| Abstract: | This study investigated the heat transfer and flow characteristics of one kind of swirlgenerator in a circular heat exchanger tube through a numericalsimulation. The swirlflow induced by this type of swirlgenerator can obtain a high heat transfer rate with minimalpressure drop penalty. The simulations were carried out to understand the physicalbehavior of this kind of mesoscale heat enhancement component. By visualizing the heat transfer and flow characteristics, it is found that the swirlflow is induced by swirlgenerator in the circular tube couples with the impinging jet effect. After passing through the swirlgenerator, the localfriction factor of liquid can quickly return to lower levelmore quickly, while the localNusselt number maintains higher values for a distance; thus, the evaluation criterion of localperformance is improved. Single-factor optimization is used for three geometric parameters, i.e., the angle of swirlgenerator(25o, 45o, and 60o), the length of swirlgenerator(0.005, 0.01, and 0.02 m), and the center rod radius(1, 2, and 3 mm). The optimum parameters of the swirlgenerator for laminar flow of air in a circular tube are obtained, which should be 60o, 0.005 m, and 3 mm, respectively. |
