Chemical Engineering and Processing 42 (2003) 29
/38

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An experimental study of convective heat transfer from extruded type

helical finned tubes
Roman Krupiczka a, Adam Rotkegel a, Honorata Walczyk a,*, Leslaw Dobner b
a

Institute of Chemical Engineering, Polish Academy of Sciences, Baltycka 5, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
b
Engineering Department, Famet Inc., Szkolna 15a 47-225 Kedzierzyn-Kozle, Poland
Received 13 February 2002; accepted 13 February 2002

Abstract
The hydraulic
/thermal investigation were carried out for nine different staggered bundles made of bimetallic helical high finned
extruded type tubes under the conditions of air flow perpendicular to horizontal staggered banks of tubes. For the flow in tubes
water, or for the temperatures up to 310 8C, oil (Iterm 6Mb) was used. For the sake of determining the value of heat transfer
coefficient (HTC) the use was made of the o-NTU method. Correlations have been worked out allowing for the effect of geometric
parameters and tube bundles on HTC and air pressure drop. The gas-side HTCs obtained, were higher by approximately 20% with
respect to the correlations presented in the literature. These coefficients were determined at the pressure drops, close to those near in
literature.
# 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Heat transfer coefficient; Friction resistance; Cross flow; Finned tubes

1. Introduction
The heat exchangers, in which air is applied as the
cooling or heating agent are in general use in a number
of technologies: petroleum refineries, petrochemical
industry, power engineering and gas engineering industry. Recently, the continual progress is observed in the
utilization of new materials and also in the technology
of manufacturing the finned tube bundles, constituting
the principal elements of air-cooled heat exchangers.
These exchangers are often used as the coolers of
technological agents. Compared with the water cooling
system they have a number of advantages, as: unlimited
resources of cooling agent, facilitation of fixing the
leaks, restriction of corrosion, higher degree of environmental pollution. Due to much lower values of air-side
heat transfer coefficients (HTC) compared with water as
the cooling agent, for the sake of improvement of airside heat exchange, the tubes with external outer surface

* Corresponding author. Tel.: /48-32-2310811; fax: /48-322310318.

E-mail address: honwa@iich.gliwice.pl (H. Walczyk).

(helical, circular or plate fins [1
/3]) are used. This

enables one a considerable reduction of the size of the
apparatuses used. The possibility of the optimal design
of the heat exchangers of the mentioned type is
conditioned by the knowledge of the actual values of
HTC and of pressure drop for given configuration of
tube banks, kind of fins and technology of their
manufacture.
In the production process of FAMET bimetallic
helical high finned tube (Fig. 1), a thick-walled aluminum tube is slid over a core tube of the required material
and then is subjected to rotary cold rolling so that fins
are formed. This rolling process gives an accurate
connection between the core tube and the finned outer
jacket producing favorable heat flow conditions.

2. Experimental
The investigations of heat transfer and air pressure
drop through the tubes bundle made of bimetallic tubes
with cold rolled extruded fins were carried out in an
experimental setup, the scheme of which is presented in
Fig. 2. The system of exchangers permitted to perform

0255-2701/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 5 5 - 2 7 0 1 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 1 4 - 4

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R. Krupiczka et al. / Chemical Engineering and Processing 42 (2003) 29
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Fig. 1. Cross-section of a bimetallic finned tube of extruded type.

the experiments both for heat transfer from the finned

tubes to air and from hot air to finned tubes.
The finned tube bundles (3), the geometrical characteristics of which is given in Table 1, consisting of
horizontal and staggered bimetallic tubes of the extruded type of length 360 mm each, have been placed in
the test section 360/360 mm.
Air, pumped by fan (1), passing through the heater (2)
was heated to the inlet temperature tg,in and entered into
intertubular space of the exchanger (3), where it passed

