Applied Thermal Engineering 29 (2009) 753–761

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

The investigation of groove geometry effect on heat transfer

for internally grooved tubes
Kadir Bilen a,*, Murat Cetin b, Hasan Gul c, Tuba Balta a
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ataturk University, TR-25040 Erzurum, Turkey
b
Department of Automotive, Vocational High School, Erzincan University, Erzincan 24109, Turkey
c
Vocational High School, Firat University, 23119 Elazig, Turkey

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

Article history: An experimental study of surface heat transfer and friction characteristics of a fully developed turbulent
Received 23 February 2007 air flow in different grooved tubes is reported. Tests were performed for Reynolds number range 10,000–
Accepted 4 April 2008 38,000 and for different geometric groove shapes (circular, trapezoidal and rectangular). The ratio of tube
Available online 22 April 2008
length-to-diameter is 33. Among the grooved tubes, heat transfer enhancement is obtained up to 63% for
circular groove, 58% for trapezoidal groove and 47% for rectangular groove, in comparison with the
Keywords: smooth tube at the highest Reynolds number (Re = 38,000). Correlations of heat transfer and friction coef-
Grooves
ficient were obtained for different grooved tubes. In evaluation of thermal performance, it is seen that the
Ribs
Grooved tube
grooved tubes are thermodynamically advantageous (Ns, a < 1) up to Re = 30,000 for circular and trape-
Heat transfer enhancement/augmentation zoidal grooves and up to Re = 28,000 for rectangular grooves. It is observed that there is an optimum
Convective heat transfer value of the entropy generation number at about Re = 17,000 for all investigated grooves.
Heat exchanger Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Forced convection heat transfer is the most frequently em-
ployed mode of the heat transfer in heat exchangers or in various
chemical process plants. The use of the turbulence promoters or
roughness elements, such as welded ribs, grooves or wires on the
surface, is a common technique to enhance the rate of heat transfer
[1,2]. A commonly used technique for improving the performance
of heat exchange devices is to set up periodic disturbance promot-
ers along the streamwise direction. Such an arrangement of the
channels might lead to the enhancement of the heat transfer due
to flow mixing and periodic interruptions of thermal boundary
layers, but often causes increase of pressure drop penalty [3]. Use
of the artificial grooved or fluted tubes is widely used in modern
heat exchangers, because they are very effective in heat transfer
augmentation.
San and Huang [2] experimentally investigated the heat transfer
enhancement of transverse ribs in circular tubes with a length-to-
diameter ratio of 87. The mean heat transfer and friction data were
obtained for the air flow started from the entrance. An isothermal
surface condition was considered. The rib pitch-to-tube diameter
ratio (p/d) was in the range 0.304–5.72; the rib height-to-tube
diameter ratio (e/d) was in the range 0.015–0.143; the considered
Reynolds number (Re) was in the range 4608–12,936. The mean
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +90 442 2314864; fax: +90 442 2360957.
E-mail address: Kadirbilen@hotmail.com (K. Bilen).
Nusselt number (Nu) and friction factor (f) were individually corre-
lated as a function of the rib pitch-to-tube diameter ratio (p/d) of
the range 0.304–5.72 and the rib height-to-tube diameter ratio
(e/d) in the range 0.015–0.143. Ceylan and Kelbaliyev [4] proposed
a correlation for the friction factor applicable in the region of tran-
sition to the fully developed turbulent flow regime. Using this rela-
tionship, some new approximation formulas were proposed to
predict the convective heat transfer coefficients in the pipes with
a relative roughness of e/D 6 0.05. The effectiveness parameter
for the heat transfer was investigated as a function of the pipe
roughness, Reynolds number and Prandtl number. The effect of
fouling was also briefly discussed.
Webb et al. [5] investigated the heat transfer and fluid friction
for fully developed turbulent flow in tubes with transverse ribs.
The tubes were arranged with a constant surface heat flux condi-
tion. A set of correlations of Stanton number and friction factor
was obtained. The heat transfer in a circular tube with a slat-like
blockage was investigated by Sparrow et al. [6]. The heat transfer
enhancement was found to be effective within a distance of 10
tube diameters downstream of the blockage. Kiml et al. [7] studied
the angled ribs mounted on the inner surface of a tube with an an-
gle between the plane of each rib and the mean flow direction of
75°, 60° and 45° for the angled ribs and 90° for the transverse ribs.
Heat transfer experiment, flow visualization experiment and
numerical simulation were conducted in order to clarify the flow
structure and its effects on the circumferential heat transfer distri-
bution [8,9]. However, the rib-induced secondary flow structure

