Experimental heat transfer of drag-reducing polymer solutions in enhanced surface heat exchangers

A set of experimental tests on the effect of polymeric additives in water are presented from the point of view of friction losses and heat transfer performance variations, in single-passage countercurrent straight-pipe heat exchangers. The tests were performed on smooth, finned, and grooved pipes of different diameters and show that the use of polymers in augmented surface heat exchangers is generally not advisable. However, they also confirm that thermal bus systems as a whole can take advantage of drag-reducing polymer solutions, provided that accurate trade-off analyses are performed to get the best compromise between pressure losses and global heat transfer performance of the thermal loop.