perpendicularly to tubes, from bottom to top, reaching

at the outlet the temperature tg,out. Water or Iterm 6Mb
oil flowed from top to bottom, inside the finned tubes,
through a section of one tube row. The oil was used as
the heating agent in the high-temperature experiments
(up to 310 8C).
In the studies of heat transfer from the finned tubes to
the air, the liquid flowing inside the bimetallic tubes was
used as a heating agent, whereas, in the studies of heat
transfer from the hot air to finned tubes, water
circulating in the closed cycle, was the cooling agent.
In the last case a water cooler (7) was used in order to
maintain a constant water temperature at the inlet to the
tested tube bank.
The heat transfer studies were carried out at the
constant liquid flowrate inside the tubes Gl /4.2 kg s 1
and at fixed temperatures of both fluids at the inlet to
the tube bundle. Constant liquid- and air temperatures
at the inlet to the tested tube bundle were maintained by
application of controllers of power of electric heaters in
liquid- (5) and air (2) heat preheaters. The inlet
temperatures of air (tg,in) and of liquid (tl,in) changed
in the range 20
/250 8C and 80
/310 8C, respectively
and the air flowrate (Gg) from 0.1 to 0.46 kg s1. The
temperatures of both fluids have been measured by
means of the resistance thermometers of Pt-100 type
with the accuracy of 0.2 8C. The air flowrate was

Fig. 2. Scheme of the experimental setup (1, fan; 2, air heater; 3, tested tube bundle; 4, liquid pump; 5, liquid heater; 6, intermediate tank; 7, liquid
cooler; 8, tank; T , temperature measurement; V , flowrate measurement; P , pressure measurement).

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31

Table 1
Geometric dimensions of finned tube bundles
Number

Type of fin pattern

di (mm)

db (mm)

Df (mm)

s (mm)

d (mm)

pt (mm)

pl (mm)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

21

27

57

2.5

0.32

60

52.0

21

27

57

2.5

0.32

67

58.0

C
D
E

21
15
21

27
18
27

57
38
50

5.0
5.0
2.5

0.64
0.53
0.32

60
40
60

52.0
34.6
52.0

6
4
2
6
4
2
6
2
6

33
22
11
27
18
9
33
17
33

measured with Accutube */type sensor, equipped with

the pressure difference transducer and the oil flowrate*/
by means of the Vortex-type sensor. The air pressure
drop on the finned tube bundle was measured with
SMAR LD 301 sensor.
All the measured data were collected by means of the
analog
/digital data acquisition card and recorded as
sets for further computer treatment.

bm
lm

Fm 

For thermal calculations the o-NTU method was

used. In this method the logarithmic mean temperature
differences is corrected by means of the coefficient o
depending on the flow configuration and the number of
tube rows in the flow direction.
The quantity NTU is determined by the general
balance of heat transfer from air side, in the form:
kF
T
 Tg;in
 NTU  g;out
Gg cp;g
oDTm

(1)

The equation of overall heat transfer from the heating

liquid in the tubes to the bulk of air in the intertubular
space may be written as:
1
kF

1
hl F w

bm
lm F m

1
ht hg Fz

where for a bimetallic tube:

(2)

l1

b2

(3)

l2

F ?w  Fw
ln(F ?w =Fw )

(4)

Introducing the ratio R of heat capacities of both

fluids (air and liquid) defined as:
R

3. Basic relationships

b1

Tl;in  Tl;out Gg cp;g


Tg;out  Tg;in Gl cp;l

(5)

one may calculate the thermal efficiency P of the

process, defined as the ratio of temperature difference
of air to the maximal temperature difference occurring
in the system under consideration:



T
 Tg;in 1
1
P  g;out
1
(6)

R
A
Tl;in  Tg;in
The quantities defining the parameter A , depending
on the configuration of the system of tubes, for the case
when the number of tube rows equals the number of
passes in tubes, are listed, after [4], in Table 2.
Making use of expressions (5) to (10) one can, for the
tubes bundle of a given number of tube rows, determine
the NTU values for individual experimental points, by
means of adequate iterative procedures. Knowing the
heat capacity of the air system Ggcp,g /Wg, one may, in
turn, determine the value of the product kF , from Eq.
(1).
In order to determine the HTC hl inside the tubes, the
semi-empirical correlation of Gnielinski [5], valid in the

Table 2
Relationship between parameter A , heat capacity ratio R , number of heat transfer units NTU and number of tube rows in the air flow direction
1

Two tube rows N  2

(two passes)

Four tube rows N 4

(four passes)
Six tube rows N 6
(six passes)

where:


K
K
A  1
e2KR
2
2
A(K=2)(1K=2K 2 =4)K(1K=2)[12RK(1K=2)]e2KR (1K=2)3 e4KR
A(K=2)(1K K 2 K 3 =2K 4 =8)K(1K 3K 2 =45K 3 =16K 4 =32) e2KR
RK 2 [23K 3K 2 7K 3 =43K 4 =8RK 2 (23K 3K 2 =2K 3 =4)] e2KR
[(K=2)(22K K 3 =2K 4 =8)4RK 2 (1K=2)4 ] e4KR (1K=2)5 e6KR
K 1exp (NTU/N )

(7)
(8)
(9)

(10)

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32

Fig. 3. Correlation of heat transfer experimental data as a function of Reynolds number Remax for tested finned tubes of extruded type.

