STEADY LAMINAR FLOW THROUGH TWISTED PIPES: FLUID FLOW AND HEAT TRANSFER IN RECTANGULAR TUBES

Abstract Fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics in a twisted rectangular tube having an aspect ratio of two were studied using a numerical solution to the momentum and energy equations. Fluid flow solutions are presented for a fully developed laminar flow of a Newtonian fluid. Heat transfer results are presented for the case of axially uniform wall temperature. For the case of peripherally uniform wall temperature, the overall Nusselt number in a twisted rectangular tube was found to be higher than a straight tube by up to 30 percent over certain ranges of twist lengths. However, for the case of non-uniform wall temperature, the overall absolute Nusselt number increased very rapidly with decrease in the twist length