KONGUNADU COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND

TECHNOLOGY

EFFECT OF TWISTED TAPE INSERTS ON

HEAT TRANSFER IN A TUBE

BY
A.M.B.RAKHEEB BASHA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
KNCET
 INTODUCTION
Increasing the heat transfer rate in any engineering
application is a challenge.
There are many restrictions in implementation methods
used to increase heat transfer rate.
Among those restrictions, heat transfer enhancement
may be done by either active methods or passive
methods.
Active method- more complex from the use and design
point of view
Require some external power input to cause the desired
flow modification and improvement in the rate of heat
transfer.
 Passive method- do not require any direct input of
external power; rather they use it from the system
itself which ultimately leads to an increase in
fluid pressure drop.

use surface or geometrical modifications to the

flow channel by incorporating inserts or
additional devices.

promote higher heat transfer coefficients by

disturbing or altering the existing flow behavior
 Insertion of twisted tapes enhance the convective heat
transfer by introducing swirl into the bulk flow and by
disrupting the boundary layer at the tube surface due to
repeated changes in the surface geometry.
Such tapes induce turbulence and superimposed vortex
motion (swirl flow) and consequently resulting in a
high heat transfer coefficient and Nusselt number.
On consideration of the heat transfer enhancement, it
can be considered through bringing the twisted-tape to
insert while the pressure drop inside the tube is higher.
Because of low assets and easy setting up, it is widely
used, especially in a compact heat exchanger.
 In the present investigation, the influence of
twisted-tape inserts on enhancement heat
transfer efficiency, Nusselt number and flow
friction behaviors in a double pipe heat
exchanger is studied.
In the experimental condition, a twisted-tape
was inserted into the inner tube at twist ratios:
y = P/D = 5.0 and 7.0, respectively. All of the
experiments were carried out at the same inlet
condition with the Reynolds number of the
inner tube, Re = 2000 to 12000.
Experimental Set-up
 RESULTS
In the case of the twisted tape inserts, the means Nusselt numbers (of the
inner tube or hot air) increased about 188% for y = 5.0 and 159% for y =
7.0, when compared with the plain tube.
It was shown that the smaller of the twist ratio, the higher in mean Nusselts
number.
 It is clear that the twisted tape inserts caused swirl and
pressure gradient.
Moreover, swirl caused the flow to be turbulent, which led to
even better convection heat transfer.
It is depicted that the effect of the twisted tape inserts
decreased at low Reynolds numbers due to the weak swirl and
low flow velocity.
 CONCLUSION
Experimental investigation of enhancement efficiency,
heat transfer and friction factor characteristics of
circular tube fitted with twisted tape inserts of different
twist ratios has been studied.
It can be observed that the swirl flow helps decrease the
boundary layer thickness of the hot air flow and
increase residence time of hot air in the inner tube. The
enhancement efficiency and Nusselt number increases
with decreasing the twist ratio and friction factor also
increases with decreasing the twist ratio.