Effect of angle of attack on heat transfer and hydrodynamic characteristics for staggered drop-shaped tubes bundle in cross-flow

Tube bundles can be used as a separation heat exchanger in the organic Rankine cycle power plants (ORC), while the hot gas passes over the outer surface, and the working substance ORC flows inside the tubes. A numerical study has been conducted to clarify heat transfer and hydrodynamics of a cross-flow heat exchanger with staggered drop-shaped tubes at different flow angles of attack in comparison with circular tubes of the same equivalent diameter. The study was performed for the Reynolds number Re= 1.8  103 ~ 9.4  103, the longitudinal and transverse spacing of the tubes in the bundle are the same and are equal to 37 mm. Four cases of the tube’s arrangement with different angles of attack were investigated: 0, 45, 135, and 180 angles. The article presents a literature review related to the subject of the study. A mathematical and numerical model has been developed to calculate the heat transfer coefficient of the studied staggered drop-shaped tubes bundle using the ANSYS package, taking into account the stress-strain state of the tubes. Correlations of the average Nusselt numbers and the friction coefficient for the considered bundles in terms of the Reynolds number and angle of attack were presented. The results reveal that the thermal–hydraulic performance of the drop-shaped tubes bundle with zero-angle of attack is about 1.6 ~ 1.7 times greater than the circular one.