A study of the vortex-induced lateral vibration and heat transfer characteristics of elastic supported single tubes with different cross-sectional shapes.

Abstract In this paper, the vortex-induced vibrational characteristics and heat transfer mechanisms of three tubes with different cross-sectional shapes are numerically studied. The results show that the characteristics of vortex-induced vibration of the vertical elliptical tube and circular tube are obvious. At low flow velocities, the vortex shedding force can affect the vibrational characteristics of horizontal elliptical tube, but the effect is not obvious with increasing flow velocity. When the frequency is locked, the vibrational amplitude of the vertical elliptical tube is the largest, followed in descending order by that of the circular tube, and that of the horizontal elliptical tube. The local heat transfer coefficients of tube at different vibration time are different. High local heat transfer coefficients are produced when vortices form on local walls or—when the relative velocity between the fluid and the heat transfer wall is relatively large. The effects of vortex-induced vibration enhancement heat transfer of these three kinds of tubes are different. The vertical elliptical tube can enhance the heat transfer by 28.6%, the circular tube can enhance it by 21.3%, and the horizontal elliptical tube can only enhance it by 3.7%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]