HT Curved Tube

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 58 (2016) 1327–1347
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser
Heat transfer and flow characteristics of conventional fluids

and nanofluids in curved tubes: A review
Gabriela Huminic n, Angel Huminic
Transilvania University of Brasov, Mechanical Engineering Department, Applied Thermodynamics Laboratory, 29, Bulevardul Eroilor, 500036 Brasov, Romania
art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t
Article history: The purpose of this review summarizes the recent published papers on the heat transfer and fluid flow
Received 27 January 2014 characteristics in curved tubes using conventional fluids and nanofluids as working fluids. The use of the
Received in revised form nanofluids in curved tubes has been investigated in recent years by various researchers for finding new
21 September 2015
opportunities of enhancement of the thermo-hydrodynamical performances. The curved tubes were
Accepted 24 December 2015
Available online 18 January 2016
divided into three groups: helically coiled tubes, spirally coiled tubes and other curved tubes, according
with configurations of the tube curvature. The paper presents experimental, numerical and analytical
Keywords: published studies in literature.
Curved tube & 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Helically coiled tube
Spirally coiled tube
Heat transfer characteristics
Flow characteristics
Nanofluids
Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1328
2. Conventional fluids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1328
2.1. Helically coiled tubes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1328
2.1.1. Experimental studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1328
2.1.2. Numerical studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1335
2.1.3. Analytical studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1338
2.2. Spirally coil tubes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339
2.3. Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1339
2.4. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1341
3. Nanofluids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1341
3.1. Helically coiled tubes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1342
3.1.1. Experimental studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1342
3.1.2. Numerical studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1343
3.1.3. Analytical studies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1343
3.2. Spirally coiled tubes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1343
3.3. Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1343
3.4. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1344
4. Future directions and challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1344
5. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1345
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1345
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1345
n
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (G. Huminic).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.12.230
1364-0321/& 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1328 G. Huminic, A. Huminic / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 58 (2016) 1327–1347
1. Introduction and friction factor in helically coiled heat exchangers are sig-
nificantly larger than in straight pipes.
Curved pipes have a wide range of applications in engineering
systems such as power generation, nuclear industry, process 2.1.1. Experimental studies
plants, heat recovery systems, refrigeration, food industry, etc., due Cioncolini and Santini [3] studied the influence of curvature on
to their compact structure and high heat transfer coefficient. the laminar to turbulent flow transition in helically coiled pipes.
Helical and spiral coils are well known types of curved tubes, they The coils studied had ratios of coil diameter to tube diameter
being used in air conditioning and refrigeration systems, heat ranging from 6.9 to 369 while the coil pitches were small enough
recovery processes, food and dairy processes, and chemical reac- to neglect the effect of torsion on the flow. The coils were con-
tors [1]. In Fig. 1 are illustrated helical and spiral coils. As shown in structed of smooth copper tube and water was used as a working
Fig. 1a, a helical tube is characterized by the coil diameter 2r, fluid. The results showed that for ratios of coil diameter to tube
coiled curvature radius R, and coil pitch b. In this case the curva- diameter ranging from 6.9 to 24 the process of turbulence emer-
ture radius is constant. A spiral tube is shown in Fig. 1b. This tube gence is so gradual that only one discontinuity was observed in the
is characterized by the coil diameter 2r, the constant pitch b, and friction factor profile, for ratios of coil diameter to tube diameter
the minimum and maximum radii of the curvature (Rmin and Rmax) ranging from 35.3 to 103.7 the process of turbulence emergence is
at the beginning and to the end of the spiral. still very gradual but the friction factor profiles exhibit a more
Nanofluids have attracted great interest from the research complicated pattern a part of which was apparently not observed
community due to their enhanced thermal performance, potential in previous research, and for ratio of coil diameter to tube dia-
benefits and applications in numerous important fields. Nano- meter ranging from 153 to 369, was found effective in smoothing
fluids are liquid suspensions which contain nanometer-size par- the emergence of turbulence only in the very beginning of the
ticles, including chemically stable metals (e.g., copper, gold, silver), emergence process.
metal oxides (e.g., alumina, bismuth oxide, silica, titania, zirconia), An experimental study of the evaporation heat transfer and
several allotropes of carbon (e.g., diamond, single walled and pressure drop of HFC-134a in a helically coiled concentric tube-in-
multi-walled carbon nanotubes, fullerence) with thermal con- tube heat exchanger was conducted by Wongwises and Pol-
ductivities higher than of the base liquids, and with sizes sig- songkram [4]. The heat exchanger is fabricated by bending a
nificantly smaller than 100 nm. straight copper into a spiral coil, the diameter of the coil is
Although there are a large number of papers in this field, the 305 mm and the helix angle of the coil is 2.09°. Experiments were
reviews on this topic are very limited. Heat transfer and flow performed for the refrigerant mass fluxes from 400 to
through a curved tube is comprehensively first reviewed by Berger 800 kg m 2 s 1, heat fluxes from 5 to 10 kW m 2, and average
[1] and the latest review of flow and heat transfer characteristics saturation evaporating temperatures from 10 to 20 °C. The results
are provided by Naphon and Wongwises [2]. showed that the average heat transfer coefficient and the frictional
This review presents the recent research in heat transfer and pressure drop of HFC-134a flowing in helically coiled concentric
flow characteristics of conventional fluids and nanofluids in three tube-in-tube heat exchanger were higher than in straight con-
types of curved tubes, helically coiled tubes, spirally coiled tubes, centric tube-in-tube heat exchanger by 30–37% (Fig. 2) and 10–73%
and other coiled tubes, including the experimental, numerical and (Fig. 3), respectively.
analytical investigations. The correlation equations for Nusselt number and two-phase
frictional multiplier were developed by Wongwises and Pol-
songkram:
2. Conventional fluids
Nu ¼ 6895:98Dn0:432
Eq Pr l 5:055 χ tt 0:0238 ðBo 104 Þ0:132 ð1Þ
2.1. Helically coiled tubes
13:37
χ 2l ¼ 1 þ ð2Þ
χ 1:492
tt
Helically coiled tubes are efficient heat transfer equipments
due to their compact size and high heat transfer performance in Also, the same team of researches [5] carried out experiments
comparison with straight tube heat exchangers. Several studies to investigate the two-phase heat transfer coefficient and pressure
have been conducted to analyze the heat transfer and flow char- drop of pure HFC-134a condensing inside a smooth helically coiled
acteristics of helically coil heat exchangers in laminar and turbu- concentric tube-in-tube heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is
lent flow regimes. The most prominent characteristic of flow in fabricated by bending a straight copper double-concentric tube
helically coiled tubes is the secondary flow induced by centrifugal into a helical coil of 6 turns, the diameter of coil was 305 mm, and
force due to the curvature of the pipe. Consequently, heat transfer the pitch of coil was 35 mm. Experiments were performed for the
Fig. 1. a – A schematic of a helical tube. b – A schematic of a spiral tube.

G. Huminic, A. Huminic / Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 58 (2016) 1327–1347 1329
Nomenclature P pitch of helical coiled tube

Pe Péclet number
a inner radius of tube (m) Pr l liquid Prandtl number
A heat transfer in the helical pipe (m2) pr reduced pressure
B0 boiling number q input heat flux (W/m2)
Bo Boiling number qcr critical heat flux (W/m2)
Cp specific heat capacity (J/kg K) r pipe radius (m)
d tube diameter (m) ri inner radius of helical tube (m)
di inside tube diameter (m) ro outer radius of helical tube (m)
dc coil diameter (m) R mean helical radius of the coil (m)
di =dc curvature of the coil (dimensionless) R coil radius (m)
d0 outer diameter of the coil tube (m) Ra Rayleigh number
dp particle diameter (m) ReDeq Reynolds number based equivalent diameter of shell
D coil diameter (m) (Eqs. (17), (20–22)) Reg Reynolds number for gas phase
D hydraulic diameter (m), (Eq. (14)) Rel Reynolds number for liquid phase
Dc coil diameter (m) S ¼ 1x nucleate boiling suppression factor
Di pitch circle diameter of inner coil (m) Sc Schmidt number
Dh hydraulic diameter (m) St Stanton number
D0 pitch circle diameter of outer coil (m) Tw wall temperature (K)
Dt tube diameter (m) UL liquid velocity (m/s)
Dn Dean number VL liquid velocity (m/s)
Dn þ modified Dean number VG gas velocity (m/s)
DnEq equivalent Dean number Wi Weissenber number
DnðgÞ modified Dean number x quality, (Eq. (19))
fc friction factor in coil x vapor quality (dimensionless), (Eq. (25))
fs friction factor in straight tube xi inlet quality
F enhancement factor x0 outlet quality
Fr p Froude number based on particle diameter ðU 2L =gdp Þ
g gravitational acceleration (m/s2) Greek symbol
G mass flux (kg/m2s) Gap ratio ¼ D0 d
Di
Gz Graetz number γ latent heat of evaporation (J/kg)

He Helical number γ dimensionless Duty parameter, (Eqs. (44) and (45))
htp two-phase flow heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K) γ dimensionless pitch, (Eqs. (46) and (47))
hl heat transfer coefficient of liquid (W/m2 K) γ coil pitch, (Eqs. (28) and (29))
hl0 liquid-phase flow heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K) δ curvature ratio, (Eqs. (26), (27) and (43))
IPF ice-packing factor (dimensionless) ϕc;f d characteristic angle required for a flow to be fully
jD Coulburn factor ðkL =U L ÞSc2=3 developed in helical pipes, (Eq. (40))
f two-phase friction factor based on the liquid super- ϕ volume concentration of nanoparticles
ficial velocity θ dimensionless inlet temperature difference
k thermal conductivity (W/m K) λ curvature ratio, (Eqs. (36), (48) and (49))
kL mass transfer coefficient (m/s) μ dynamic viscosity (Pa s)
Lice latent heat of ice (J/kg) μef f effective viscosity (Pa s)
Ln normalized length (m) ρ density (kg/m3)
LSP;coil single-phase flow in coil (m) ρl liquid density (kg/m3)
LTP;coil two-phase flow in coil (m) σ liquid surface tension (N/m)
M mass flow rate (kg/s) χ Lockharte Martinelli parameter
n power-law index of the fluid (index of behavior) χ tt Martinelli parameter
Nd liquid–gas density ratio ψ dimensionless passage length of the coil
Npl liquid property group μ4ef f g=ρl σ 3l
p pitch ratio
refrigerant mass fluxes from 400 to 800 kg m 2 s 1, heat fluxes Also, a correlation for predicting the two-phase frictional
from 5 to 10 kW m 2, and average saturation condensing tem- multiplier was proposed:
peratures from 40 to 50 °C. The results showed that the percentage
5:569 1
increase of the average heat transfer coefficient and the pressure χ 2l ¼ 1 þ þ ð4Þ
drop of the helically coiled concentric tube-in-tube heat exchan-
χ 1:494
tt χ 2tt
ger, compared with that of the straight tube-in-tube heat The condensation heat transfer and pressure drop of refrigerant
exchanger, are in the range of 33–53% (Fig. 4) and 29–46% (Fig. 5), R134a in annular helicoidal pipe were experimentally investigated
respectively. by Lin and Ebadian [6]. The schematic of the experimental setup is
A correlation for predicting the average heat transfer coefficient shown in Fig. 6. The refrigerant flowed in the annular section
was proposed as follows: between the inner and outer tubes and the cooling water in the
inner tube in a counter-flow direction of the refrigerant. The
Nutp ¼ 0:1352Dn0:7654
Eq Pr0:811
l χ 0:0432
tt pr 0:3356 ðBo 104 Þ0:112 ð3Þ
experiments were performed with the Reynolds number of the
Fig. 2. Comparison of the average heat transfer coefficients [4].