1359-4311/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2008.04.008
754 K. Bilen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 29 (2009) 753–761
Nomenclature
A heat transfer surface area, m2
D inner diameter of test tube at inlet, m
f friction factor
h convective heat transfer coefficient, W/m2 K
k thermal conductivity of air, W/m K
L length of test tube, m
m _ air mass flow rate, kg/s
n number of the grooves in the pipe
Ns,a augmentation entropy generation number
Nu Nusselt number (=hD/k)
Pr Prandtl number
Q heat transfer rate, W
q0 heat transfer rate per unit length, W/m
Re Reynolds number (vD/m)
S_ 0gen rate of entropy generation per unit length
T temperature, °C
V voltage, and mean velocity at the inlet of the tube, m/s
DP pressure difference, N/m2
DT the temperature difference, K
induced only a single vortex, similar to that induced by the corru-
gated tubes. Goto et al. [10,11] investigated the condensation and
evaporation augmentations in internally grooved tube. The mea-
sured data yield a set of Nusselt number correlations.
There were also studies examining the helically corrugated
tubes [12,13]. The corrugated tubes induce a secondary flow in a
form of a single vortex. There have been also studies examining
the effects of ribs as secondary flow inducers with the helically
rib-roughened tubes [14,15]. Some of studies investigating heat
transfer and friction coefficients were conducted in coiled-wires
tubes [16,17], V-nozzle turbulators without and with snail entry
[18,19], conical-ring turbulators [20], and twisted tape inserts
[21–24]. All inserts were inserted into the tube by wall attached
position, except twisted tape. They behave like ribs or fins on the
inner surface of the tube. The mechanism of heat transfer enhance-
ment by the inserts is based on the flow separation and reattach-
ment and gives the swirl effect to the fluid flow through the
tube. If the secondary flow occurs, the thickness of both velocity
and thermal boundary layers on the wall will become thinner
and the heat transfer in that region will be augmented.
There are numerous investigations using the periodic and fully
developed concepts on fluid flow and heat transfer for the parallel
plate channels with periodically grooved parts. Ghaddar et al.
[25], Sunden and Trollheden [26] and Pereira and Sousa [27] inves-
tigated the flow in channels with rectangular grooves on one plate.
They showed complex flow patterns such as separation, recircula-
tion, reattachment and deflection. Bilen and Yapici [28] studied
the effect of orientation angle of the turbulence promoters placed
on the one rectangular channel wall on the heat transfer. It was re-
ported that the promoter orientation angle of 45 provided the high-
est heat transfer. Wang and Sunden [29] studied the heat transfer
and friction characteristics in a square duct roughened by vari-
ous-shaped transverse ribs on one wall. In a study of Tanda [30],
the ribs, having rectangular or square sections, were deployed
transverse to the main direction of the flow or V-shaped with an an-
gle of 45 or 60 deg relative to the flow direction. The effect of con-
tinuous and broken ribs was also considered. Chang et al. [31]
investigated the roughness with V-shaped ribs and deepened scales
on the heat transfer and friction coefficient in a rectangular channel.
The results were obtained for both forward and backward flows.
The true effect of a proposed augmentation technique on ther-
modynamic performance can be evaluated by comparing the
entropy generation rate of the heat exchange apparatus before
q density of air, kg/m3
g thermal performance
Subscripts
a air
exp experimental
free free
a augmented
o smooth
loss losses
vol voltage
rad radiation
in inlet
out outlet
gen generation
pred predicted
s surface, smooth
w wall
and after the use of the augmentation technique [32,33]. Minimi-
zation of entropy generation in any process leads to the conserva-
tion of useful energy. A thermodynamic basis for evaluating the
enhancement techniques by second law analysis has been pro-
posed by Bejan [32].
A few papers have been published to investigate heat transfer
and fluid flow characteristics in a turbulent tube flow with grooves.
Generally the effect of the rib pitch and height on the heat transfer
and fluid friction for both pipe and channel flows were investi-
gated, and most of them were studied numerically. So, to better
understand the effect of the different groove shapes on the heat
transfer performance and friction factors, and to compare the re-
sults to each other, additional various groove configuration exper-
iments are needed experimentally for turbulent flows.
In the present study, the pipe flow with various grooves (circu-
lar, trapezoidal and rectangular) at constant wall heat flux condi-
tion is studied experimentally for Reynolds number range
10,000–38,000, and the groove depth was fixed to investigate the
effect of the groove shapes on heat transfer. The experimental re-
sults are compared to that of the smooth tube to obtain the heat
transfer enhancement. Correlations for heat transfer and pressure
drop are reported to reveal experimentally the efficient pipe
groove configurations. The thermal performance for all cases was
also performed using minimization of entropy generation.
2. Experimental apparatus and procedure
2.1. Experimental apparatus
The schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus is shown
in Fig. 1. The circular channel consisted of a hydrodynamic devel-
opment section of a length 66D, a test section of a length 33D
and the exit section. A venture flow meter (Testo 400 avemometer)
was used before the hydrodynamic development section to mea-
sure the volumetric flow rate of the test air. A centrifugal fan