Reynolds number range 2300
/5 /104, was used. This

correlation was complemented by the corrections of
Hausen [6] (for tube length) and Petukhov [7], allowing
for the effect of wall temperature on the liquid-phase
heat transfer:
hl 



2=3 
(Rel  1000)Prl (fl =2)
d
p 2=3
1 i
di 1  12:7 (fl =2)(Prl  1)
l

0:25
hl

hl;w

ht 1

hf 

where the Fanning friction factor in the tube may be

determined from the formula:
fl [1:58 ln(Rel )3:28]2

(12)

The thermal efficiency ht of an extended surface is

defined as the amount of heat actually exchanged
through a fin and its base with respect to the amount
of heat exchange through a fin and its base under the
conditions when both surfaces are at the same temperature equal to the temperature of fins base. The total
efficiency defined in this way may be calculated, after [8]
from the relationship:

(13)

The thermal efficiency hf of circular fins can be

determined basing on the approximation given by
Schmidt [9] in the form:

ll

(11)

F ?z
(1hf )
Fz

tanh(m(db =2)f)
m(db =2)f

where:
s
2hg
m
dm lm





Df
Df
f
1 10:35 ln
db
db

(14)

(15)
(16)

The Fanning friction factor for the gas flowing

outside the finned tubes, taking also into account the
pressure losses at the inlet and outlet from the tube
bundle, is determined by equation suggested by Kays
and London [2] in the form:





F g
2DPgg;m
g
f  min g;m
(17)
(1s2 ) g;in 1
2
Fz gg;in
gmax
gg;out

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Fig. 4. Correlation of friction factor as a function of Reynolds number Remax for tested finned tubes of extruded type.

The second term of this equation allows for the

pressure losses connected with the thermal expansion
of gases on the tube bundle. For the isothermal flow,
when gg,in /gg,out, this term is equal to zero.
In the engineering practice [10] the friction factor is
usually calculated as the drag coefficient referring to one
row of tubes, according to the formula:
ff 

2DPgg;m
2
Ngmax

(18)

Comparing (17) and (18) at t/tg,in /tg,out /const we

obtain:
ff 

Fz
f
NFmin

(19)

4. Calculated procedure and results

The HTC hg from the finned tube bundle to air was
determined making use of the relationships presented
above and of measured values of flowrate of both fluids

(Gl and Gg) as well as of their inlet and outlet

temperatures (tin and tout) from the exchanger.
The ratio R of heat capacities and thermal efficiency
P of process were determined from Eqs (5) and (6),
respectively. The value of parameter K was calculated
iteratively, applying, in dependence on the geometry of
tube bundle (number of passes), the suitable equation
(from (7) to (9)), listed in Table 2. The iterative
procedure applied was rapidly convergent and led to
satisfactory results already after few iterations.
Basing on NTU value, determined from Eq. (10), the
product of kF was calculated, making use of formula
(1). HTC (hl) from the fluid flowing in tubes was
calculated from Eqs (11) and (12), whereas the fin
efficiency from relationships (13)
/(16). Knowing the
HTC (hl) values from the tube-side fluid and allowing
for the thermal resistance of the tube wall (bm/lm), the
HTC (hg) values from the finned tube surface to air were
determined from Eq. (2); the latter was solved iteratively, since fin efficiency hf is a function of HTC hg.
The values of the gas-side friction factor ff were
determined from Eq. (18), on the ground of measured
values of pressure drop on tube bundles at the gas flow

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Fig. 5. Comparison of experimental Nusselt number values for A1, A2 and A3 tube bundles with the literature correlations.

perpendicularly to tubes under isothermal conditions.