Fig. 5. Comparison of the pressure drop [5].
number was larger than 140. While compared with identical

helicoidally pipe with opposite flow channel arrangement, the
refrigerant heat transfer rate was larger when the refrigerant was
flowing in the annular section at the water Reynolds number lar-
ger than 4000. Also, the experimental results showed that the
orientation effect was not obvious on the pressure drop in annular
helicoidally pipe flows.
Naphon [7] experimentally studied the thermal performances
and the pressure drop in the helical-coil heat exchangers with and
without helically crimped fins. The experiments were performed
for the cold and hot water mass flow rates ranging between 0.10
and 0.22 kg/s, and between 0.02 and 0.12 kg/s, respectively. The
inlet temperatures of cold and hot water were between 15 and
25 °C, and between 35 and 45 °C, respectively. The experimental
results showed that the average heat transfer rate increases as hot
and cold water mass flow rates increase, the friction factor
Fig. 3. Comparison of the pressure drop [4]. decreases with increasing hot water mass flow rate and the inlet
hot and cold water mass flow rates and inlet hot water tempera-
ture have significant effect on the heat exchanger effectiveness.
Cui et al. [8] carried out experiments to investigate the flow
patterns and pressure drop for refrigerant R134a boiling in a
microfinned helically coiled tube. The flow patterns are identified
using visualization methods and grouped into three dominant
regimes, i.e., stratified wavy flow, intermittent flow and annular
flow. Two new correlations were established for prediction of the
two-phase frictional multiplier based on experimental data as
follows:
48:2 1
χ 2l ¼ 1þ þ ð5Þ
stratif ied χ tt χ 2tt
59:8 3:5
χ 2lo ¼ 1þ þ ð6Þ
annular χ tt χ 2tt
Pressure drop results of boiling water flow through three small
diameter helical coils at low operating pressure were investigated
by Cioncolini et al. [9]. The tube inner diameters were 4.03 mm,
Fig. 4. Comparison of the average heat transfer coefficients [5]. 4.98 mm and 4.98 mm and the coil diameter to tube diameter
ratio were 26.1, 64.1 and 93.3 respectively. Experiments were
cooling water ranging from 3600 to 22,000, and that of refrigerant performed in the following conditions: operating pressures in the
R134a from 60 to 200. The saturation temperatures of R134a were range of 120–660 kPa, mass fluxes in the range of 290–
30 °C and 35 °C, and the cooling water temperatures were 16 °C, 690 kg m 2 s 1, and heat fluxes from 50 to 440 kW m 2. Existing
20 °C and 24 °C. The test section was oriented at three different correlations for subcooled boiling flow were not found capable of
angles, 0° (horizontal), 45°, and 90° (vertical). The experimental predicting the measured data, due to the significant difference in
results showed that the refrigerant heat transfer coefficient of the range of validity of the correlations and in the range of the
annular helicoidally pipe could be two times larger than that of operating parameters explored in the present study. The mea-
equivalent plain straight pipe when the refrigerant Reynolds surements in saturated boiling flow were successfully reproduced
Fig. 6. The schematic of the experimental setup [6].
by existing correlations for both straight and coiled pipe two- increase with increase in the pitch of the coil and was maximum
phase flow. for straight tube. Improvements in mass transfer coefficient in
The two-phase pressure drops for gas–non-Newtonian liquid helical coils in the presence of fluidizing solids were 10% more
(SCMC) flow through helical coils in vertical orientation was con- than those with homogeneous flow in the same coil while the
ducted by Biswas and Das [10]. The effects of gas and liquid flow improvements were found to be 2.5 times more than those with
rate, coil diameter, and liquid properties on two-phase frictional straight tube. Also, results showed that the mass transfer coeffi-
pressure drop were investigated by authors. Four different con- cient increase with increasing liquid velocity and particle diameter
centrations, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 kg/m3 of sodium salt of carbox- in case of helically coiled fluidized beds and was independent of
ymethyl cellulose (SCMC) in water were used as the non- liquid velocity and the pitch of the coil but was strongly affected
Newtonian liquids and atmospheric air was used as the other by gas velocity in two-phase gas–liquid up flow systems.
fluid. The experimental results showed that the two-phase fric- Two correlations for mass transfer coefficients were proposed:
tional pressure drop exhibits large deviation with the correlations
available in literature (Lockhart–Martinelli or the modified Lock- 1. For fluidized beds: the data on mass transfer coefficients were
hart–Martinelli correlation) due to the non-Newtonian character- correlated using jD factor which to account for the curvature of
istics of the liquid. the coiled configuration, Helical number and Froude number:
An empirical correlation was developed for prediction of the
two-phase friction factor: jD ¼ 3:2 10 5 HeðFr p Þ 0:38 ð9Þ
0:721 7 0:076
Dt 2. Two-phase gas–liquid flow: the data on mass transfer coeffi-
f tplc ¼ 0:40Re0:757
g
7 0:025
Rel 1:437 7 0:059 Npl 0:348 7 0:017
Dc cient were correlated as a function of gas velocity using Stanton
ð7Þ number based on gas velocity as:
Kharat et al. [11] developed a mathematical model for kL

St g ¼ ¼ 1:213 10 4 ð10Þ
improved heat transfer coefficient correlation for the flue gas side UL
of heat exchanger, using the data obtained from CFD and experi-
Xiaowen and Lee [13] carried out experiments to investigate
mental results.
The new modified equation for the Nusselt number was the performances of a domestic water-cooled air-conditioner
developed: (WAC) using tube-in-tube helical heat exchanger for preheating of
domestic hot water. The schematic of the experimental setup is
Nu ¼ 0:02652604Re0:834694285 Pr 0:3 ðGap ratioÞ 0:096856199 ð8Þ shown in Fig. 7. The experimental results from this study clearly
Anil Kumar et al. [12] studied the effect of various dynamic and support widening the application of heat recovery WAC to
geometric parameters on mass transfer coefficients in two-phase simultaneously reduce energy use for air-conditioning and water
helically coiled flow systems, namely gas–liquid and solid–liquid heating.
in helically coiled tubes. The liquid phase chosen was an electro- Mittal et al. [14] studied the coiling effect on the flow of R-407C
lyte of ferri-ferrocyanide solution, in gas–liquid flow, the gas used in an adiabatic helical capillary tube. The capillary tubes were the
was inert nitrogen gas and in solid–liquid fluidized bed, sand inner diameters of 1.02 mm, 1.27 mm and 1.52 mm. The coil dia-
particles of different sizes were employed as bed material. The meters were 60 mm, 100 mm and 140 mm, and the capillary tube
helical coils were made using transparent thick-walled polythene length was 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 respectively. The experimental results
tubing of 1.8 cm and 2.3 cm internal diameter with the coil dia- showed that the coiling of capillary tube significantly influences
meter of 20 cm. The experimental results showed that the pres- the mass flow rate of R-407C through the adiabatic helical
sure drop in the presence of fluidizing solids in helical coils capillary tube.
Fig. 7. The prototype WACS [13].
Two correlations were proposed for straight and helical capil-

lary tube by modifying the π-terms into simpler form for experi-
mental data of refrigerant R-407C:
1. Straight capillary tube:

π 1 ¼ 24:425ðπ 2 Þ1:675 ðπ 3 Þ 0:373 ðπ 4 Þ 0:015 ðπ 5 Þ 1:498 ðπ 6 Þ0:777 ðπ 7 Þ 1:031 ðπ 8 Þ0:025
ð11Þ
2. Helical capillary tube:

π 1 ¼ 0:0087ðπ 2 Þ1:538 ðπ 3 Þ 0:351 ðπ 4 Þ0:003 ðπ 5 Þ 0:463 ðπ 6 Þ 0:965 ðπ 7 Þ0:507 ðπ 8 Þ 1:235 ðπ 9 Þ0:098
ð12Þ
The mixed convection heat transfer in helical coiled tube heat
exchanger in both laminar and turbulent flows were experimen-
tally investigated by Ghorbani et al. [15]. Water was used as
working fluid. Two different tube diameters, 9.47 mm and
12.59 mm OD, with two coil diameters and two different pitches of
125.7–128.31 and 16.47–23.57 were tested. The results showed
that the coil surface area was the most influential geometrical Fig. 8. Variation of Num with D/do at different Re and at q ¼60 W/m2 and constant
parameter on the heat transfer coefficient, and the overall heat P/do ¼ 2.18 [19].
transfer coefficient of heat exchanger increases as the heat transfer
rate increases. Finally a new correlation for the Nusselt number R134a flow boiling in horizontal helically-coiled tubes. The results
based on equivalent diameter was presented: reveal that the CHF increases greatly with increasing mass flux and
NuDeq ¼ 0:0041Ra0:4533 Re0:2 0:3
ð13Þ decreases smoothly with increasing pressure. Also, the coil-to-
Deq Deq Pr s
diameter ratios are more important than length-to-diameter ratios
Chen et al. [16] investigated dry-out critical heat flux (CHF) for CHF in helically-coiled tubes, while the helical pitches have
characteristics in a horizontal helically-coiled tube using alter- little effect on CHF. Finally, new correlations for critical heat flux in
native refrigerant R134a. The tube inner diameter was 8.4 mm, coil current experimental conditions were proposed. Correlations are
diameter was 300 mm, helical pitch was 75 mm and valid heated developed by inlet conditions and outlet conditions, respectively:
length was 1.89 m. Experiments were carried out at pressures in
the range 0.30–0.95 MPa, mass fluxes between 60 and B0 ¼ 8:071 10 8 Re2:12 Dn 2:5 N d 0:18 xi 0:78 ð15Þ
500 kg m 2 s 1, inlet qualities in range 0.36–0.35 and heat
fluxes between 7000 and 50,000 W m 2. Results of the experi- B0 ¼ 3:154 10 7 Re2:45 Dn 2:1 N d 0:46 x0 0:25 ð16Þ
mental research indicate that the mass fluxes have the most effect
on CHF enhancement, while pressures have the least. Finally a new Moawed [19] experimentally investigated the forced convec-
dimensionless correlation for estimating R134a CHF in horizontal tion from outside surfaces of helical coiled tubes with diameters
helically-coiled tubes was developed: ratio ranged from 7.086 to 16.142 and pitch ratio ranged from 1.81
to 3.205. The experiments were conducted in the range of Rey-
B0 ¼ 1:135 10 7 Re2:32 Dn 2:5 N d 0:19 xi 0:58 ð14Þ nolds number 660–2300. The results reveal that the diameters
where: ratio (D/d0) and pitch ratio (P/d0) have important effects on the
0:5 average heat transfer coefficient (Figs. 8 and 9).
qcr GD d ρ A correlation was established for prediction of the Nusselt
B0 ¼ ; Re ¼ ; Dn ¼ Re i ; Nd ¼ l ð140 Þ
Gγ μ Dc ρg number based on experimental data as follows:
Also, the same team of researchers [17,18], experimentally and 0:914 0:281
Num ¼ 0:0345Re0:48 D=d0 P=d0 ð17Þ
numerically investigated the critical heat flux characteristics of
the Newtonian fluids and aqueous solutions of carbox-