sucked the room air at room temperature and exhausted into the
atmosphere through the test section which was made of stainless
steel and had an inner diameter of 36 mm. The mass flow rate of
the test air was measured by means of the venture flow meter,
and the flow was controlled by a control valve placed at the exit
of the fan. A mixing chamber after the test section was used to pro-
vide a uniform temperature. A variable heater controlled by a volt-
 K. Bilen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 29 (2009) 753–761
Differential pressure
transmitter
Avemometer
Heater Insulation
Thermocouples
Computer
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus.
age alternator was wrapped around the test section to provide a
constant heat flux condition along the tube wall. The experiments
were conducted at a constant nominal power of 180 W ðQ_ vol Þ. The
outer side of the test section was insulated with glass wool to min-
imize the heat losses. Ten T-type thermocouples were placed along
the test tube in line with same spacing to measure the wall surface
temperature. Besides, one thermocouple was used at the inlet, one
at the outlet of the mixing chamber and two on the tube insulation.
The ambient temperature at same time was also measured. The
copper–constantan thermocouples were calibrated in a thermostat
within 0.1 °C deviation before the experiments. The data obtained
from the thermocouples were recorded using a computer via a data
acquisition card (Adventech 818 HG and 8115 terminal board), and
the average of this data was taken as the steady-state temperature
of the test surface. The temperatures measured along the test tube
were used to obtain the average surface temperature of the wall. In
the experiments, it took about 60 min to reach the steady-state.
The pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the test
section was measured with an electronic pressure transmitter.
To use the present experimental data in the engineering appli-
cations a commercial pipe was selected. It has a thickness of 4 mm.
A depth of 3 mm was chosen for grooves because of their pipe
thickness (t = 4 mm). In order to investigate the effect of groove
shapes in a commercial pipe on heat transfer and friction factors,
three different grooved tubes and a smooth tube were used for
the present tests. Three different geometrical grooved tubes
shaped as circular, square and trapezoidal are shown in Fig. 2.
The depth and length of all grooves were fixed as 3 mm and
6 mm, respectively. For this case, the same number of grooves
(n = 99) was obtained for both circular and rectangular grooved
pipes, while the trapezoidal grooved pipe has less number of
grooves (n = 79) because of the fixed groove length. In conclusion,
the number of the trapezoidal grooved pipe is decreased 20% in
comparison with the circular and rectangular grooved pipes. To
machine the grooves in the pipe was a little difficult because of
the test pipe length (L = 33D). So test pipe length was divided into
five parts and then grooves were machined at the inner surface of
the pipe as transverse to the flow direction. These parts of the test
tube were joined under the pressure, using its conic ends at both
sides, avoiding leakage.
2.2. Data reduction
The net heat transfer rate ðQ_ net Þ from the inner tube surface to
the fluid flow passing through the test tube by convection can be
755
Groove Mixing Vane
Chamber Fan
-
+
Voltage
alternator
calculated, subtracting heat losses ðQ_ loss Þ from the total electrical
power input ðQ_ vol Þ at the steady-state conditions [21,29,30]. The
net rate of net heat transfer is also equal to the rate of the heat
transfer given to the fluid passing through the test section, using
inlet and outlet temperature difference and mass flow rate
[12,13]. The energy balance equation can be written as follows:
Q_ net ¼ Q_ vol  Q_ loss ¼ mC
_ p ðT out  T in Þ ð1Þ
where Q_ net is the net heat transfer rate given to the fluid inside the
test tube, Q_ vol ð¼ V 2 =RÞ is the measured electrical power input to the
heater. Q_ loss denotes all the heat losses from the test section.
Using Eq. (1), the convection heat transfer coefficient on the
grooved tube wall at the steady-state can be calculated by
_ p ðT out  T in Þ
mC
h¼ h  i ð2Þ
A T s  T out2þT in
where A is the inner surface area of the smooth tube, Tout and Tin are
the inlet and outlet temperatures of air flow, respectively, Ts is the
average temperature of the locations along the tube surface. In all
calculation, the smooth surface area was taken as the heat transfer
area. The average Nusselt number is calculated as Nu = hD/k. The
Reynolds number is based on the average flow inlet velocity and
the tube inlet diameter
Re ¼ VD=m: ð3Þ
In fully developed tube flow, the friction factor (f) can be deter-
mined by measuring the pressure drop across the test tube length
(L = 33D) as follows:
DP
f ¼ ð4Þ
2
ðDL Þq V2
where DP is the pressure drop across the test tube measured by an
electronic transmitter with a ±2% Pa accuracy, L is the test tube
length and V is the mean air velocity at the entrance of the test sec-
tion which was calculated from volumetric flow rate divided by the
cross-section area of the tube. D is the inner diameter of the test
tube at the inlet. The values of the thermophysical properties of
air were evaluated at the bulk fluid temperature, Tb = (Tin + Tout)/2
[28,34].
Although the use of roughness elements or grooves is an effec-
tive technique to increase the heat transfer, it is accompanied by
an increase in drag. From the engineering point, it is essential that
the heat transfer should be enhanced with a minimum drag
penalty.
756 K. Bilen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 29 (2009) 753–761

