An Integrative Approach Using Axial Fins, Numerical Assessment, and Experimental Data Analysis in Helical Heat Exchangers

In this study, heat transfer and fluid flow in a helical heat exchanger with double, triple, and quadruple axial fins were numerically evaluated. The impact of different fin heights and thicknesses on heat transfer within the proposed heat exchanger was also investigated. The thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of fluids were experimentally measured and applied to the simulations. Furthermore, the effects of using SiO2, MWCNT, and a hybrid nanofluid were experimentally assessed. It was observed that the Nusselt number was improved by 4.97% with the quadruple fins compared to the triple fins model. Additionally, a substantial 96.76% enhancement in the Nusselt number was achieved between the 2mm fin height model and the base model at a Reynolds number of 30,000, due to an increase in fin height and thickness. Moreover, the utilization of a hybrid nanofluid resulted in a 12.76% increase in the average Nusselt number at a Reynolds number of 30,000. The research used ANSYS FLUENT, a commercial computational fluid dynamics software employing the finite volume method.