ymethylcellulose (CMC), a polymer, with concentrations of 0.2%,
0.3%, 0.4% and 0.6% (w/w) and aqueous solutions of xanthan gum
(XG), another polymer, with concentrations of 0.1% and 0.2% (w/w)
as the non-Newtonian fluids. The experimental results that the
friction factors for CMC and XG solutions are similar to those for
Newtonian fluids when the Dean numbers less than 80 and for
Dean numbers higher than 80, the friction factors of the CMC
solutions are lower those of the XG solutions and of the New-
tonian fluids. In this range the friction factors decrease with the
increase of the viscometric component of the solution and
increase for increasing elastic component. Also, the results were
compared with the correlations available in literature.
San et al. [23] investigated the heat transfer and the friction
factor of a helical heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is composed
of a helical tube with rectangular cross section and two cover
plates. In the experiment, the radial flow was air and the helical
Fig. 9. Variation of Num with P/d0 at different Re and at q¼ 60 W/m2 and constant flow was water. The Reynolds numbers were in the range 307–
D/d0 ¼16.142 [19]. 2547. The results indicate that the Darcy friction factor of the radial
flow increases with the channel spacing and decreases with an
Characteristics of R134a flow boiling heat transfer in a hor- increase of the Re, and Nusselt number increases with the Re and
izontal helically coiled tube in low mass flux and low pressure the channel spacing. Two new correlations, for the Darcy friction
conditions were conducted by Chen et al. [20]. The helically coiled factor and the Nusselt number, were proposed:
tube was heated length of 7070 mm, outer diameter of 10 mm, 0:455
Re Dh
inner diameter of 7.6 mm, the coil diameter of 300 mm and helical f ¼ 7:388 3 0:00279 ð23Þ
100 r o r i
pitch of 40 mm. The experiments were performed in the following
conditions: mass fluxes and inlet qualities range from 0.20 to 0:338
Re Dh
0.75 MPa, 50 to 260 kg/m2 s and 0.18 to 0.40, respectively. The Nu ¼ 2:31 þ3 ln þ4:64 ð24Þ
100 ro ri
results indicate that the heat transfer coefficient increases with
increasing mass flux, vapor quality and heat flux and the mass flux The effects of tube and coil diameters on flow boiling heat
has much effect on heat transfer coefficients, while pressure has transfer coefficients inside small diameter (o 3 mm) helically
little. A new heat transfer coefficient correlation was developed coiled tubes at various values of heat flux and mass velocity were
based on the Lockhart–Martinelli parameter method: experimentally investigates by Elsayed et al. [24]. The tested coils
0:27 have tube diameters ranging from 1.1 to 2.8 and coil diameters
htp 1 from 30 mm to 60 mm. The heat flux was varied from 2500 to
¼ 2:84 þ ð46162B1:15 0:88Þ ð18Þ
hl0 χ tt 0
12,000 W/m2 and mass velocity from 100 to 450 kg/m2 s. The
where: experimental results reveal that both the heat flux and mass
velocity have significant effects on the boiling heat transfer coef-
1 x 0:9 ρg 0:5 μg 0:1 ficient and decreasing the tube diameter improves the heat
χ tt ¼ ð19Þ
x ρl μl transfer coefficient with up to 63% enhancement. Also, the results
Ismail and Karim [21] experimentally studied the influence of indicated that decreasing the coil diameter improves the heat
the viscoelastic solutions on heat transfer coefficients in seven transfer coefficient as it intensifies the effect of secondary flow
helical coils with different diameters and diameter ratios. The with up to 150% enhancement and pressure drop was found to
experiments were performed with water as the heating medium depend on the tube diameter and less influenced by the coil dia-
and two dilute solutions (250 and 500 ppm) of a polyacrylamide as meter. A new correlation for boiling heat transfer coefficient based
the viscoelastic medium. The results showed that using dilute on nucleate boiling suppression and convective boiling enhance-
viscoelastic solutions in helical coil decreases their thermal per- ment factors was developed:
formance. A unified form of the Graetz–Leveque equation was htp ¼ Fxhl þ Sxhcooper ð25Þ
proposed:
h 0:54 i where F is the enhancement factor,
Nu ¼ 1:75Gz1=3 1 þ 0:5421Dn0:45 d=D for water ð20Þ " 0:99278 0:822 !#
1 1
F ¼ max 1; 1 þ ðPr l Þ0:8 2:9946 S0:1755
h 0:54 i χ χ
Nu ¼ 1:75Gz1=3 1 þ 0:3515Dn0:45 d=D !0:5
σ
for 250 ppm solution of polyacrylamide ð21Þ for Co ¼ 2 ¼ 1:75:::1:85 confinement diameter; and
g ρl ρv di
h 0:54 i
Nu ¼ 1:75Gz1=3 1 þ 0:3615Dn0:45 d=D " 0:3798 0:32409 !#
1 1
for 550 ppm solution of polyacrylamide ð22Þ F ¼ MAX 1; 1 þ ðPrl Þ0:8 2:4018 S0:504615
χ χ
The friction factor and the heat transfer, at constant wall tem- for diameters less that the confinement diameter:
perature, for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, inside a ver- Also, S ¼ 1 x is nucleate boiling suppression factor.
tical helical coil were experimentally investigated by Pimenta and Beigzadeh and Rahimi [25] developed two Artificial Neural
Campos [22]. The helical coil used has the internal diameter, cur- Network (ANN) models to estimate the heat transfer and friction
vature ratio, length and pitch of 0.00483 m, 0.0263, 5.0 m and factor in helically coiled tubes. The experiments were conducted for
11.34 mm, respectively. Working fluids used in experiments were nine coiled tubes with various dimensionless geometrical para-
aqueous solutions of glycerol, 25%, 36%, 43%, 59% and 78% (w/w) as meters. Optimal neural network configurations were evaluated by
trial-and-error method. An ANN with 9 hidden neurons was Table 1

selected for predicting of Nusselt number and a network with 12 Nusselt number correlations.
hidden neurons was employed to predict friction factor in the tubes.
Crt. No. Correlation Applicability domain Remarks
The two correlations are the following:
1. Nu ¼ 0:0065ðM Þ1:1798 907 r M r 3348 Water and gly-
Nu ¼ 0:00619Re0:92 Pr 0:4 ð1 þ 3:455δÞ ð26Þ 3:83 r Pr r 7:3 cerol–water mix-
0:055 r δ r 0:0757 ture Isothermal
and conditions
pffiffiffi 2. 907 r M r 3348 Heating process
Nu ¼ 0:0023ðM Þ1:2354 Pr 0:4
f ¼ 0:304Re 0:25 þ 0:029 δ ð27Þ 3:83 r Pr r 7:3 Water and gly-
0:055 r δ r 0:0757 cerol–water mix-
The same team of researchers [26] investigated the ability the ture Isothermal
Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) and Genetic conditions
Algorithm (GA) based correlations for estimating the hydro- 3. Nu ¼ 0:0096ðM Þ1:1202 880 r M r 4642 Water and gly-
dynamics and heat transfer characteristics in coiled tubes. Adap- 3:54 r Pr r 7:3 cerol–water mix-
0:055 r δ r 0:0757 ture Isothermal and
tive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), and Genetic Algorithm
non-isothermal
(GA) are capable artificial intelligence methods for modeling, conditions
predicting and optimizing the performance of thermal systems. 4. Nu ¼ 0:9366ðGzÞ0:8177 Pr 0:4 16 r Gz r 152 Water and 10% gly-
The experiments were conducted to three coiled tubes with dif- 3:54 r Pr r 5:149 cerol–water mix-
0:055 r δ r 0:0757 ture Isothermal
ferent coil diameter and also various pitches for each tube. The
conditions
results showed that the accuracy of the predicted values from 5. Nu ¼ 0:0472ðDnÞ0:8346 Pr 0:4 586 r Dn r 4773 Water and 10%, 20%
ANFIS models are more than the GA based correlations. Finally, 3:54 r Pr r 7:3 glycerol–water
new correlations for Nusselt number and friction factor were 0:055 r δ r 0:0757 mixture Isothermal
conditions
proposed:
6. Nu ¼ 0:0062ðM Þ1:1631 880 r M r 4642 Water and 20% gly-
cerol–water mix-
Nu ¼ 0:359Re 0:781
Pr δ
0:016 0:933
γ 0:172
ð28Þ
ture Non-iso-
thermal conditions
and
f ¼ 2:32Re 0:311 δ γ 0:074

0:467
ð29Þ
data as follows:
where γ is coil pitch.
f c ¼ 8:1
The forced convective heat transfer in helically coiled smooth
0:47
and corrugated wall tubes was studied by Rainieri et al. [27]. The R M Lice IPF 0:024
ð1 þ IPF Þ 1:0 Dn 0:5 1 þ ð31Þ
experiments were conducted in the range of Reynolds number 70– r qA
1200 and Dean number 12–290 respectively. Also, three different
curvature ratio values 0.031, 0.040 and 0.056 were considered for Num ¼ 0:072
experiments and ethylene glycol was chosen as working fluid. The 0:045
R M Lice IPF 0:036
results reveal that, in the Reynolds number range analyzed, both ð1 þ IPF Þ0:6 Dn0:86 1 þ ð32Þ
r qA
the curvature and the combination of curvature and corrugation
enhance the heat transfer. These correlations are applicable for:
Pawar and Sunnapwar [28] experimentally investigated the 380 rDn r 2500; 22:2 r R=r r 55:5; 0 r IPF r 0:22;
heat transfer in helical coils under isothermal steady state and M Lice IPF
non-isothermal unsteady state conditions. Water, glycerol–water 0r r 22:4
qA
mixture as Newtonian fluids and dilute aqueous polymer solutions
of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (SCMC), sodium alginate (SA) Heat transfer coefficients from Newtonian and non-Newtonian
fluids flowing in laminar regime in a helical coil were investigated
as non-Newtonian fluids were used as working fluids. The
by Pimenta and Campos [30]. The experiments were performed for
experiments were performed for different curvature ratios 0.0757,
constant wall temperature conditions. The helical coil used has
0.064 and 0.055, in laminar and turbulent flow. Based on experi-
internal diameter, curvature ratio, length and pitch, respectively:
mental data new correlations for Nusselt number were proposed
0.004575 m, 0.0263, 5.0 m and 11.34 mm. The Newtonian fluids
(Table 1):
were aqueous solutions of glycerol of 25%, 36%, 43%, 59% and 78%
The dimensionless number M was defined as:
(w/w) and the non-Newtonian fluids aqueous solutions of car-
Re0:64 boxymethylcellulose (CMC) of 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.4% and 0.6% (w/
M¼ 0:18 r2100 ð30Þ
0:64 a=R w) and aqueous solutions of xanthan gum (XG) of 0.1% and 0.2%
(w/w). The results revealed that the Nusselt number for the CMC
Haruki and Horibe [29] studied the flow and heat transfer solutions are slightly higher than those for Newtonian fluids and,
characteristics of ice slurry in helically-coiled pipes of a dynamic also that, the Nusselt number of the XG solutions are significant
ice-thermal storage system. The experiments were performed for lower than those of the Newtonian solutions.
different coil diameters. The inner and outer diameters of the pipe A correlation for the Nusselt number was developed by
were 14.4 mm and 16.0 mm respectively. The helical coils had six authors:
turns, and a coil pitch (P) of 30.0 mm. The curvature ratios were " #
22.2, 37.5 and 55.5. The experimental results showed that the flow 3n þ 1 0:275n d
Nu ¼ 0:486 0:717 þ0:993 i Pe0:275
resistance of ice slurry in helically-coiled pipes was influenced by 4n dc