D=36 12 D=36 12
3 3
D/2
4 4

6 6 1

D=36 15

4
1

6 1.5 6 1.5
Fig. 2. The geometric shapes of the grooved tube, dimensions in mm (a) circular, (b) rectangular and (c) trapezoidal grooves.

 
q0 DT m_ dP that the heat transfer coefficient in the entry region exponentially
S_ 0gen ¼ 2 þ  ð5Þ
T qT dx decay to the fully developed value at the axial location about 4.6
tube diameters (x/D = 4.6) downstream of the flow entrance. It
where DT is the temperature difference between wall and bulk fluid
_ is can be accepted from the figure that the thermal entry length for
flow, T is the bulk fluid temperature, q is the fluid density and m
x/D > 4.6 has negligible influence on the experiments because it
mass flow rate of the fluid. q0 is the heat transfer rate per tube
has very small slopes of the curves of the heat transfer coefficient
length. The first term on the right-hand side represents the entropy
for grooved tubes. In a similar work by Chang et al. [23], the ther-
generation rate due to the heat transfer between the wall and the
mal entry length was found x/D = 3.2 in a pipe with twisted tape
fluid, while the second term is due to the irreversibilities caused
insert. Heat transfer results in the entry flow region subject to
by fluid friction. In order to quantify the thermodynamics impact
the entry effect are disregarded for subsequent data analysis. The
of the enhanced geometry with respect to the smooth reference
Nusselt number data collected from all the axial stations in
condition, the augmentation entropy generation number (Ns,a) has
the developed flow region of x/D > 4.6 are averaged to generate
been chosen [32].
the average Nusselt number (Nu) for the grooved tubes. The fluid
S_ 0gen;a mechanism that augments the heat transfer performance in the
N s;a ¼ : ð6Þ
S_ 0 present test tubes is the intensification of the fluid mixing by the
gen;0
grooves.
Augmentation techniques with Ns,a < 1 are thermodynamically
advantageous because, in addition to enhancing the heat transfer,
3.2. Smooth pipe results
they reduce the irreversibility of the apparatus [32].
By using the estimation method of Moffat [35], the maximum
Firstly, the present experimental results on Nusselt number
uncertainties of the investigated non-dimensional parameters are
without grooves will be reported. The smooth tube data are ob-
found to be as follows: Re, 3.95%; Nu, 4.74%; f, 6.45% at Re
tained to provide a reference so as to compare with the data of
10,000. The maximum uncertainties of Nu, and f are of acceptable
grooved tube and to ensure that the smooth tube data obtained
values for the grooved pipes. The individual contribution to these
from the present system agree with the prediction obtained from
uncertainties is pressure drop (DP), 2%; mean stream temperature
correlation in the open literature. The Nusselt number for the
(T), 0.2%; resistance and voltage of the heater are 2% and 2%,
smooth tube in the present work are compared with the previous
respectively, and volumetric mass flow rate is 2.5%.
correlation of Dittus–Boelter for the fully developed turbulent flow
in circular tubes, as can be seen in Fig. 4. For the smooth tube Nus-
3. Results and discussions selt number of Dittus–Boelter [36]:

3.1. Results of local heat transfer Nus ¼ 0:023Re0:8 Pr 0:4 : ð7Þ

Fig. 3 shows the axial distributions of the heat transfer coeffi-
cient along the tube with circular, rectangular and trapezoidal
groves in the range of Reynolds numbers of 10,000–38,000. With
each groove examined, the heat transfer coefficients systematically
increase as Re increases. Each Re controlled axial Nu variation in
grooved tube as shown in Fig. 3 demonstrates the well known ap-
proach to the fully developed flow from the tube entrance where
the flow and thermal boundary layers are redeveloped due to the
tube grooves. For each Re and groove type tested, it may be said
In Fig. 4, the dotted line represents the developed correlation for
the present study for the smooth tube and the solid line indicates
the corresponding correlation of Dittus–Boelter. In the figure, re-
sults of the present work reasonably agree well with the men-
tioned correlations with error limits of ±5% for Nusselt number.
The results show that Nu almost linearly increases with increasing
Re.
The present Nusselt number and friction factor for the smooth
tube are correlated as follows:
 K. Bilen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 29 (2009) 753–761 757

