Prediction of effective friction factors for single-phase flow in horizontal microfin tubes

An experimental database, covering a wide range of tube and fin geometric dimensions, Reynolds number and including data for water, R11, and ethylene glycol has been compiled for friction factor for single-phase flow in spirally grooved, horizontal microfin tubes. The tubes (21 in all) had inside diameter at the fin root between 6.46 and 24.13 mm, fin height between 0.13 and 0.47 mm, fin pitch between 0.32 and 1.15 mm, and helix angle between 17 and 45 degrees. The Reynolds number ranged from 2.0×103 to 1.63×105. Six earlier friction factor correlations, each based on restricted data sets, have been compared with the database as a whole. None was found to be in good agreement with all of the data. The Jensen and Vlakancic correlation was found to be the best and represents the database within ±21%.