the interaction between the buoyant force and the centrifugal force, 0:225 0:011ðn 1Þ
1 þ 0:728DnðgÞ ðWiþ 1Þ ð33Þ
due to secondary flow and the heat transfer coefficient was influ-
enced by the latent heat of the ice particles. Finally, two new cor- Eq. (33) is valid for:
relations were established for prediction of the flow resistance and
overall mean Nusselt number of ice slurry based on experimental 1. Glycerol solution: 15 o Dno 1020 and 10 oPr o 352
2. CMC and XG solutions with index behavior between 0.34 and An experimental investigation and a numerical simulation on
0.90: 17 o Pr ðgÞ o203, 4 o DnðgÞ o 487 and 32 o Wio 19; 700, helical adiabatic capillary tube with various refrigerants, namely
di =dc ¼ 0:0263, p ¼ 0:01134m; di ¼ 0:004575m R22 and R123a, under choked flow conditions were performed by
Shokouhmand and Zareh [34]. The experiments were performed
The pressure drop and the friction coefficient of a single phase for the helical capillary tubes with two different diameters
turbulent flow in a vertical coil were investigated by Saffari et al. 0.7874 mm and 1.397 mm respectively, four different lengths in
[31]. The experiments were performed for the curvature ratios of the range 4.36 m and 6.2 m, and two coil diameters 40 mm and
0.06 and 0.095 respectively, Reynolds numbers in the range 8000– 50 mm, respectively. They found that the mass flux reaches a
50,000, and void fractions between 0 and 0.09. Based on the maximum amount at a specific value of evaporator pressure in
obtained results, the authors were concluded that the diameters of choked conditions and also it is decreased by increasing the length
bubbles diminish with the increase of the flow's Reynolds number. of capillary tube. Also, critical mass flux increases by increasing of
Also, the obtained results showed that the curvature of the coils the tube inner diameter, condensation temperature and refriger-
has a negative effect on the drag reduction and that the injection ant degree of sub-cooling.
of microbubbles can be regarded as a functional method for the Bozzoli et al. [35] presented and tested a procedure to estimate
drag reduction in the helical coils the local convective heat flux in helically coiled tubes. Ethylene
Chung et al. [32] investigated two-phase heat transfer for the glycol was used as working fluid in the Reynolds number range
helically coiled tube and condensate heat transfer for the down- 100–1200 and the Prandtl number range 125–280. The results
ward straight tube to confirm the capability of the SMART design. indicated that the variation of the convective heat transfer coef-
ficient along the boundary of the duct section is very significant,
System-integrated Modular Advanced ReacTor (SMART) is a
namely at the outer surface of the coil the Nusselt number is four
330 MWt advanced integral pressurized water reactor (PWR) is
to six times that at the inner surface.
developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Institute for electricity
generation and sea water desalination (Fig. 10). The experimental
2.1.2. Numerical studies
results revealed that the two-phase heat transfer at the helically
Numerous numerical studies on helically coiled systems have
coiled tube is affected linearly by a heat flux and system pressure
been reported in literature [36–67]. Thus, Rennie and Raghavan
and the condensate heat transfer increases at a high steam flow,
[40] studied the effects of thermally dependent viscosity and non-
low pressure and large diameter. Newtonian flows on heat transfer and pressure drop in a double-
Papini et al. [33] experimentally and analytically studied pipe helical heat exchanger for laminar flow. The results reveal
thermal-hydraulic dynamic instabilities in helically coiled tubes. that the thermally dependent viscosities were little effects on the
The experiments were performed in the following conditions: Nusselt number correlations and a significantly effect on pressure
pressure between 80 bar and 20 bar, mass flux in the range drop in the inner tube.
600 kg/m2 s and 200 kg/m2 s and inlet subcooling between 30% Jayakumar et al. [41,42] experimentally and numerically
and 0%. The experimental results indicated that the effects on investigated heat transfer characteristics in helically coiled heat
instability of thermal power, mass flow rate and pressure level do exchangers. They considered fluid-to-fluid heat transfer and
not show differences in the helical geometry when compared to developed a correlation to estimate the Nusselt number inside
the straight tube case. coiled tubes:
Nu ¼ 0:015Dn0:9112 Pr 0:4 ð34Þ
which is valid to 2000 o Dn o 12; 000

Kumar et al. [43] studied fluid flow and heat transfer char-
acteristics in a tube-in-tube helically coiled heat exchanger. Air
and water were used as working fluid. Simulations were per-
formed in the following conditions: the inner tube pressure in the
range 10 and 30 bar, the mass flow rate in the outer tube between
200 and 600 kg/h, the Reynolds numbers for the inner tube in the
range 20,000 and 70,000. They found that the overall heat transfer
coefficient increases with increase in the inner-coiled tube flow
rate and with operating pressure. Also, the pressure drop was
compared with experimental data available in literature. Finally,
new correlations were proposed for the pressure drop and Nusselt
number in the outer tube of tube-in-tube helically coiled heat
exchanger:
fc
¼ 1 þ 0:0927Dn0:551 ð35Þ
fs
which is valid in the range: 300 oDn o 900

0:1
Nu ¼ 0:0509Re0:817 Pr 0:3 λ ð36Þ
Eq. (36) is applicable in the range: 5000 o Re o 15; 000,

0:74 o Pr o 150.
Mridha and Nigam [44] investigated the turbulent forced
convection in coiled flow inverter. Air, water, kerosene and ethy-
lene glycol were used as working fluids. The Reynolds number
used was ranged between 10,000 and 30,000. The results revealed
Fig. 10. Layout of SMART reactor vessel [32]. that the heat transfer enhancement in coiled flow inverter is of 4–
13% compared with the straight helical coil and relative pressure capillary tubes. Also, the results indicated that the pitch variation
drop increase with 2–9%. (more than 300 mm) had no significant effect on the length of
Kharat et al. [45] developed a mathematical model based on helical capillary tubes.
obtained data from CFD simulations and of the experimental Rennie and Raghavan [49] studied the residence time, resi-
results. This model to account the effects of different functional dence time distribution, temperature distribution and processing
dependent variables such as gap between the concentric coil, tube uniformity in a double-pipe helical heat exchanger. The outer tube
diameter and coil diameter which affects the heat transfer. The had an inner diameter of 0.1 m and a pitch of 0.115 m. Two inner
Reynolds number was in the range 20,000–150,000. The authors tube sizes were modeled, with outer diameters of 0.04 and 0.06 m,
proposed a new correlation for the Nusselt number through to both with wall thicknesses that were 15% of the diameter and a
introduce of the dimensionless parameter named "gap ratio": pitch of 0.115 m. The length of the heat exchangers from inlet to
outlet was 5.03 m (one full revolution). The radius of curvature of
Nu ¼ 0:02652604Re0:834694285 Pr 0:3 ðGap ratioÞ 0:096856199 ð37Þ
the tubes was 0.8 m. Water was used as working fluid. The Rey-
where Gap ratio ¼ D0
d
Di
nolds numbers were in the range of 255–2656 in the inner tube
Eq. (37) is valid for the ratio ¼coil gap/tube diameter between and 33–1062 in the annulus. The obtained results showed that the
0.55 and 2.25. residence time distributions became more uniform with increased
Wu et al. [46] studied the turbulent forced convective heat flow rates in both the inner tube and in the annulus, and that the
transfer and flow characteristics in a helical coiled tube with uniform temperature uniformity in the inner tube increased with increas-
wall temperature. The effects of various flow and geometric para- ing flow rate. Also, the results indicated that changing the flow
meters on the circumferential average friction factor and Nusselt rate in the annulus, for a constant flow rate in the inner tube, affect
number were studied. The Reynolds number was in range 20,000– the uniformity. Similar results were found for the annulus.
60,000. They found that the effect of the secondary flow caused by Di Piazza and Ciofalo [50] used the ANSYS CFX code to simulate
the centrifugal force on the developments and distributions of turbulent flow and heat transfer in helically coiled pipes. The
temperature and flow in turbulent flow is not as prominent as that simulations were performed in the following conditions: Reynolds
in laminar flow. Also, the results indicated that the enhancement of number between 14,000 and 80,000, Prandtl number in the range
Num in helical coiled tube was of 1.35–2.2 times compared to the 0.7–5.6 and the coil curvature between 0.003 and 0.3. The
straight tube, while the friction factor was 1.7–2.7 times. authors used different alternative turbulence models, namely k ε,
Zachár [47] studied the effect of the different geometrical SSTk ω and RSM ω. The results showed that the SSTk ω and
parameters of the corrugation for the inner side heat transfer rate RSM ω models give comparable results for the friction coefficient
in helical tube heat exchangers with helical corrugation. Reynolds and the Nusselt number, the latter being slightly better in pre-
number of the studied flow was in the range 100–7000. Two dif- dicting details of velocity and temperature profiles when com-
ferent working fluids were used in the numerical analyses, namely pared with direct numerical simulations. The standard k ε model,
water with temperature dependent flow and thermal properties with a near-wall treatment equivalent to using classic wall func-
and ethylene glycol–water mixture with a volumetric ratio 50– tions, yields a severe underprediction of both friction factor and
50%. The results indicated that for the heat exchanger coils with Nusselt number.
helically corrugated wall configuration the heat transfer is Jayakumar et al. [51] used the FLUENT code for the study the
approximately 80–100% larger compared to the heat transfer influence various parameters (coil pitch, pipe diameter, pitch circle
values of smooth helical tubes. diameter and void fraction at the inlet) on heat transfer and
A correlation was established for prediction of the Nusselt pressure drop in helical pipes. They found that the pitch circle
number as follows: diameter and pipe diameter of the helical coil and void fraction at
0:166 0:192 inlet have significant effect on the heat transfer and pressure drop
h p
Nu ¼ 0:5855Dn0:6688 Pr 0:408 ð38Þ and, hence any established correlation for the heat transfer and
d d
the pressure drop should into account these parameters.
which is valid for 30 o Dn o1400 and 3 o Pr o 30. Chingulpitak and Wongwises [52] presented a numerical study
Chingulpitak and Wongwises [48] investigated the effects of of the flow characteristics of refrigerants flowing through adiabatic
coil diameter and pitch on the flow characteristics of alternative helically coiled capillary tubes. Their results showed that the
refrigerants flowing through the adiabatic helical capillary tubes. predicted values agree well with the experimental data available
Schematic diagram of an adiabatic helical capillary tube is shown in literature for R-22, R-407C and R-410A refrigerants.
in Fig. 11. Different conventional and alternative refrigerants were Colorado et al. [53] developed a physical model to describe the
used as working fluids. The authors found that the conventional thermo-fluid-dynamic behavior of a helically coiled steam gen-
refrigerants had lower capillary lengths than alternative refriger- erator foreseen for advanced nuclear reactor applications. The
ants and that the coil diameter variation (less than 300 mm) for authors were compared physical model with the results of an
helical capillary tube geometries affected the length of helical experimental campaign carried out at SIET labs (Italy). Comparisons
Fig. 11. Schematic diagram of an adiabatic helical capillary tube [48].