Nus ¼ 0:0275Re0:781 Pr1=3 ð8Þ

a) Circular Groove Re=10 217
160 Re=22 016 fs ¼ 1:7964Re0:344 : ð9Þ
Re=34 139
Re=38 051 The mean deviations of the predicted Nusselt number and fric-
120 tion coefficient for the smooth surface are 2.22, 3.39%; and the cor-
responding maximum deviations for them are 4.33 and 6.88%,
h x 80 respectively. In all correlations, Pr is taken as 0.71 and all correla-
tions are obtained for Reynolds in the range of 10,000–38,000. All
the present tests were conducted at the same inlet conditions of
40 the test tube, the flow was hydrodynamically fully developed for
the smooth tube because having a hyrodynamical developing
0 length of 66D, but this condition is not valid for the grooved tube
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 due to the grooves inside the tube. The grooves provide periodic
x/D redevelopment of velocity boundary layer in the test section, while
for both smooth and grooved pipes thermal boundary layers were
developing just from the beginning of the test tube due to the heat-
Re=10 279 ing section. The hyrodynamical developing length of 66D before
160 b) Rectangular Groove Re=22 217
Re=34 389 the test pipe may cause that flow approaches to the fully devel-
Re=38 158 oped in a short test pipe length for grooved pipes.
120
3.3. Grooved pipe results
hx
80
The effect of the grooved tubes on the heat transfer rate was
investigated for different grooves and Reynolds numbers. Fig. 4
40 shows the variation of Nusselt number with Reynolds number for
circular, rectangular and trapezoidal grooved tubes. The tube flow
0 with different groove configurations causes a significant increase
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 in the heat transfer rate as shown in Fig. 4. For each groove the test
x/D was repeated for three times, and the average values of these tests
were taken as the average Nusselt number for each grooved tube.
The mean deviation from the values of the Nusselt number was
160 c) Trapezoidal Groove Re=10 325 1.23%. Fig. 4 shows that the effect of various grooves on the Nusselt
Re=22 222 number is significant. As seen from this figure, the increase in Nus-
Re=34 426
Re=38 172 selt number for circular grooved tube is more pronounced than
120 those for both trapezoidal and rectangular grooves, while the heat
transfer is quite close to each other for the circular and trapezoidal
hx
80 grooves. Maximum heat transfer enhancement is obtained up to
63% for circular groove, 58% for trapezoidal groove and 47% for
rectangular groove, in comparison with the smooth tube. Because
40 the circular and rectangular grooved pipes have the same groove
number (n = 99) and the same heat transfer area, a comparison
0 can be made between them. It can be said that more increase in
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 the heat transfer augmentation for circular grooved pipe was ob-
x/D tained due to more flow mixing and disturbance than that of the
rectangular grooved pipe. A comparison between circular and trap-
Fig. 3. Axial distribution of heat transfer coefficient for (a) circular, (b) rectangular ezoidal grooved pipes shows that, the heat transfer rate for the
and (c) trapezoidal grooves. trapezoidal groove approaches the value for the circular grooved
pipe, but it has less 20% number (n = 79) of grooves in the pipe.
It can also be concluded that flow mixing and disturbances for
the trapezoidal grooved pipe were more than that for the circular
Circular (n=99) grooved pipe because of having less groove number (less heat
160 Rectangular (n=99) transfer area).
Trapezoidal (n=79) Fig. 4 also shows the variation of Nusselt number with increas-
120
Smooth (Eq. 8) ing Reynolds number for various grooved tubes. Since Nusselt
Corr. (Eq. 7) Eq. (8) number increases with increasing Reynolds number, the maximum
San [2] Nusselt number was obtained at the highest Reynolds number
Nu

80 (Re = 38,000) for all grooved tubes. The Nusselt number values
San [2]
Nu=0.023Re
0.8 0.4
Pr have nearly the same increasing values up to Re  22,000 for all
40 tube cases, beyond this Reynolds number, for different grooved
tubes Nusselt number values start to have different values. It is
speculated that the vortices in the grooves repeat the process that
0 they move to the downstream so as to press the wall of the
2 8 14 20 26 32 38
-3 grooves, and simultaneously new vortices are born in the grooved
Rex10 tube. The grooved tubes not only produce more turbulence than
Fig. 4. Variation of Nusselt number with Reynolds number for smooth and different the smooth tube but also increase the heat transfer area. They also
grooved tubes. provide periodic redevelopment of the boundary layers and cause a
758 K. Bilen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 29 (2009) 753–761

more effective heat transfer. It can be said that thermal boundary

layers for grooved flow became thinner than the case of the smooth
pipe and secondary vortices inside the grooves contributed to the 1.6
enhancement of the heat transfer.
In this work, the values of correlated Nu and obtained by San Circular

