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470 Chapter 7 䊏 External Flow

Preferred
flow lanes

(a)

(b)

FIGURE 7.13 Flow conditions for (a) aligned and (b) staggered tubes.

TABLE 7.5 Constants of Equation 7.58 for the tube bank

in cross flow [16]
Configuration ReD,max C1 m

Aligned 10–102 0.80 0.40

Staggered 10–102 0.90 0.40
Aligned
Staggered
102–103
102–103 冧 Approximate as a single
(isolated) cylinder
Aligned 103–2 ⫻ 105 0.27 0.63
(ST /SL ⬎ 0.7)a
Staggered 103–2 ⫻ 105 0.35(ST /SL )1/5 0.60
(ST /SL ⬍ 2)
Staggered 103–2 ⫻ 105 0.40 0.60
(ST /SL ⬎ 2)
Aligned 2 ⫻ 105–2 ⫻ 106 0.021 0.84
Staggered 2 ⫻ 105–2 ⫻ 106 0.022 0.84
a
For ST /SL ⬍ 0.7, heat transfer is inefficient and aligned tubes should not be used.
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7.6 䊏 Flow Across Banks of Tubes 471

fluid temperature, 冨Ti ⫺ To冨, is large, significant error could result from the evaluation of the
properties at the inlet temperature.
If there are 20 or fewer rows of tubes, NL ⱕ 20, the average heat transfer coefficient is
typically reduced, and a correction factor may be applied such that

NuD 兩(NL⬍20) ⫽ C2NuD 兩(NLⱖ20) (7.59)

where C2 is given in Table 7.6.

The Reynolds number ReD,max for the foregoing correlation is based on the maximum
ufl id velocity occurring within the tube bank, ReD,max ⬅ Vmax D/
. For the aligned arrange-
ment, Vmax occurs at the transverse plane A1 of Figure 7.12a, and from the mass conserva-
tion requirement for an incompressible fluid

ST
Vmax ⫽ V (7.60)
ST ⫺ D

For the staggered configuration, the maximum velocity may occur at either the transverse
plane A1 or the diagonal plane A2 of Figure 7.12b. It will occur at A2 if the rows are spaced
such that

2(SD ⫺ D) ⬍ (ST ⫺ D)

The factor of 2 results from the bifurcation experienced by the fluid moving from the A1 to
the A2 planes. Hence Vmax occurs at A2 if

冤 冢 冣冥 ST ⫹ D
ST 2 1/2
SD ⫽ SL2 ⫹ ⬍
2 2

in which case it is given by

ST
Vmax ⫽ V (7.61)
2(SD ⫺ D)

If Vmax occurs at A1 for the staggered configuration, it may again be computed from
Equation 7.60.

TABLE 7.6 Correction factor C2 of Equation 7.59 for NL ⬍ 20

(ReD,max ⲏ 103) [16]
NL 1 2 3 4 5 7 10 13 16

Aligned 0.70 0.80 0.86 0.90 0.92 0.95 0.97 0.98 0.99
Staggered 0.64 0.76 0.84 0.89 0.92 0.95 0.97 0.98 0.99
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472 Chapter 7 䊏 External Flow

Since the fluid may experience a large change in temperature as it moves through the
tube bank, the heat transfer rate could be significantly overpredicted by using ⌬T ⫽ Ts ⫺ T앝
as the temperature difference in Newton’s law of cooling. As the fluid moves through the
bank, its temperature approaches Ts and 冨⌬T 冨 decreases. In Chapter 8, the appropriate form of
⌬T is shown to be a log-mean temperature difference,

(Ts ⫺ Ti) ⫺ (Ts ⫺ To)

⌬Tlm ⫽ (7.62)

冢T ⫺ Ti
ln s
Ts ⫺ To 冣
where Ti and To are temperatures of the fluid as it enters and leaves the bank, respectively.
The outlet temperature, which is needed to determine ⌬Tlm, may be estimated from

Ts ⫺ To
Ts ⫺ Ti 冢
⫽ exp ⫺ DNh
VNT ST cp 冣 (7.63)

where N is the total number of tubes in the bank and NT is the number of tubes in each row.
Once ⌬Tlm is known, the heat transfer rate per unit length of the tubes may be computed
from

q⬘ ⫽ N(h D⌬Tlm) (7.64)

Additional results, obtained for specific values of ST/D and SL/D are reported by
Zukauskas [16] and Grimison [20]. The results of Grimison are restricted to air as the
cross-flowing fluid, and predicted values of the average Nusselt numbers generated by the
correlations of the two references agree to within approximately 15% over a broad range of
ReD,max. The foregoing results may be used to determine mass transfer rates associated with
evaporation or sublimation from the surfaces of a bank of cylinders in cross flow. Once
again it is only necessary to replace NuD and Pr by ShD and Sc, respectively.
We close by recognizing that there is generally as much interest in the pressure drop
associated with flow across a tube bank as in the overall heat transfer rate. The power
required to move the fluid across the bank is often a major operating expense and is directly
proportional to the pressure drop, which may be expressed as [16]

冢 冣
2
Vmax
⌬p ⫽ NL  f (7.65)
2

The friction factor f and the correction factor  are plotted in Figures 7.14 and 7.15. Figure
7.14 pertains to a square, in-line tube arrangement for which the dimensionless longitudinal
and transverse pitches, PL ⬅ SL/D and PT ⬅ ST /D, respectively, are equal. The correction
factor ␹, plotted in the inset, is used to apply the results to other in-line arrangements. Simi-
larly, Figure 7.15 applies to a staggered arrangement of tubes in the form of an equilateral
triangle (ST ⫽ SD), and the correction factor enables extension of the results to other stag-
gered arrangements. Note that the Reynolds number appearing in Figures 7.14 and 7.15 is
based on the maximum fluid velocity Vmax.