Fig. 12. Outlet temperature and heat flux obtained from experiments against simulated for helical coil in oil and glycerol/water solution [54].
of the steady-state simulated data with two-phase pressure drop were performed for the modified Dean number in the range of 20–
measurements (both under diabatic and adiabatic conditions) have 400. They found that the development of friction factor and flow
shown satisfactory agreement throughout the range of the experi- pattern along with the characteristic parameters is not sig-
mental findings. nificantly affected by the variations of Reynolds number, dimen-
In another study, Colorado et al. [54] presented a method to sionless pitch, or curvature ratio at a given condition of modified
predict the outside Nusselt number for natural convection heat Dean number and inlet velocity profile. Finally a new correlation
transfer from helical heat exchanger in oil and glycerol/water solu- for the fully developed angles of laminar flows in helical pipes was
tion using an artificial neural network (ANN). ANN model considers proposed:
Prandtl number, Rayleigh number, helical diameter and coils turns pffiffiffi
number as input parameters and Nusselt number as output para- ϕf d ¼ ϕc;f d δ ð40Þ
meter. The obtained results were compared with the experimental and
results indicating a good degree of agreement (Fig. 12).
Mirgolbabaei et al. [55] studied the influence of the tube dia- Dn þ
ϕc;f d ¼ 750 1 exp ð41Þ
meter, coil pitch and shell-side mass flow rate on shell-side heat 100
transfer coefficient of the heat exchanger. Heat exchange from the which is valid for 20 oDn þ o 400.
hot fluid inside the helical pipe to the cold fluid in the shell was Colorado et al. [58] developed a physical model to describe heat
modeled with convective heat transfer in the tube, conduction transfer and fluid-dynamic behavior inside a helical double pipe
through the tube wall and convective heat transfer to the shell vertical condenser. The numerical model developed is based on
fluid. Water was used as working fluid. The simulations were the applications of governing equations and used general empiri-
performed in the following conditions: the shell-side mass flow cal correlations. The results showed that the variation of mass flow
rates in the range 0.03–0.09 kg/s, the coil-side mass flow rate was rate in the internal pipe induces important changes on the heat
considered constant 0.03 kg/s, the inlet temperature of the coil flux that the pressure and temperature.
80 °C and the inlet temperature of the shell-side fluid 20 °C. The Thermal fluid dynamics analyses on single- and two-phase
results indicated that the coil pitch has significant effect on shell- flows in helical pipes of steam generators were studied by Castiglia
side heat transfer coefficient. With increasing dimensionless coil et al. [59]. The goal of the analyses was to show that the RELAP5
pitch the heat transfer coefficient decreases while with increasing code which based on one-dimensional thermal–hydraulic rela-
the pitch to 2 tube diameters, heat transfer coefficient is increased. tionships is adequate to describe single and two-phase flows in
Also it was concluded that heat transfer coefficient decreases by compact heat exchangers helical pipes. Therefore, the RELAP5 was
increasing the tube diameter for the same dimensionless coil modified through additional correlations valid for single-and two-
pitch. Finally, a new correlation was proposed: phase flow phase flow. Experimental data was used for validate
0:769 the modified RELAP5 code.
Dt
NuLn ¼ 0:073 Re0:005
Ln Pr 0:15 0:231
Ln RaLn ð39Þ Natural convection induced heat transfer over the outer surface
Dc
of helically coiled-tube heat exchangers has been numerically
which is valid for 40 o ReLn o 205 and 8 106 o RaLn o2:2 108 . studied by Zachár [60]. Seven types of coils with different con-
Mehrabi et al. [56] studied the heat transfer and fluid flow figurations were studied and the working fluid was water. The
characteristics of helicoidally double-pipe heat exchangers using numerical analyses were conducted in the range of Reynolds
Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). The analyses number 4000–45,000. The results indicate that the outer side heat
were performed in the following conditions: the Prandtl numbers transfer rate is slightly dependent on the inner flow rate of any
6.99, 12.8, 30.2 and 70.3, the coil pitch 1.51, 1.91, 2.31, and 2.71 cm, helical tube in case of increasing temperature differences between
and flow rates between 100 and 700 cm3/min. The results this the tank working fluid temperature and the coil inlet temperature.
study indicates are the high ability of ANFIS network for modeling Ferng et al. [61] proposed a computational fluid dynamics
the more complicated engineering processes in which there is no methodology to investigate effects of different Dean number and
obvious mathematical relationship to express their behavior. pitch size on thermal–hydraulic characteristics in a helically coil-tube
Kim et al. [57] presented a numerical study on the similarity of heat exchanger. The geometrical dimensions of the helically coil-tube
the developing laminar flows in helical. The numerical simulations heat exchanger were the following: the coiled pipe diameter (d) of
18 mm, the coil diameter (D) of 224 mm, and the pitch sizes of 112, length of helical tube was reduced about 14% compared with the
78.5, 52, 39.2 mm. The simulations were performed for turbulent straight one in order to meet the same required refrigerant mass
flow, and water was used as working fluid. The numerical results flux. Also, the results indicated that, for the same mass flux of R22
were validated by the experiments performed of [12,15,23]. flow, the length of coiled capillary tube with coil diameter of 40 mm
Zhou et al. [62] developed a model for the thermodynamic is 30% and 36% less than the length of helical capillary tubes with coil
optimization of the tube-in-tube helically coiled heat exchangers.
diameters 80 mm and 100 mm, respectively.
This model was based on available work loss minimization. The
Fully developed incompressible viscous flow inside a helical
results showed that the larger outer tube diameters within the
annulus using a projection algorithm based on a second order
given range are accompanied with the lower available work loss.
finite difference was numerically investigated by Nobari and
Also, results indicated that the heat exchanger flow length can be
optimized by selecting the suitable inner tube number with an Malvandi [66]. The effects of torsion, curvature, aspect ratio and
appropriate inner tube diameter for given outer tube geometries. Reynolds number on the fluid field characteristics involving the
The developed model and obtained results can be useful for axial flow, secondary flow pattern and friction factor were studied.
designing such heat exchangers for cryogenic applications in The numerical results indicated that a decrease in the aspect ratio
Joule–Thomson refrigerators. and torsion number leads to the increase of the friction factor at a
Zachár [63] presented and numerically investigated a new tube- given Dean number.
in-tube helical flow distributor design to improve temperature Fernández-Seara et al. [67] studied the heat transfer and
stratification inside hot water storage tanks operated with coiled- pressure drop in a vertical helical coil heat exchanger (HCHE)
tube heat exchangers. Two different gaps between the inner surface located inside a fluid storage tank. Water was used as working
of the helical flow distributor and the outer surface of the helical fluid. The results showed that the Nusselt number, calculated with
pipe are examined to gather information about the stratification the outer tube diameter as the characteristic length, improves by
improvement ability of the flow distributor. It is found that the
increasing the outer tube diameter. Moreover, the heat transfer
Nusselt number values in the case of the tube-in-tube flow dis-
was independent of the other geometric parameters for a given
tributor were strongly dependent on the gap between the outer
value of inner heat exchanger area. The numerical results were
surface of the heat exchanger coil and the inner surface of the helical
distributor. Also, the results revealed that the buoyancy induced validated with experimental data obtained from an own facility
velocity field inside the helical flow distributor has a significantly with two helical coil heat exchangers tested under several oper-
different secondary flow field than the secondary flow field of the ating conditions.
common helical tube heat exchangers.
Lin et al. [64] investigated the flow and heat transfer char- 2.1.3. Analytical studies
acteristics of helically coiled tube heat exchangers applied in high Shokouhmand and Salimpour [68] analytically investigated the
temperature gas reactors with different numbers of turns using
fully developed laminar flow and heat transfer in a helically coiled
Navier–Stokes equations with different turbulence models: low-
tube with uniform wall temperature. Water and air were used as
Reynolds k ε, realizable k ε and Reynolds stress turbulence
working fluids in turbulent flow. They found that the increase of
models. Each coiled tube was constructed by bending a straight
tube into coiled tubes with 7, 10 and 15 turns that correspond to Reynolds number will increase the entropy generation due to
pitch sizes of 112 mm, 78.5 mm, and 52 mm, respectively. The pressure loss, while the entropy generation due to heat transfer is
simulations were performed in the following conditions: water decreased. Also, optimum Reynolds numbers decrease as curvature
(flowing through tube) and helium (flowing through the shell ratio increases except in the low ranges of curvature ratio where
side) were used as working fluids; fully developed profile of the transition to turbulent flow occurs. Finally, new correlations for
turbulent flow, for water-Reynolds number, the mass flow rate and optimum Reynolds number were proposed using least square
temperature were 28,900, 0.1163 kg/s, and 377 K, respectively; for analysis:
helium-Reynolds number, the mass flow rate and temperature
were of 14,800, 0.14333 kg/s and 973 K, respectively. The results 1. for air:
showed that a larger pitch between coils enhances heat transfer in
both tube and shell sides and that the lower thermal efficiency 0:53
0:45 β2
was obtained for heat exchangers with fewer turns that exhibit Reopt ¼ 2100β 1 δ 0:19 ð42Þ
higher heat transfer ability, but a smaller heat transfer area. Also, 10 10
the low-Reynolds model exhibits larger turbulence intensity
Table 3
around the coil-tube, which strongly enhances the thermal effi-
The correlations for membrane serpentine-tube heat exchangers.
ciency in the preheating section.
Zareh et al. [65] developed a drift flux model for simulation of the Crt. No. s1 =d Double-side symmetrical Double-side asymmetrical
refrigerant flow in helical tube, using modified friction factor equa- heating heating
tion. R134a and R12 refrigerants were used as working fluids. The
1. 2 Nu ¼ 0:3328Re0:6073 Pr 1=3 Nu ¼ 0:3036Re0:6057 Pr 1=3
results showed that for the same length and under similar condi-
tions, the mass flux through helical tube with coil diameter 40 mm where s1 is radial pitch between membrane helical coils and serpentine tubes
was about 11% less than that of the straight capillary tube, where the (mm) and d is external diameter of tube (mm).
Table 2
The correlations for membrane helical-coil heat exchangers.
Sl. No. s1 =d Single-side heating Double-side symmetrical heating Double-side asymmetrical heating
1. 2 Nu ¼ 0:4942Re0:7155 Pr 0:85 Nu ¼ 0:2861Re0:7217 Pr 0:85 Nu ¼ 0:1709Re0:7559 Pr 0:85

