Heat transfer enhancement utilizing chaotic advection in coiled tube heat exchangers

The present study introduced a novel chaotic coil heat exchanger utilizing chaotic advection to enhance heat transfer at low Reynolds numbers. Using Lagrangian tracing of fluid particles and their sensitivity to the initial condition and fluid element calculations, it was shown that mixing was significantly increased due to the chaotic advection. Heat transfer performance in the coil and chaotic configuration was visualized by isotherms contours of temperature in different cross-sections. In order to evaluate the hydraulic-thermal performance of heat exchangers, Nusselt numbers and friction factor were calculated and comparison was made between the two configurations. Numerical calculations revealed that the chaotic coil configuration displayed heat transfer enhancement of 4–26% relative to the fully developed Nusselt numbers in the regular coil with only 5–8% change in the pressure drop.