ARTICLE:

• CONDENSATION OF ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE STEAM ON INTEGRAL-FIN TUBES - EFFECT OF FIN HEIGHT AND VAPOUR VELOCITY  download article

S. Namasivayam
Department of Engineering, University of London, London, UK

ABSTRACT

New experimental data are reported for forced-convection condensation of steam on a set of four single, copper, integral-fin tubes. All tubes had a fin root diameter of 12.7 mm. The fins were rectangular in cross section with fin spacing and thickness of 1.0 mm and 0.5 mm respectively and fin heights of 0.5, 0.9, 1.3 and 1.6 mm. A plain tube of outside diameter 12.7 mm was also tested. The tests were performed at a pressure slightly above atmospheric and covered vapour velocities between 0.8 and 10 m/s and a wide range of heat fluxes. Emphasis was placed on experimental accuracy and the uncertainty in the heat flux and vapour-side temperature difference were estimated to be 4 % and 15 % respectively. At low vapour velocity the heat-transfer enhancement was strongly dependent on fin height as expected, but at velocities of 2.4 m/s and above this dependence on fin height was markedly reduced. Enhancement was also found to decrease with increasing vapour velocity for all the tubes tested.

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