2. 1.6 Nu ¼ 0:2625Re0:7274 Pr 0:85 Nu ¼ 0:1785Re0:7322 Pr 0:85 Nu ¼ 0:1826Re0:7157 Pr 0:85
where s1 is radial pitch between membrane helical coils and serpentine tubes (mm) and d is external diameter of tube (mm).
Table 4
Nusselt number and friction factor correlations.
Sl.no. Nusselt number correlations Friction factor correlations Remarks
1. Nu ¼ 1:5Dn0:827 δ0:0008 ϕ1:1694 f ¼ 0:559Dn0:0376 δ0:18 ϕ1:164 Horizontal position 1600 o Dn o 4000
2. Nu ¼ 1:28Dn1:1 δ0:9617 ϕ1:0987 f ¼ 0:034Dn0:412 δ0:085 ϕ1:212
3. Nu ¼ 3:67Dn0:67 δ0:009 ϕ1:004 f ¼ 0:602Dn0:0794 δ0:20 ϕ1:177 Vertical position 1600 o Dn o 4000
4. Nu ¼ 0:48Dn1:23 δ0:99 ϕ1:0721 f ¼ 0:051Dn0:902 δ1:001 ϕ1:15
for water: six capillary lengths (2.4 m, 3.2 m, 4.0 m, 4.8 m, 5.6 m and 6.4 m).
0:53 They found that the coil pitch has an significantly effects on of the
0:05 β2
Reopt ¼ 1790β1 δ 0:02 ð43Þ mass flow rate of R-134a through the adiabatic spiral capillary
10 10 tube (Fig. 13) and, also, that the effect of coiling of capillary tube
β1 ¼ μ4kC p dimensionless parameter reduces the mass flow rate by 5–15% as compared to those of the
β2 ¼ 32ρ2μa2 kT w dimensionless parameter:
3
straight capillary tube operating under similar conditions.
Mittal et al. [77] studied the effect of the pitch of spiral on the
A predictive numerical model to describe heat transfer and fluid- mass flow rate of refrigerant and of capillary tube length using a
dynamic behavior of a helical double-pipe (tube-in-tube) vertical homogenous model including the metastable liquid region. R22,
evaporator, used in the frame of heat pump technology, was pre- R407C and R410A refrigerants were used as working fluids. The
sented by Colorado et al. [69]. The proposed model is aimed at numerical results were validated with those from Khan [75]. They
optimizing and controlling the whole heat pump system. More- found that the mass flow rate increases with increase of pitch, and
over, commercial software can be successfully applied over helical that the flow characteristics of R22 and R407C are quite similar at
systems. the same condenser pressure and same degree of subcooling. Lee
The avoidable exergy destruction for steady, laminar, fully [78] studied on the air-side heat transfer characteristics of spiral-
developed forced convection in a helical coiled tube with uniform type circular fin-tube heat exchangers used as evaporators in
wall temperature was analyzed analytically by Bahiraei et al. [70]. household refrigerators.
Water was used as working fluid in laminar flow. The results Yoo et al. [79] numerically studied horizontal spiral coils of six
indicated that the optimum Dean number increases with the turns in which radius of curvature was increased exponentially
increment of temperature difference, and of Prandtl number and with the polar angle. They found that the effect of Reynolds
decreases with increase in Duty parameter. Finally, two correla- number was stronger than that of the curvature.
tions for optimum Dean number were proposed: A numerical study of laminar flow heat transfer in-plane spiral
0:7952 ducts with rectangular, square, triangular, trapezoidal, circular and
Dnopt γ
¼ 9:1912δ Pr 1:5280 θ ψ
0:0745 1:2935 1:2412
6 12 half circular cross sections, and compared them to straight ducts of
10 10
the same cross sections and at the same length as the coiled ducts
valid for 0:016 r δ r 0:083 ð44Þ
was performed by Sasmito et al. [80]. The results revealed that the
1:0985 in-plane spiral ducts have higher heat transfer performance than
Dnopt 0:1049 γ
¼ 42:6281δ Pr 2:1371 θ ψ 1:8320
1:9799
straight ducts.
106 10 12
The convection heat transfer and the laminar friction losses in
valid for 0:083 r δ r 0:167 ð45Þ
combined entry region of horizontal spiral tube coils were numeri-
cally investigated by Altaç and Altun [81]. Water and air were used as
2.2. Spirally coil tubes working fluids. The simulations were performed for four different
curvature ratios (2.5, 5, 7 and 17). The results showed that the cen-
Compared to the numerous investigations in the helically trifugal force and the secondary flow have significant effects on the
coiled tubes, there are few studies on the heat transfer in the enhancement of heat transfer and the friction losses.
spiral-coil heat exchangers in available literature [71–81]. Thus,
Naphon and Suwagrai [74] experimentally and numerically stu-
2.3. Other
died the effect of curvature ratios on the heat transfer and flow
developments in the horizontal spirally coiled tubes. The spirally
Conté and Peng [82,83] numerically investigated the flow
coiled tubes were tested for three different curvature ratios, 0.02,
behavior and its influence on the temperature distribution and
0.04 and 0.05, under constant wall temperature. Water was used
heat transfer in rectangular coiled pipes. The simulation was per-
as working fluid in turbulent flow. The experiments were per-
formed in the following conditions: inlet-cold water temperature formed for four rectangular coiled pipes at three different Rey-
between 20 °C and 25 °C, inlet-hot water temperature in the range nolds numbers (300, 700 and 1400) and four different straight-
45–60 °C, and cold water mass flow rate between 0.02 and 0.16. tube angles of inclination (9°, 15°, 30° and 45°). The results showed
The results showed that the centrifugal force was significant effect that the temperature distributions were affected by the flow pat-
on the developments and distributions temperature and flow in terns. Also, high heat transfer performances were observed for the
the spirally coiled tube. Therefore, the Nusselt number and pres- coil with smaller angle of straight tube inclination.
sure drop obtained from the spirally coiled tube were 1.49, 1.50 Salimpour [84] experimentally studied the heat transfer in shell
times higher than those from the straight tube, respectively. and helically coiled tube heat exchangers. The experiments were
Khan et al. [75,76] experimentally investigate the flow of R- performed for three heat exchangers with two coil pitches (0.113
134a inside an adiabatic and diabatic spirally coiled capillary tube and 0.157). Water as used as working fluid. The results showed
with various geometric parameters. The experiments were per- that the shell-side heat transfer coefficients of the coils with larger
formed for three diameters of capillary tube (1.12 mm, 1.40 mm pitches are higher than those for smaller pitches. Two correlations
and 1.63 mm), three coil pitches (20 mm, 40 mm and 60 mm) and to predict the inner and outer heat transfer coefficients of the
coiled tube heat exchangers were proposed:
Nui ¼ 0:152Dn0:431 Pr 1:06 γ 0:277 ð46Þ
Nuo ¼ 19:64Re0:513
o Pr 0:129 γ 0:938 ð47Þ
Conté and Peng [85] numerically and experimentally investi-

gated of convective heat transfer from a single round pipe coiled in
rectangular pattern (Fig. 14). Water was using as working fluid. The
simulations were performed in the following conditions: for hot
water which flowing through tube: Reynolds number, Re¼151,
inlet velocity, V¼ 0.1 m/s, and the temperature T¼ 318 K; for cold
water which flowing over the coiled pipe: the Reynolds number
Re¼201, the velocity V ¼0.2 m/s and the temperature T¼294 K.
Also, simulations and experiments were performed for two cases
with different outside flow arrangements, namely staggered and
in-line arrangement. The results of both numerical and experi-
mental investigations showed the effects of geometric arrange-
ment with better heat transfer for the staggered arrangement due
mainly to its more tortuous flow characteristics and better mixing Fig. 15. Effect of curvature ratio on the development of axial velocity profile in
of the exterior fluid. horizontal centerline [86].
Vashisth and Nigam [86] numerically investigated the local

variables and interfacial phenomena for air–water flow system in phases in coiled tubes was proposed:
coiled tubes. The simulations were performed in the following 0:152
LTP;coil ¼ 0:65ðDnTP Þ0:3 Dc λ ð48Þ
conditions: Reynolds number in the range 20–2000, curvature
ratio 10, 30 and 50, dimensionless pitch 0.0318, 0.047, 0.064 and and
0.0796. The results showed that the curvature of the coil cause 0:3
LTP;coil 0:181 DnTP
substantial asymmetry in the radial distribution of the main flow ¼ 0:85λ 0:33
ð49Þ
LSP;coil Dn
velocity (Fig. 15) and the effect of pitch were found to reduce the
magnitude of average friction factor at different axial locations valid for 0:003 r V SL r0:5 m=s and 0:045 r V SG r 1:45 m=s.
down the length of the coiled tube. Finally, a new correlation to Nobari et al. [87] analyzed the developing flow and heat
determine the entry length of flow taking into account both the transfer in a curved annular pipe using projection method based
on the second order finite difference discretization to solve the
governing equations including continuity, full Navier–Stokes, and
energy equations. They concluded that the friction factor and
Nusselt number in the curved annular pipe are both proportional
to the square root of Dean Number. In another study, Nobari and
Amani [88] studied developing flow and heat transfer in a curved
pipe for two thermal boundary conditions considering the range of
Dean numbers 76–522 at the two Prandtl numbers of 0.5 and 1.
Later, Nobari and Mehrabani [89] studied the fluid flow and heat
transfer in eccentric curved annuli using a second order finite
difference method based on the projection algorithm. The analyses
were performed for different eccentricities (0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5,
0.7 and 0.8) and different curvatures ratios of eccentric curved
annulus (0.54, 0.74, 1.3, 2.4, 7.5 and 15). The results showed that
the heat transfer rate can be augmented in the eccentric curved
annuli at the large Dean numbers depending on the eccentricity
and the curvature ratio.
Heat transfer of pressurized coal gasifier convection cooling
Fig. 13. Effect of coil pitch and capillary tube length on refrigerant mass flow rate [75].
section with the membrane helical coils and membrane serpentine
tubes (Fig. 16) under high pressure was experimentally investi-
gated by Yang et al. [90] and numerically by Zhao [91]. Water in
helical coil, He, N2 and the gas mixture (molar ratio N2:
He¼2:1) outside the helical coil were used as the working fluids.
The experiments were performed in the following conditions: the
pressure in the range 0.5 MPa and 3.0 MPa, the temperature
between 150 °C and 450 °C and the Reynolds number from 3900
to 300,000. The experimental results showed that the working
pressure, gas composition and symmetry of flow around the coil
affect the convection heat transfer coefficient for high pressure
gas. Also, the results revealed that the heat transfer coefficients of
heat exchanger with membrane helical coils were greater than
that of the heat exchanger with serpentine tubes under the same
Fig. 14. Simulated model of the studied heat exchanger [85]. heat transfer conditions (Tables 2 and 3).
Fig. 16. Geometrical configurations of (a) membrane helical coil and (b) membrane
serpentine tubes [90].
Fig. 17. Test section of shell and coiled tube heat exchanger [96].
Genic´ et al. [92,93] experimentally studied of the shell-side

