EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF HEAT TRANSFER OF A SINGLE-ROW BUNDLE OF FINNED TUBES IN MIXED CONVECTION OF AIR

The technique and results of experimental study of heat transfer of a single bundle consisting of bimetallic tubes with helically knurled edges, in natural and mixed convection of air are presented. Mixed convection, i.e. a heat transfer, when the contribution of free and forced convection is comparable, was created with the help of the exhaust shaft mounted above the heat exchanger bundle and forced air movement was created by the difference in density of the air in the shaft and the environment. The experimental dependence of the heat transfer of finned single row of bundles in the selected ranges of Grashof and Reynolds numbers has been determined. It is demonstrated that heat transfer in the mixed convection is 2.5−3 times higher than in free one and the growth rate of heat transfer with increasing Reynolds number is more than in the forced convection. Different forms of representation of results of experiments were analyzed and it was determined that the Nusselt number has a single power dependence on the Reynolds number at any height of the exhaust shafts. A linear dependence of the Reynolds number on the square root of the Grashof number was determined as well as the proportionality factors for different shaft heights. It is noted that the characteristics of the motion of air particles in the bundle in free convection is identical to the motion of particles in forced convection at small Reynolds numbers, i.e. a free convection flow smoothly flows into a forced convection one without the typical failures or surges if additional driving forces arise.