Heat transfer and pressure drop comparison for corrugated tube and different numbers of copper foam cylindrical inserts in laminar flow

Abstract The chief objective of the present investigation is to study experimentally the hydraulic and thermal performance of a corrugated tube with copper foam cylindrical inserts (MFCIs) containing a new type of inserts with the purpose to improve the procedure of heat transfer, which gives an elevated thermal enhancement factor more than that of smooth tube beneath the similar operating circumstances. Also, in this paper, the study of the effect on the number of cylindrical inserts was made from metal foam (10 PPI and porosity 0.9) on the Nusselt number and Nusselt number ratio as a double heat exchanger furnished with the suggested MFCI with various values of Reynolds numbers ranges from 1600 to 4000 via using water as the test fluid. The investigational outcomes revealed an enhancement in heat transfer as well as the thermal performance of the corrugated tube with MFCI, which being significantly augmented in comparison to those for the smooth tube. Additionally, the average rise in the value of heat transfer is within 225% and 400% at the test range, relying upon the number of cylindrical inserts as well as the Reynolds number, whereas the maximum thermal performance is obtained to be around 2.4 for utilizing the corrugated tube having (four) cylindrical inserts at low Reynolds number (1820). Furthermore, the outcome of the loss of pressure manifested that the corrugated tube's mean friction factor is between 96% and 97% more than the smooth tube.