thermal performances of heat exchangers with helical tube coils. Tanaka et al. [97] numerically studied the heat transportation
Water was used as working fluid. The experiments were per- through oscillatory flow in curved tubes. Water was used as
formed for the following conditions: the Reynolds number working fluid in laminar flow. The simulations were performed for
between 1000 and 9000, the Prandtl number in the range 2.6 and frequencies of the oscillatory flow in the range 0.1–2.0 Hz and the
6.0 and the hydraulic diameter between 9.1 and 18.3 mm. From curvature ratio ranging from 0.0125 to 0.075. The results indicated
obtained results was found that the shell-side heat transfer coef- that the dispersion of fluid particles due to secondary flow caused
ficients can be based on shell side hydraulic diameter, so that a the enhancement of heat transportation.
new correlation for the Nusselt number was proposed:
0:14
Nu ¼ 0:50Re0:55 Pr 1=3 η=ηw ð50Þ 2.4. Conclusions
valid for 1000 r Re r 9000, 2:6 r Pr r 6:0 and 9:1 r dh r18:3 mm.
A comprehensive review on heat transfer and flow character-
Di Liberto and Ciofalo [94] numerically studied the fully
istics with different conventional fluids (water, air, kerosene,
developed turbulent flow and heat transfer in curved pipes. Water
was used as working fluid. The simulations were performed for ethylene glycol, glycerol, ethylene glycol–water mixture, refriger-
three curvatures 0 (straight pipe), 0.1 and 0.3, for Reynolds num- ants (HFC-134a, R-407C, R12, R22 and R123a), and non-Newtonian
bers between 12,630 and 17,350 and for a Prandtl number of 0.86. fluids (dilute aqueous polymer solutions of sodium carboxymethyl
The results indicated that in curved pipes, time averaged results cellulose (SCMC), sodium alginate (SA), solutions of carbox-
exhibited Dean circulation and a strong velocity and temperature ymethylcellulose (CMC), aqueous solutions of xanthan gum (XG))
stratification in the radial direction. Also, turbulence and heat based on experimental, numerical and analytical investigations in
transfer were strongly asymmetric, with higher values near the helically coiled tubes, spirally coiled tubes and other curved tubes
outer pipe bend. is present. Experiments were performed in both laminar and tur-
Ghobadi and Muzychka [95] experimentally investigated the bulent flow regimes. Most of the studies showed that the heat
effect of curvature on the heat transfer in curved tubes with a transfer coefficient and the frictional pressure drop in curved
constant length and different curvatures. Water and three low tubes were higher than in straight heat exchangers. Also, the
viscosity silicone oils were used as working fluids. The experi- results indicated that in helical tube heat exchangers with helically
ments were performed in the following conditions: the Prandtl corrugated wall configuration, the heat transfer coefficient is
numbers between 5 and 40, the Reynolds number in the range 7–
approximately 80–100% larger compared to the heat transfer
2000, and the surface temperature of 40 °C. The results indicated
values of smooth helical tubes. Moreover, the results reveal that
that the heat transfer was increased by decreasing the radius of
the diameters ratio (D/d0) and pitch ratio (P/d0) have important
curvature, and increasing the length at the same curvature, results
effects on the average heat transfer coefficient. New correlations
in significantly increasing the total heat transfer. Also, the results
revealed that the entrance effect dominates the augmentation in for the friction factor, the two-phase frictional multiplier, the heat
short lengths; however the secondary flow effect becomes greater transfer coefficient, the mass transfer coefficients, the Nusselt
by increasing the curved tubing length. number, the Reynolds number, the Dean number were proposed.
Jamshidi et al. [96] experimentally studied the effects of shell
and tube side flow rate, coil diameter and coil pitch on heat
transfer rate in coiled tube heat exchangers (Fig. 17) using Wilson
plot and Taguchi method. The experiments were performed in the 3. Nanofluids
following conditions: the coil diameter between 0.0813 m and
Heat transfer can be enhanced by employing various techni-
0.116 m, the coil pitches in the range 0.013–0.018 m, tube and shell
flow rates from 1 to 4 LPM, Dean number between 1000 and 2800. ques and methodologies, such as increasing the heat transfer
The results showed that the higher coil diameter, coil pitch and surface or the heat transfer coefficient between the fluid and the
mass flow rate in shell and tube can enhance the heat transfer rate, surface. In the recent years, the intensification of the heat transfer
and also, the contribution ratio obtained by the Taguchi method has been reported due to the use of nanofluids. The most
showed that shell side flow rate, coil diameter, tube side flow rate remarkable characteristics of these fluids comprise improved heat
and coil pitch were the most important design parameters in transfer features, such as thermal conductivity and convective heat
coiled heat exchangers. transfer coefficient in comparison to the base fluid.
3.1. Helically coiled tubes proposed:

0:180
3.1.1. Experimental studies Nu ¼ 41:730Re0:346 Pr 0:286 1 þ ϕ ð52Þ
Suresh et al. [98] studied the convective heat transfer and the applicable in the range o ϕ o 2:0%, Re o125, 700 o Pr o2050.
friction factor characteristics in the plain and helically dimpled Kahani et al. [104] performed a comparative study between
tube under turbulent flow. Constant heat flux was adopted as metal oxide nanopowders on thermal characteristics of nanofluid
thermal boundary condition. Water and copper oxide nano- flow through helical coils. Constant heat flux was adopted as
particles (CuO) were used as working fluid. CuO nanoparticles of thermal boundary condition. Water and Al2O3 and TiO2 nano-
15.3 nm size were synthesized by the sol–gel method. The effects particles with diameters of 35 nm and 50 nm respectively were
particle concentration (0.1 vol%, 0.2 vol% and 0.3 vol%) and of the used as working fluids. The experiments were performed for the
dimples were examined. The experiments were performed for the Reynolds number between 500 and 4500, and for the nano-
Reynolds number in the range 2500–6000. The results showed particles concentrations of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 vol%. The results
that the Nusselt number with dimpled tube and nanofluids was showed that for both tested nanofluids, the convective heat
about 19%, 27% and 39% (for 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.3% volume con- transfer coefficient and the pressure drop increases with increas-
centrations respectively) higher than the Nusselt number obtained ing nanoparticle concentrations as well as Reynolds number, but
with plain tube and water. Also, the pressure loss of the nanofluids Al2O3/water nanofluids showed more enhancements compared
increase slightly compared with that of distilled water. Finally, two with TiO2/water. Finally, two correlations for the Nusselt number
correlations for the Nusselt number and the friction factor were and one correlation for the pressure drop were proposed:
proposed: Nusselt number correlations:
80:78 p2:089
Nu ¼ 0:00105Re0:984 Pr 0:4 1 þ ϕ 1þ ð51Þ 1. for TiO2/water nanofluids:
d
Pakdaman et al. [99,100] investigated the thermo-physical
Nu ¼ 0:5He0:522 Pr 0:613 ϕ
0:0815
properties, the heat transfer and the pressure drop of MWCNT/ ð53Þ
oil nanofluids flow inside vertical helically coiled tubes. Constant
2. for Al2O3/water nanofluids:
wall temperature was adopted as thermal boundary condition. The
Nu ¼ 0:7068He0:514 Pr 0:563 ϕ
experiments were carried out on oil-based Walled Carbon Nano- 0:112
ð54Þ
Tube (MWCNT) nanofluids containing 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.4% by
weight nanoparticles at 40–70 °C. The results illustrated that the applicable in the range: 0:25% o ϕ o 1:0%, 115:3 o He
suspending nanoparticles in the base fluid enhances its thermo- o 1311:4, 5:89 oPr o 8:95.
physical properties noticeably. The presented results showed, also, Pressure drop correlation:
that the high overall performance index of up to 6.4 was obtained Δp ¼ 5:584He1:36 ϕ0:446 d0:163 ð55Þ
p
for the simultaneous utilization of both heat transfer enhancement
techniques (nanofluid and helical coil). Behabadi et al. [101] This correlation is valid for metal oxide (spherical and shape
investigated heat transfer using Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes nanoparticle)/water nanofluids with ϕ o1:0%, 115:3 o Heo
(MWCNT) dispersed in heat transfer oil flow in a vertical helical 1311:4, 35 nm o dp o 50 nm
coil. The results revealed that nanofluid flows showed much Akbaridoust et al. [105] experimentally and numerically stu-
higher Nusselt numbers compared to the base fluid flow. died the convective heat transfer and the pressure drop inside in
Kannadasan et al. [102] performed a comparison of heat helically coiled tubes using dispersion model. Constant wall tem-
transfer and pressure drop characteristics in a helically coiled heat perature was adopted as thermal boundary condition. Water and
exchanger held in horizontal and vertical positions. The experi- CuO nanoparticles with the diameter of 68 nm and with 0.1% and
ments were carried out on water-based copper oxide (CuO) 0.2% volume concentration were used as working fluid. They found
nanofluids containing 0.1% and 0.2% by volume nanoparticles and that the homogeneous model noticeably predicted lower
the Dean number between 1600 and 4000. The results revealed enhanced heat transfer compared to the experimental results,
that the Nusselt number for the nanofluid with of 0.2% volume therefore the model was modified to be applicable for helical
concentration was 47% when compared to water in horizontal tubes. The presented results showed, also, that the heat transfer
position and of 48% in vertical position, which means that no are coefficient and pressure drop of nanofluids increase by increasing
difference between horizontal and vertical arrangements. The the particles concentration.
results showed, also, the friction factor increases while increasing The performance of an agitated helical coil heat exchanger, in
particle volume concentration. Finally, two correlations for the terms of the energy consumed to heat another fluid, was investi-
Nusselt number and the friction factor were developed (Table 4): gated by Srinivas and Vinod [106]. The experiments were per-
Hashemi and Akhavan-Behabadi [103] studied pressure drop formed for water and Al2O3 nanoparticles with diameters of 20–
and heat transfer characteristics inside horizontal helically coiled 30 nm and with the weight concentrations of 0.15%, 0.3%, 0.45%,
pipe. Constant heat flux was adopted as thermal boundary con- 0.6% and 0.75%. The results showed that the energy savings were
dition. Oil and copper oxide (CuO) were used as working fluid. The more in laminar and turbulent conditions of flow than transition
experiments were performed for nanofluids with the weight regime, and percentage savings increase with increase in nano-
concentrations of 0.5%, 1% and 2%, and the Reynold number particles concentration.
between 10 and 100. They defined a parameter called performance Wu et al. [107] investigated the pressure drop and heat transfer
index so as to find the optimum work conditions of two enhanced in a double-pipe helical heat exchanger. Water and alumina
heat transfer techniques, nanofluid and helical pipe. The results nanoparticles (Al2O3) with mean diameter of 40 nm were used as
showed that the nanofluids have better heat transfer character- working fluid. The experiments performed for the nanoparticles
istics when they flow in helical tube rather than in the straight concentrations of 0.78 wt%, 2.18 wt%, 3.89 wt%, 5.68 wt% and
tube. Compared to base oil flow, maximum heat transfer 7.04 wt%, in both laminar flow and turbulent flows. The results
enhancement of 18.7% and 30.4% was obtained for nanofluid flow indicated that the heat transfer enhancement was between 0.37%
with 2 wt% concentration inside the straight tube and helical tube, and 3.43% for the constant flow velocity basis for both laminar and
respectively. A new correlation for the Nusselt number was turbulent flows. Finally, a new correlation for the Nusselt number
in laminar flow was proposed: results showed, also that the pressure drop increased as the helix
0:775 0:4 radius was reduced and decreased as the inner tube diameter was
Nu ¼ 0:089Dn Pr ð56Þ
increased. The same team of researchers [113] studied the effects
applicable for 100 o Dn o 1300, 4:0 o Pr o 7:0 and ϕ o 2:0% of different nanoparticles types (Al2O3, SiO2, CuO, ZnO), with dia-
The effect of two different techniques of heat transfer meters between 25 nm and 80 nm and volume concentrations of
enhancement, namely nanofluidics and helical coiling on the nanoparticles in the range 0% and 4% in different types of base
convection heat transfer were studied by Kahani et al. [108]. Water fluids (water, ethylene glycol, engine oil), on the hydraulic and
and multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) with weight con- thermal characteristics in helically coiled tube heat exchangers
centrations of 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.5% were used as working fluid. The under laminar flow conditions. The results showed that nanofluids
results revealed that by increasing the Reynolds number or of the can enhance the thermal properties and the performances of the
weight concentration of nanofluid, the Nusselt number increases helically coiled tube heat exchanger but it is accompanied with a
considerably. Also, they concluded that the helical coiling techni- slight increase in pressure drop. Also, they found that the Nusselt
que showed better performance than nanofluidics. Also, the same number was highest using CuO–water nanofluid and the rotation
team of researches [109] studied the influence of curvature ratio can enhance heat transfer rates.
and coils pitch on the heat transfer and the pressure drop inside of The effects of nanoparticle volume concentrations and curva-
the helical coils. Water and alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles with ture ratio of the helically coiled tube-in-tube heat exchangers on
volume concentrations of 0.25% and 1.0% in laminar flow were the heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics were investi-
used as working fluid. The experiments were performed for coils gated by Aly [114]. Water and alumina nanoparticles (Al2O3) with
with the curvature ratio of 10 and 20 and the coil pitch 24 and 42. the diameter of 40 nm and with volume concentrations of 0.5%,
The results showed that the heat transfer rate improved with the 1.0% and 2.0% in turbulent flow were used as working fluid. It was
increase of pitch coils and decrease of curvature ratio. concluded that the heat transfer coefficient increases by increasing
the coil diameter and nanoparticles volume concentration. Also,
3.1.2. Numerical studies the results showed that the friction factor increases with the
The heat transfer characteristics of a double tube helical heat increase in curvature ratio and pressure drop penalty was negli-
exchanger were investigated under laminar flow conditions by gible with increasing the nanoparticles volume concentration
Huminic and Huminic [110]. Water and CuO and TiO2 nano- (Fig. 19).
particles with diameters of 24 nm and with volume concentrations
between 0.5% and 3.0% were used as the working fluid. The results 3.1.3. Analytical studies
showed that for 2% CuO nanoparticles in water, the heat transfer Khairul et al. [115] studied the effects of volume flow rate,
rate of the nanofluid was approximately 14% greater than of pure nanoparticles volume fraction, mass flow rate, density, thermal
water, but the enhancement begins to worsen because higher conductivity, Reynolds number and Nusselt number on heat
particle concentration leads to higher viscosity. transfer coefficient and entropy generation rate of the helically
Jamshidi et al. [111] performed a study concerning the heat coiled heat exchangers. Water and CuO, Al2O3 and ZnO nano-
transfer and the pressure drop inside helical coils (Fig. 18). Water particles with volume concentrations of between 1% and 4% were
and alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles with volume concentrations of used as working fluids. They found that CuO/water nanofluids
increase the heat transfer coefficient and decrease the entropy
1%, and 2% were used as working fluids. Constant wall tempera-
generation about 7.14% and 6.14% respectively.
ture was adopted as thermal boundary condition. The simulations
were performed in laminar flow. For finding the optimum condi-
3.2. Spirally coiled tubes
tion (coil diameter, coil pitch and mass flow rate), the Taguchi
method was used. The results indicated that the nanofluids
Jamal-Abad et al. [116] experimentally investigated the heat
enhance the thermal–hydraulic performance of helical coils and
transfer coefficient and friction factor of the nanofluids flowing in
that the most important design parameters were coil diameter and
a spiral coil in the laminar flow. Constant wall temperature was
coil pitch, respectively.
adopted as thermal boundary condition. Water and copper (Cu)
The effects of the geometrical parameters of helically coiled
and aluminum (Al) nanoparticles with volume concentrations of
tube heat exchanger (the helix radius, helix pitch, annulus dia-
0.55%, 1.12%, and 2.23% were used as working fluids. The results
meter and inner tube diameter) on heat transfer and fluid flow
indicated that the use of nanofluids with the higher concentration
characteristics were studied by Mohammed and Narrein [112].
provides considerably higher Nusselt numbers and pressure drop
Water and copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles with the diameter of
penalty was negligible with increasing the nanoparticles volume
25 nm and with a volume concentration of 4% were used as
concentration. They concluded that applying spiral coil was a more
working fluid. It was concluded that the heat transfer can be
effective than using of the nanofluids to enhance the convection
enhanced by reducing the helix radius, increasing the inner tube
heat transfer coefficient.
diameter and decreasing the annulus diameter. The presented
Sasmito et al. [117] numerically studied the laminar flow
nanofluids in square cross section tubes, i.e., straight, conical
spiral, in-plane spiral and helical spiral (Fig. 20). Water and CuO
and Al2O3 nanoparticles with volume concentrations between 1%
and 3% were used as working fluids. The result revealed that
adding 1% nanoparticle volume concentration improves heat
transfer performance and the figure of merit for all tubes. Also,
Al2O3/water nanofluids gives slightly better heat transfer perfor-
mance than CuO/water nanofluids in coiled tubes.
3.3. Other
Akbarinia and Behzadmehr [118] numerically studied the