All physical properties of fluids in thermal measurements were determined as mean values of inlet- and
outlet parameters for steady-state conditions.
The air-side Nusselt number values for all tested tube
bundles, in the Reynolds number range 1500 B/Remax 5/
10 000, were correlated by the relationship:
0:2




s  d 0:11
1=3 s  d
Nu 0:182Re0:633
Pr
max
H
d
0:141


sd

(20)
db
for 0.145 5/(s/d )/H 5/0.447; 6.8 5/(s/d )/d 5/8.4;
0.08 5/(s/d)/db 5/0.025.
The values of the power exponents at Prandtl number
and geometric modules ((s/d)/H) were assumed as
equal those which appear in the Briggs
/Young correlation [10]. The expression (20) correlates the experimental
data with the mean error B1 /4.5% and the root-meansquare error B2 /5.6% (Fig. 3).
The values of the friction factor ff for air flow through
nine tube bundles tested, were correlated by means of
the expression:

ff C Renmax





s  d 0:82 H 0:45 Pt 1:0
db

db

for 0.145 5/(s/d )/H 5/0.447;

2.22 5/(Pt/db)5/0.248

db

(21)

0.42 5/(H/db) 5/0.55;

where: C /840.00 and n //0.9 for Remax B/3500; C /

9.98 and n//0.357 for Remax ]/3500.
The power exponent at geometric group H /db (0.45) is
the same as in the Antufyev
/Bielecki correlation [6].
Relationship (21) correlates the experimental data (Fig.
4) in the range of Reynolds number Remax B/3500 with
the mean error B1 /9.64% and the root-mean-square
error B2 /12.7%. In the range Remax ]/3500 the values
of these errors are as follows: B1 /6.68% and B2 /
7.4%.
The comparison of the values of Nusselt numbers
determined from experimental data with those calculated from known correlations [10
/12], is shown in Figs.
5 and 6. For the sake of comparison there have been
chosen the data from the investigations of the finned
tube bundles of A and B type (Table 1), made of finned
tubes of identical geometry differing in transverse tube
pitch: pt /60 mm (Fig. 5) and pt /67 mm (Fig. 6).

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35

Fig. 6. Comparison of experimental Nusselt number values for B4, B5 and B6 tube bundles with the literature correlations.

Within the same type (A or B) the tube bundles differed

in the number of tube rows in the flow direction (N /2,
4 and 6). As it may be seen from Figs. 5 and 6, the
Nusselt number values calculated, for a given geometry
of tube bundles, according to the correlations of Briggs
/
Young [10], Stasiulevicius
/Skrinska [11] and PFR [12]
were close to each other and approximately 20% lower
than the experimental data.
A similar comparison with the known correlations
was carried out for the friction factor ff; the relationship
ff /f(Remax) for the tube bundles of A type and B type is
shown in Figs. 7 and 8, respectively. For a given
geometry of tube bundles the friction factor values
were calculated from the correlation of Antufyev
/
Bielecki [6], Robinson
/Briggs [13] and Stasiulevicius
/
Skrinska [11]. The last correlation is valid in the range
1.13 B/(Pt/db) B/2.0 which is lower than in the studied
case. As Figs. 7 and 8 indicate, in the Reynolds number
range Remax ]/3500, the experimental ff values lie
between the Robinson
/Briggs and Stasiulevicius
/
Skrinska curves and the Antufyev
/Bielecki relationship
concerns high air flow velocities (Remax /104). The
experimental friction factor values for B type tube

bundles (Fig. 8) lie between those predicted by the

correlations quoted above.
As it results from Figs. 4, 7 and 8, a better correlation
of friction factor values is obtained by dividing the
Reynolds number range into two regions, in which the
power exponent n in Eq. (21) changes from /0.9 to /
0.357. A similar change of Reynolds number exponent
for staggered smooth tube banks is predicted by
correlations given in [11,14], where the power exponent
changes from /0.7 to /0.25.
The results of the performed experiments indicate that
the tube bundles produced by cold rolling process lead
to 20% higher HTC values (Figs. 5 and 6) compare those
for the tubes investigated in [6,11,13] at similar friction
factor values (Figs. 7 and 8).
The analysis of the graphs in Figs. 5
/8 leads to the
conclusion that in the range of tube rows in the flow
direction N /2
/6, on the staggered arrangement, a
distinct effect of the number of rows on the Nusselt
number and friction factor ( with respect to one tube
row in the bundle) is not observed in the studied range
of the Reynolds number. A similar conclusion is reached
by the authors [8], which carried out the hydraulic
/
thermal investigations of the tube with wavy fins in

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Fig. 7. Comparison of experimental values of friction factor for air flow through the A1, A2 and A3 tube bundles with the literature correlations.

the Reynolds number range Remax /103
/104. As it

results from the relationships recommended in [10] for
staggered smooth tube banks the friction factor for
small number of tube rows in the flow direction may be
smaller as well as larger from the constant values
determined for the bundles characterized by a large
value of N .

