Determination of apparent heat transfer coefficient by condensation in an industrial finned-tube heat exchanger: prediction

Abstract The determination of apparent heat transfer coefficient by condensation in a fined-tube heat exchanger is presented numerically in this paper. The film method is used in order to predict the partial or total condensation of the water vapour, contained in the humid air over the smooth or finned tubes-heat recuperators. This method is incorporated in a computer code developed here. The determination of the fin portion, which functions in wet regime, is carried out by the calculation of temperature field over a circular fin. The computer code predicts the heat flux exchanged in a range of 20–5%, in wet and dry regime, respectively. The apparent heat transfer coefficient by condensation can exceed 10 times the value of the heat transfer coefficient.