Fig. 18. The geometry and design parameters of helical tubes [111]. effects of particles concentration on the hydrodynamic and
Fig. 19. Curvature effect on heat transfer and friction factor [114].
The effects of buoyancy force, magnetic force and centrifugal

force on the hydrothermal behavior of kerosene based ferrofluid
flow in a vertical tube using the two phase mixture model were
numerically studied by Aminfar et al. [122]. Water and Fe3O4
nanoparticles with a volume concentration of 4% were used as
working fluids. They concluded that the heat transfer coefficient
can be enhanced using the curved tube instead of straight tube,
adding magnetic nanoparticles to the base fluid and applying
external magnetic field. Also, obtained results revealed that the
heat transfer was enhanced due to the secondary flow augmen-
tation and thermal conductivity improvement.
3.4. Conclusions
A comprehensive review on heat transfer and flow character-

istics with different types of nanofluids based on experimental,
numerical and analytical investigations in helically coiled tubes,
spirally coiled tubes and other curved tubes is present. Nanofluids
used as working fluids were CuO/water, Al2O3/water, MWCNT/
water, MWCNT/oil, TiO2/water, ZnO/water, Cu/water, Al/water and
Fe3O4/water. Experiments were performed in both laminar and
turbulent flow regimes with constant heat flux and constant wall
Fig. 20. Computational domain for (a) straight tube, (b) conical spiral tube, (c) in-
plane spiral tube, and (d) helical spiral tube [117].
temperature boundary conditions. The results showed that the
heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop increases with
thermal parameters of fully developed laminar mixed convection increasing nanoparticles concentrations as well as Reynolds
number. Also, some studies reported that the heat transfer rate
of a nanofluid in a horizontal curved tube. Water and alumina
increases with the increasing of pitch coil and decreasing of
(Al2O3) nanoparticles with volume concentrations between 1% and
curvature ratio.
4% were used as working fluids. They concluded that increasing
nanoparticles concentration had a positive effect on the heat
transfer enhancement. Also, Akbarinia [119] numerically studied 4. Future directions and challenges
the effect of laminar flow mixed convection of nanofluids in hor-
izontal curved tubes. The results revealed that the nanoparticle Curved tubes and nanofluids are two different techniques to
volume concentration does not affect the secondary flow, axial enhance the thermal performances of the heat exchangers. The
velocity and skin friction factor. Later, Akbarinia and Laur [120] performed studies in curved tubes showed that the heat transfer
numerically investigated the effect of solid particles diameter on a rate is higher compared to the straight tubes. This is the main
laminar nanofluid flow in a curved tube using a two phase reason of their use in engineering applications. Despite the fact
approach and control volume technique. The particles diameters that the use of the nanofluids in curved tubes is limited, the stu-
considered were 10 nm, 80 nm, 300 nm, 3 μm, and 30 μm. The dies showed a significant enhancement of the thermal perfor-
results indicated that the increase of the diameter of nanoparticles mances of the heat exchangers. The stability of the nanofluids and
a high cost of their production are the main challenges for an
did not change the flow behavior.
intensive application of the nanofluids in thermal systems.
Ghaffari et al. [121] numerically studied the turbulent mixed
The additions of surfactants, the surface modification, pH
convection of a nanofluid in a horizontal curved tube. Water and
control of the nanofluids or the ultrasonic treatment are currently
alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles with the diameter of 28 nm were
used to prepare a stable nanofluid in long-term. Thus, the devel-
used as working fluids. The results showed that the nanoparticle opment of new methods for the nanofluids production, using less
volume fraction does not have a direct effect on the secondary expensive equipments represents a key objective in this field.
flow and the skin friction coefficient, but its effects on the thermal Because the improving of the convective heat transfer in heat
parameters and flow turbulent intensity are significant. exchanger with nanofluids is also accompanied by an increase of
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This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian National
Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids in helical coils with laminar and tur-
Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS – UEFISCDI, Project no. PN- bulent flow. Exp Therm Fluid Sci 2013;4:792–804.
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slurries in a helically-coiled pipe. Int J Refrig 2013;36:1285–93.
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non-Newtonian fluids flowing in laminar regime in a helical coil. Int J Heat
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 58 (2016) 1327–1347

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

Heat transfer and ﬂow characteristics of conventional ﬂuids

Fig. 1. a – A schematic of a helical tube. b – A schematic of a spiral tube.

Nomenclature P pitch of helical coiled tube

Gz Graetz number γ latent heat of evaporation (J/kg)

Fig. 2. Comparison of the average heat transfer coefﬁcients [4].

number was larger than 140. While compared with identical

Fig. 6. The schematic of the experimental setup [6].

Kharat et al. [11] developed a mathematical model for kL

Fig. 7. The prototype WACS [13].

Two correlations were proposed for straight and helical capil-

1. Straight capillary tube:

2. Helical capillary tube:

the Newtonian ﬂuids and aqueous solutions of carbox-

trial-and-error method. An ANN with 9 hidden neurons was Table 1

f ¼ 2:32Re 0:311 δ γ 0:074

Nu ¼ 0:015Dn0:9112 Pr 0:4 ð34Þ

which is valid to 2000 o Dn o 12; 000

which is valid in the range: 300 oDn o 900

Eq. (36) is applicable in the range: 5000 o Re o 15; 000,

Fig. 11. Schematic diagram of an adiabatic helical capillary tube [48].

1. 2 Nu ¼ 0:4942Re0:7155 Pr 0:85 Nu ¼ 0:2861Re0:7217 Pr 0:85 Nu ¼ 0:1709Re0:7559 Pr 0:85

Sl.no. Nusselt number correlations Friction factor correlations Remarks

coiled tube heat exchangers were proposed:

Nui ¼ 0:152Dn0:431 Pr 1:06 γ 0:277 ð46Þ

Conté and Peng [85] numerically and experimentally investi-

Vashisth and Nigam [86] numerically investigated the local

Genic´ et al. [92,93] experimentally studied of the shell-side

3.1. Helically coiled tubes proposed:

Akbarinia and Behzadmehr [118] numerically studied the

The effects of buoyancy force, magnetic force and centrifugal

A comprehensive review on heat transfer and ﬂow character-

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