Nu/Nus
and Huang [2] were plotted in Fig. 4 to compare with the current 1.3 Rectangular
correlation results. As indicated, their data are 6–25% greater than Trapezoidal
the current predicted results. Tubes with ribs which have smooth
edges (ribs with half circular cross-section) were used in their 1.0
study, instead of grooves as those in our tubes. Although they also
used tube length-to-diameter ratio of 87, tube length-to-diameter
ratio was 33 in the present study. Both the different rib configura- 0.7
8 14 20 26 32 38
tion and test tube length could be the main reasons resulting in the -3
deviation. For these reasons, the present grooved tube correlation Rex10
underpredicts the San and Huang ribbed tube data by 5–25%.
Fig. 6. Variation of Nusselt number ratio with Reynolds number for different gro-
For the smooth and grooved pipes, the variation of the mea- oved tubes.
sured values of friction coefficient with Reynolds number is shown
in Fig. 5. It is seen that the friction coefficients of all grooved pipes
have nearly same values, and it can also be said that friction coef- with increased Reynolds number, while beyond Re = 26,000, the ra-
ficient is independent of Reynolds number for grooved tubes while tios remain nearly constant. The ratio of Nusselt number for
friction coefficient decreases gradually with increasing Reynolds grooved tubes varies from 1.35 to 1.63 for circular cavity, 1.33 to
number for smooth tube. For the rectangular grooved tube, the less 1.58 for trapezoidal cavity and 1.38 to 1.47 for rectangular cavity.
increase in heat transfer can be explained by the occurrence of the The trapezoidal grooved pipe has nearly the same ratio of Nusselt
flow recirculation region inside the groove. The circular and trape- number as the circular pipe, which is a little lower, but it has 20%
zoidal grooves can reduce the occurrence of the recirculation pro- less number of grooves, while other two pipes have the same num-
viding more surface sweep, therefore the negative effect of the ber of grooves. It is speculated that the grooved tubes provide more
recirculation region on the heat transfer can be decreased by increase in heat transfer augmentation, due to not only producing
avoiding the sharp vertical corner of the groove. For the rectangu- more turbulence and good fluid mixing than the smooth tube but
lar grooved tube, it is speculated that the fluid bypasses over the also increase in the heat transfer area. They also provide periodic
groove resulting in by pass of the flow over the groove and increas- redevelopment of the boundary layers and cause a more effective
ing the formation of the recirculation region inside the rectangular heat transfer. Using the data obtained from these tests, the average
grooves. Avoiding the sharp vertical corner or providing a little ra- Nusselt numbers for both the smooth surface and various grooved
dius on the corner of the groove can decrease the recirculation surfaces were correlated as a function of Reynolds number. The
(dead) region effect and causes good disturbances in the flow, so resultant equations are:
it results in an increase in the heat transfer. The rectangular groove for circular grooved tube
causes more turbulence intensity in the flow, because its sharp cor- Nu ¼ 0:0148Re0:889 Pr1=3 ð10Þ
ner edges can produce more turbulence than the smooth surface,
f ¼ 0:0356Re0:124 ð11Þ
but it causes more recirculation region inside the groove, so it pre-
vents good mixing of fluid. Thus it results in less increase in heat for rectangular grooved tube,
transfer in comparison with both circular and trapezoidal grooved
tubes. In conclusion, both the circular and trapezoidal grooves Nu ¼ 0:0339Re0:803 Pr1=3 ð12Þ
cause more considerable enhancement in heat transfer due to f ¼ 0:071Re0:062 ð13Þ
more sweeping the surface, good flow mixing and the decrease
for trapezoidal grooved tube,
of the recirculation region as mentioned above.
The ratio of the Nusselt number for grooved tubes to that for Nu ¼ 0:014Re0:893 Pr1=3 ð14Þ
smooth tube is given in Fig. 6. It is seen that for all groove cases, 0:107
f ¼ 0:0428Re : ð15Þ
heat transfer ratio increased in comparison with the smooth tube.
The ratio of the Nusselt number up to Re = 26,000 increases sharply The mean deviations of the predicted Nusselt number for the
circular, rectangular and trapezoidal grooved tubes are 1.41%,
1.000 1.05% and 1.07%; and the corresponding maximum deviations are
2.39%, 1.87% and 1.21%, respectively. The mean deviations of the
predicted friction coefficient for the grooved surface are 2.36%,
1.87% and 1.21%; and the corresponding maximum deviations are
0.100 4.69%, 3.67% and 3.37%, respectively. In all correlations, Pr is taken
as 0.71. Heat transfer measurements indicated that grooved tubes
f

Circular caused much more heat transfer enhancement compared with that
Eq. (9)
Rectangular of the smooth tube, but as expected, the grooved tubes also cause
0.010 more pressure drop in the tube. The measured values of both Nus-
Trapezoidal
Smooth (Eq. 9) selt number and friction coefficient are plotted versus the pre-
dicted values in Fig. 7.