5. Conclusions
Based on hydraulic
/thermal investigations of tube
bundles made of bimetallic extruded type finned tubes in
staggered banks there have been elaborated correlations
enabling one to calculate HTCs (20), air pressure drop
(21), taking into account the effect of geometric parameters of tubes and tube bundles (db, d, s, H , pt).
At the change of rows N from 2 to 6, for the tubes of
the same diameter and geometry of fins (pitch, thickness, height) for the tube bundles with the pitch 60 and
67 mm (Figs. 5
/8) in the range of Remax 2000
/10 000,
the effect of the number rows in the flow direction on

Nu number and friction coefficient, with respect to one

tube row, was not distinctly observed.
The comparison of the experimental Nu values for the
tube bundles of A and B type (Table 1) with those
known from literature [10
/12] shows (Figs. 5 and 6) that
the former ones are by approximately 20% higher. A
similar comparison for the type A and B tube bundles
(Figs. 7 and 8) indicates that the friction factor values
for Remax ]/3500 are situated between the correlations
[11,13]. For the Reynolds number range Remax B/3500
the corresponding exponent was changes, similarly as it
is predicted by known correlations.
The results of investigations carried out at higher
temperatures of heating medium (up to 310 8C) have
shown that, the thermal fin efficiency was not reduced
(the contact between the core tube and the finned one
did not become worse). In the result of performed
studies, published in [15] it was found that the air-side
heat transfer are higher in case of air cooling than in the
case of heating.
The results of the investigations made it possible to
work out more precisely the correlations for the
calculation of HTC and pressure drop for tube bundles

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37

Fig. 8. Comparison of experimental values of friction factor for air flow through the B4, B5 and B6 tube bundles with the literature correlations.

of extruded type and to determine the temperature range

of their application in the industrial practice (up to
310 8C).

Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the State Committee for
the Scientific Research (KBN) under the grant No
3T09C0139C/3488.

Appendix A: Nomenclature
b
cp
di
db
Df
f
ff
Fmin
Fw

tube wall thickness (m)

specific heat (kJ kg1 K1)
tube inside diameter (m)
finned tube diameter at the fin base (m)
outside diameter of finned tube (m)
Fanning friction factor for air Eq. (17)
friction factor in Eq. (18)
minimal cross-sectional area (m2)
inner surface of finned tubes (m2)

F w?
Fz
F z?
g
G
h
H
k
K
l
n
N
DP
pl
pt
s
t, T
wmax
W

tube surface at the fin base (m2)

outer (total) surface of finned tubes (m2)
surface of fins (m2)
mass flow velocity (kg m 2 h1)
rate of flow (kg h1)
heat transfer coefficient (W m 2 K 1)
height of fin (Df/db)/2 (m)
overall heat transfer coefficient (W m 2 K 1)
quantity defined by Eq. (10)
tube length (m)
number of tubes in the tube bundle
number of tube rows in the flow direction
pressure drop on the air side (Pa)
tube pitch in the longitudinal direction (m)
tube pitch in the transversal direction (m)
fin pitch (m)
temperature (8C, K)
velocity with respect to Fmin (m s 1)
heat capacity (W K 1)

Greek letters
g
density (kg m 3)
d
fin thickness (m)

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38

o
h
hf
ht
l
s

correction for crossflow

dynamic viscosity (kg m 1 s 1)
fin efficiency
total surface efficiency
thermal conductivity (W m 1 K 1)
porosity of tube bundle

Dimensionless groups
NTU /kF /(Ggcp,g)
Nu /hdb/l
Pr /cph /l
Remax /Ggdb/(Fminh )

Subscripts
l
m
g
in
out
w

number of heat transfer units

Nusselt number
Prandtl number
Reynolds number

liquid
mean value
air
inlet
outlet
wall

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