The CFD investigation on heat transfer performance of different pipe geometries at various Reynolds numbers

In this study, three different pipe geometries have been evaluated to investigate the effects of pipe geometry on heat transfer for incompressible flows at different Reynolds numbers. The selected geometries have been determined as dimpled, corrugated, and helical. The study performed 3-D analyses, and Reynolds numbers were selected as 2000, 3000, 4000, and 5000. The SST k-? model has been used in the turbulent flow regime, while laminar flow conditions have been analyzed using the appropriate solver settings. The obtained results have been compared using heat transfer coefficient values and skin friction coefficient. The helical pipe demonstrated the highest heat transfer coefficient among all geometries, with a value of 1951 W/m?K at Re = 5000, while the dimpled and corrugated pipes exhibited values of 1910 W/m?K and 1805 W/m?K, respectively. Similarly, the helical pipe showed the lowest skin friction coefficient, with a value of 2.02 at Re = 5000, compared to 2.61 for the corrugated pipe. It has been observed that the heat transfer coefficient and the skin friction coefficient increased with the increase in Reynolds number. The wall temperature distributions on each pipe geometry for laminar and turbulent flow conditions have been obtained and analyzed. When the results were examined, it was determined that the highest heat transfer values were obtained in the helical pipe geometry at all Reynolds numbers, while the highest skin friction coefficient was observed in the corrugated pipe geometry.