin. Figure 14 shows the comparison between the equation proposed
in this study and Briggs’s equation, which is applicable to the spiral fin used in this study. Briggs has
proposed two kinds of equations for predicting the Nusselt number in a spiral fin with a different fin
height; the border fin height is 5 mm. The fin height used in this study is 9 mm. It is within applicable
range in Eq. (3) which Briggs proposed for spiral fin with higher fin:

0.296
 sf 
Nu = 0.137Re0.718
v Pr1 / 3   (3)
 hf 

Fig. 15. Comparison of experimental and calculated values in case of spiral fin.

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 Fig. 16. Comparison of experimental and calculated values in case of serrated fin.

Briggs’s equation seems to be almost equal to the equation obtained in this study, so the
experimental equation for a spiral fin obtained by this study seems to have a high degree of accuracy.
The experimental equation for serrated fin obtained by the same method seems to also be highly
accurate.

In order to investigate the accuracy of the equations, the Nusselt numbers calculated by using
the equations were compared with the measured values for spiral and serrated finned tube banks of 6
rows in arrangements A to F. Figures 15 and 16 show the results, respectively. The curve fit equations
are within 5% of the probable measured values.

5. Comparison of Performance of Finned Tube Banks

The experimental equations for heat transfer coefficient and friction factor were proposed
based on experiments to examine heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics. The performance of
spiral and serrated finned tube banks was compared. The performance of a heat exchanger with finned
tube banks was evaluated based on heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop with respect to velocity
between tubes, and based on heat exchange quantity with respect to pressure drop.

Figure 17 shows the relationship between heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop. The heat
transfer coefficient of SR200 against each identical pressure drop is the highest among SP200, SP300,
SR200, and SR300. The order of higher heat transfer coefficients is SR200, SR300, SP200, and SP300.
The pressure drop of SR200 with respect to each heat transfer coefficient was the lowest among SP200,
SP300, SR200, and SR300. The order of lower pressure drop is SR200, SR300, SP200, and SP300.
Consequently, SR200 was found to have the best performance taking into account heat transfer
coefficient and pressure drop. The order of performance is SR200, SR300, SP200, and SP300. In heat
transfer performance, the serrated fins with segmented fins have a higher performance than the spiral
fin.

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 Fig. 17. Comparison of heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics between spiral and serrated
fin.

Figure 18 shows the relationship between heat exchange quantity and pressure drop. In the
range of this experiment, the order of higher heat exchange quantity against each equal pressure drop
is SP300, SR300, SP200, and SR200. The supposed reason that the heat exchange quantity of the
spiral fin is larger than the serrated fin is that in spiral fins the increase of fin area for heat transfer
makes up for the decrease of heat transfer coefficient. In the comparison of heat exchange quantity
against the same pressure drop, a spiral fin has higher performance than a serrated fin. In the case
where the fin height of the serrated fin is higher, it seems that the number of finned tubes can be
reduced, which will bring cost down. Therefore it is necessary to investigate the improvement of
serrated fins.

Fig. 18. Comparison of heat exchange quantity and pressure drop characteristics between spiral
and serrated fin.

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 6. Conclusions

This experiment examined the heat transfer characteristics of finned tube banks which are
used in a heat exchanger for recovering exhaust gas energy for combined-cycle-type power genera-
tion. The following conclusions were obtained:

(1) In the case of large fin pitch, the heat transfer coefficient of serrated fins is large when
compared with spiral fins, and in the case of small fin pitch, the improvement ratio of the heat transfer
coefficient in serrated fins is small.

(2) Arrangement of finned tube banks has no large effect on heat transfer characteristics.

(3) Experimental equations for predicting Nusselt number were proposed, after investigation
of the effects of parameters on heat transfer characteristics, and yielded values that are accurate within
5%.

(4) The heat transfer coefficient of a serrated fin against each same pressure drop is higher
than that of a spiral fin. However, the heat exchange quantity of serrated fin against each identical
pressure drop is not greater than that of the spiral fin because of the reduction of fin area.

Literature Cited

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coolers. Proc General Discussion Heat Transfer 1951;II:186–188.
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3. Yudin VF, Tokhtarowa LS. Heat emission and resistance of checkerboard and corndor fin
clusters. Energomashinostroenie 1964;1:11–13.
4. Weyrauch E. The influence of geometry of tube banks on heat transfer and pressure drop when
the fluid is flowing normal to the finned bank. Kaltetechnik-Klimatisieurung 1969;21:62–65.
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banks of tubes with segmented fins. 15th Natl Heat Tt Conf San Francisco, and AIChE Symp
Ser 1974;74:39–46.
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forced convection (Comparison of the pressure drop characteristics between spiral fin and
serrated fin). JSME Trans Ser B 2004;69(688):2670–2676.
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"F F F"

Originally published in Trans JSME Ser B 2004, 70, 1258–1265.

Translated by Kiyoshi Kawaguchi, Faculty of Engineering, Toyama University, 3190 Gofuku,
Toyama, 930-8555 Japan.

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