0.001
8 14 20 26 32 38 3.4. Performance criteria
-3
Rex10
For a constant pumping power, it is useful to determine the
Fig. 5. Variation of friction factor with Reynolds number for smooth and different effectiveness of heat transfer enhancement of a heat transfer pro-
grooved tubes. moter in comparison with smooth surface such that [16]:
 K. Bilen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 29 (2009) 753–761 759

Based on the same pumping power consumption, the thermal

160 performance factor in terms of g is shown and compared with var-
Circular
ious grooved pipes tested in Fig. 8. These types of plots may be
Rectangular
helpful to choose the working range so as to provide g P 1. When
120 Trapezoidal
considering the heat transfer and the pressure drop simultaneously
Smooth
Nupred

at constant pumping power, the working conditions should satisfy

80 g P 1. It is seen from the figure that the thermal performance tends
to decrease as Re increases for all cases. Working at higher Re to in-
crease the heat transfer may not be advantageous if g 6 1. As can
40
be seen from Fig. 8, heat transfer performance is greater than unity
(g P 1) for all the present grooves. The present circular, rectangu-
0 lar and trapezoidal grooved tubes consistently possess higher ther-
0 40 80 120 160
mal performance factor, g, in comparison with the some results in
Nuexp literature shown in Fig. 8. In the figure, the present results are com-
pared with earlier published measurements for using the square
spring [16], circular spring [16,17], tube with V-nozzle turbulator
0.14 without [18] and with snail entry [19], tube with conical-ring tur-
Circular
bulator [20]. All of the inserts were in contact with the tube inner
Rectangular
wall surface, thus they play a role as if they were ribs or fins on the
0.11 Trapezoidal
Smooth
tube wall, transferring additional more heat by conduction and
fpred

providing more fluid mixing. It is shown in the figure that some in-
0.08 serts were placed into the center of the tube to increase the heat
transfer augmentation, such as the twisted tape [22], and broken
0.05 twisted tape [24].
The thermal performance obtained for grooves is about 28–24%
for circular grove, 25–22% for trapezoidal groove and 26–13% for
0.02
0.02 0.05 0.08 0.11 0.14 rectangular groove depending on the Reynolds number interval
fexp tested. It is visible in Fig. 8 that the present grooved tubes provide
higher heat transfer performance than the square and circular
Fig. 7. The measured values for Nusselt number and friction coefficient versus the spring wires, and tube fitted with either the V-nozzle with and
predicted values. without the snail entry, conical-ring turbulators, twisted tape in-
serts. The presence of spring wires in the test tube can be pre-
sumed to be a helical rib due to the contact with tube wall that
 
V s DP s ¼ V a DPa ð16Þ can induce reverse flows inside [16]. The circular grooved tube
  consistently possesses the higher thermal performance factor, g,
where V and V are the volumetric flow rates over the plate, and DPa than those of the trapezoidal and rectangular grooved tubes. Fur-
s a
and DPs are the pressure drops with and without fins, respectively. ther, a close inspection reveals that the thermal performance from
Using the Darcy equation (Eq. (4)) and Reynolds number for each the circular grooved tube is 7% higher than that from the rectangu-
configuration, Eq. (16) may be written as: lar grooved tube. The performance increase is due to only the fluid
fs Re3s ¼ fa Re3a : ð17Þ mixing because of having same groove number and pitch.
The average thermal performance obtained for grooves is about
The heat transfer enhancement efficiency for a constant pump- 26% for circular grove, 23% for trapezoidal groove and 19% for rect-
ing power may be expressed as follows [12, 16 and 17]: angular groove depending on the Reynolds number interval
g ¼ ðha =hs ÞP ð18Þ (10,000 < Re < 40,000). For comparison between the circular and
trapezoidal grooved tubes, the thermal performance of the circular
where ha and hs are the convective heat transfer coefficients with grooved tube is average 3% higher than that of the trapezoidal
and without groove, respectively, and index P denotes pumping grooved tube. In this case, the performance augmentation is due
power. to the fluid mixing as well as the change in heat transfer area
Using Eqs. (9), (11) and (17) the Reynolds number for the due to having different pitch.
smooth surface (Res) can be written as a function of the Reynolds To evaluate the grooved pipes in terms of entropy generation,
number for circular groove, and in similar way for other two types Fig. 9 shows the effect of the various grooved tubes on the entropy
of grooves, for the circular, rectangular and trapezoidal grooves, generation number. Ns,a shows the evaluation of the system with
respectively, respect to the second law of thermodynamics that considers the
Res ¼ 0:2285Re1:1762 ð19Þ irreversibilities created in the system. Since the grooved tubes
a
which generate almost-periodic vortices and recirculation regions,
Res ¼ 0:2963Re1:1528
a ð20Þ increase the energy losses, the entropy generation of the system
Res ¼ 0:2449Re1:1698
a : ð21Þ tends to increase. Therefore, the increment in the entropy genera-
tion will restrict the thermodynamic advantageous of the grooved
Using Eqs. (8), (10), and (19) the heat transfer enhancement
tubes. Augmentation of entropy generation number first decreases
efficiency based on the total surface area for the circular groove
with increasing Reynolds number, and then starts to increase with
can be written as, in similar way for other two types of grooves,
increasing Reynolds number, showing a minimum entropy gener-
for the circular, rectangular and trapezoidal grooves, respectively,
ation number at about Re = 17,000 for all grooved tubes. That
gcir ¼ ðha =hs ÞP ¼ 1:6326Re0:0261
a ð22Þ means that at Re = 17,000, the heat transfer enhancement has more
grec ¼ ðha =hs ÞP ¼ 3:0549Re0:0939 ð23Þ thermodynamic advantages according to the friction losses. If
a
Ns,a > 1, the grooved tube passage is dominated by heat transfer
gtrap ¼ ðha =hs ÞP ¼ 1:4632Rea0:0171 : ð24Þ irreversibility. It is seen from the figure that the grooved tubes
760 K. Bilen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 29 (2009) 753–761

