Thermal-hydraulic performance evaluation of airside of wavy fin compact heat exchangers under wet conditions

This study presents a novel approach to evaluating the thermal-hydraulic performance of the airside of wavy-fin compact heat exchangers under wet conditions. While previous studies have predominantly focused on dry conditions, this paper extends this knowledge by exploring the effectiveness of wavy fin configurations in the presence of condensation film. Twenty configurations of wavy-finned geometries were evaluated, including 16 from the literature, and four were newly introduced. By examining the impact of condensation and geometric parameters on thermal-hydraulic performance, this research offers a deeper understanding of heat transfer behavior in wet environments. Species transport and volume of fluid (VOF) multiphase models were implemented to investigate Colburn “j” and Fanning friction coefficient “f” using ANSYS Fluent software. The results were validated against reported experimental data. Results showed that geometries G3 and G4 exhibited optimal “f” and “j” values, indicating reduced frictional losses and enhanced heat transfer performance. GF3, GF4, and G11 had higher performance if the effect of compactness was ignored, while G11, G12, and G13 did not compromise pumping power and maintained high performance. G12 outperformed other geometries at a pumping power limit of 1.35×10¹⁴(W/m²). The study also suggests new correlations to predict the j- and f-factor for wet conditions in terms of geometrical parameters or dry j- and f-factor.