Experimental study of thermal–hydraulic performance of cam-shaped tube bundle with staggered arrangement

Flow and heat transfer from cam-shaped tube bank in staggered arrangement is studied experimentally. Tubes were located in test section of an open loop wind tunnel with two longitudinal pitch ratios 1.5 and 2. Reynolds number varies in range of 27,000 ⩽ ReD ⩽ 42,500 and tubes surface temperature is between 78 and 85 °C. Results show that both drag coefficient and Nusselt number depends on position of tube in tube bank and Reynolds number. Tubes in the first column have maximum value of drag coefficient, while its Nusselt number is minimum compared to other tubes in tube bank. Moreover, pressure drop from this tube bank is about 92–93% lower than circular tube bank and as a result thermal–hydraulic performance of this tube bank is about 6 times greater than circular tube bank.