1.4 Circular, present study, P=12 mm

Rectangular, present study, P=12 mm
Trapezoidal, present study, P=12 mm
1.2 Square spring, Promvonge [16], P=15 mm
Circular spring, Promvonge [16], P=15 mm
Circular spring, Yakut [17], P=10 mm
η 1.0
V nozul, Elamsa [18], P=95 mm
V nozul with snail entry [19], P=95 mm
Turbulator, Promvonge [20], P=95 mm
0.8
Broken twisted tape, Chang [22], P=20 mm
Twisted tape, Manglik [24], P=20 mm
0.6
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Rex10 -3

Fig. 8. Comparison of thermal performance in the grooved pipe with the results in the literature.

groove and 47% for rectangular groove, in comparison with the

1.6 smooth tube. For the rectangular grooved tube, less increase in
Circular heat transfer enhancement is obtained, because it is speculated
Rectangular that the fluid flows resulting in by pass of the flow over the
1.3 groove and increases the formation of the recirculation region
Trapezoidal
Ns.a

inside the rectangular grooves.

1.0
0.7
0.4
8 14 20 26 32
-3
Rex10
Fig. 9. Variation of augmentation entropy generation ratio with Reynolds number
for different grooved tubes.
are thermodynamically advantageous (Ns,a < 1) up to Re = 30,000
for circular and trapezoidal grooves and up to Re = 28,000 for rect-
angular groove, because of more enhancement in heat transfer
than in fluid friction and reducing irreversibility of the grooved
tube flow. In order to minimize entropy generation, the use of low-
er Reynolds number is thermodynamically advantageous. It is seen
from the figure that there is an optimum value of the entropy gen-
eration number at Re = 17,000.
4. Conclusions
The effects of the flow in various grooved tubes on the heat
transfer and friction characteristics were experimentally investi-
gated, and the entropy minimization technique and the thermal
performance were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the
grooved tubes. The results of the present work can be summarized
as follows:
 The heat transfer rate increases with increasing Re for all
grooves due to causing thinner boundary layer.
 The variation of friction coefficients of all grooved tubes tends to
be closer to each other in the considered range of Re and it is
seen that f is almost independent of Re.
 Nusselt number and friction factor for each grooved tube
and smooth tube were correlated as a function of the flow
conditions.
 For the grooved tubes, maximum heat transfer enhancement is
obtained up to 63% for circular groove, 58% for trapezoidal
 In comparison between the circular and rectangular groves, the
increase in the heat transfer augmentation is due to only good
fluid mixing and disturbances because of both having same
groove number and pitch. In comparison between circular and
trapezoidal grooved pipes, the heat transfer rate for the trape-
zoidal groove approaches the value for the circular grooved pipe,
38
but it has less 20% number (n = 79) of grooves in the pipe. It can
be concluded that flow disturbances for the trapezoidal grooved
pipe were more than that for the circular grooved pipe because
of having less groove number.
 At constant pumping power, the thermal performance (g) for all
the present grooved pipes is obtained up 1.28–1.24 for circular
groove, 1.25–1.22 for trapezoidal groove and 1.26–1.13 for rect-
angular groove in the Re range of 10,000–38,000.
 In terms of entropy generation, representing the destruction of
availability, the grooved tubes are thermodynamically advanta-
geous (Ns,a < 1) up to Re = 30,000 for circular and trapezoidal
grooves and up to Re = 28,000 for rectangular grooves, because
of more enhancement in heat transfer than in fluid friction in
terms of reducing irreversibility in the grooved tube flow.
 In order to minimize entropy generation the use of lower Rey-
nolds number is thermodynamically advantageous. It is
observed that for all types of the grooved pipes there is an opti-
mum value of the entropy generation number nearly at
Re = 17,000.
 To machine grooves in the tube cause more cost, but these
grooves increase the heat transfer rate up to 63% compared to
the smooth tube. If there is a limiting space for heat exchanger
and need to reduce the size (or length) and weight of the heat
exchanger, these grooved tubes are suitable for this type of heat
exchangers in engineering applications. Since using the grooved
pipes increases the heat transfer, it is possible to use a shorter
length of tube to accomplish the same heating effects of a longer
smooth tube.
Acknowledgement
This work was funded by the Ataturk University Research Foun-
dation under 2001/157.
 K. Bilen et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 29 (2009) 753–761 761

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