Effect of elliptical dimples on heat transfer performance in a shell and tube heat exchanger

The numerical simulation of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger (STHE) depends on a large number of computational cells. The number of computational cells increases dramatically with increasing heat transfer surfaces in heat exchangers, such as increasing the number of tubes or using dimples as modified surfaces. Computational cost is one of the critical parameters in many industrial applications for heat exchanger analysis. The present study uses the P-NTU thermal analysis method, proposes correlations to predict heat transfer inside and outside the tubes, and then analyzes the STHE with elliptical dimples. The analytical approach shows 0.8% and 9% errors for two STHEs with specified heat performance, which is entirely acceptable. Also, for the STHE with elliptical dimples, the results indicate a 40.6% increase in the heat capacity of STHE. Increasing the heat capacity of STHE by using modified surfaces such as dimples significantly reduces the dimensions and weight of STHE in industrial applications. Furthermore, the analytical method can be used for different types of dimples with different geometries and arrangements.