Forschung im Ingenieurwesen 69 (2005) 137–150 Ó Springer-Verlag 2005

DOI 10.1007/s10010-004-0148-5

Prediction of heat transfer correlations for compact heat exchangers

D. Taler

137
Abstract The following paper compares two numerical dh hydraulic diameter of air flow passages, m
methods for determining correlations for heat transfer dt hydraulic diameter on the liquid side, 4 Ain =Pin , m
coefficients in cross-flow compact heat exchangers. In the F dimensionless correction factor to account for
first method, only the correlation for the air-side heat deviations from pure counter-flow
transfer coefficient is determined. The heat transfer coef- f measured temperature, °C
00 00
ficient on the tube-side is calculated using the Gnielinski fc;i , Tc;i measured and calculated liquid temperature at
or Dittus-Boelter correlations. In the second method, the the outlet of heat exchanger, °C
heat transfer correlations both on the tube and air-side are h heat transfer coefficient, W/m2K
determined simultaneously in order to predict the air-side ha heat transfer coefficient on the air side, W/m2K
heat transfer more accurately. hc inside (liquid-side) heat transfer coefficient,
W/m2K
Bestimmung von empirischen Wärmeübergangsgl- hc;d inside heat transfer coefficient in the lower
eichungen in berippten Wärmeübertragern (second) pass, W/m2K
Zusammenfassung In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden hc;g inside heat transfer coefficient in the upper
zwei numerische Verfahren zur Bestimmung von empiri- (first) pass, W/m2K
schen Gleichungen in Kreuzstrom-Wärmeübertragern mit ho weighted heat transfer coefficient from the air
vergrößerter Oberfläche verglichen. Bei der ersten Meth- side related to outer surface area Ars of the
ode wird nur eine Gleichung für den Wärmeübergangs- smooth tube, W/m2K
koeffizienten auf der Gasseite gesucht, während der i specific enthalpy, J/kg

Wärmeübergangskoeffizient an der inneren Oberfläche des ja air-side Colburn j factor, Nua = Rea Pr1=3
a
Rohres bekannt ist und nach den Gleichungen von Dittus- k thermal conductivity, W/mK
Boelter oder Gnielinski berechnet wird. Bei der zweiten L length, m
Methode werden gleichzeitig Gleichungen für den Lch tube length in the automotive radiator, m
Wärmeübergang sowohl auf der Gasseite als auch bei der m_ mass flow rate, kg/s
Rohrströmung ermittelt. m_c mass flow rate of cooling liquid flowing inside
the tubes, kg/s
_a
m air mass flow rate, kg/s
List of symbols _ Ic
m mass flow rate of cooling liquid flowing through
A area, m2 the first row of tubes at the first pass, kg/s
Af fin surface area, m2 Nuc Nusselt number based on the liquid side,
Ain , Aout inside and outside cross section area of the oval hc dt =kc
tube, m2 Nua Nusselt number based on the air side, ha dh =ka
Amf area of the tube outer surface between fins, m2 n number of data sets
Amin minimum free flow frontal area on the air side, m2 nt total number of tubes in a heat exchanger,
Atm mean heat transfer surface area of the tube, nt ¼ ng þ nd
Atm ¼ ðAts þ Atin Þ=2 ng , nd number of tubes in the first (upper) and the
Atin area of the inside tube surface, m2 second (lower) pass of the heat exchanger,
Ats area of the outside surface of the smooth tube, m2 P confidence interval of the estimated parameters,
c specific heat, J/kgK %

c mean specific heat, J/kgK Pin , Pout inner and outer perimeter of the oval tube,
respectively, m
Pr Prandtl number, l cp =k
Q_ total heat transfer rate of the heat exchanger, W
Received: 8. October 2004 Q_ chl total heat transfer rate of the radiator, W
D. Taler
Rec liquid-side Reynolds number, wc dt =mc
Department of Power Installations, Academy of Mining and Rea air-side Reynolds number, wmax dh =ma
Metallurgy, Al. Mickiewicza 30, Paw. B-3, 30-059 Cracow, Poland, s fin pitch, m
phone: (0-48) 12 617 30 78, fax. (0-48) 12 617 31 13 T temperature, °C
e-mail: taler@imir.agh.edu.pl Tbf fin base temperature, °C
 Forsch Ingenieurwes 69 (2005)

Tc0 , Tc00 inlet and outlet temperature of cooling liquid, Q_ m

respectively, °C U¼ : ð1Þ
A DTlm F
Tcm outlet temperature of cooling liquid after the
first pass, °C In this paper, the overall heat transfer coefficient is based
Td0 , Td00 , Td000 air temperature at the inlet and after the first on the outer area of the smooth tube A ¼ Ats . Since the
and second row of tubes at the second (lower) fluid flow rates and the inlet and outlet temperatures are
pass, respectively, °C known from the measurements, the total heat transfer rate
Tg0 , Tg00 , Tg000 air temperature at the inlet and after the first Q_ m is calculated as an arithmetic average of the liquid - Q_ c
and second row of tubes at the first(upper) and air-side Q_ a rate values from the following expression
pass, respectively, °C

0 00 Q_ m ¼ Q_ c þ Q_ a =2; ð2Þ
Tg;i , Tg;i air temperature at the inlet and outlet of the
138
control volume, °C where
Ta air temperature, °C


0
Tam 000
, Tam mean inlet and outlet temperature of air, °C _ c cp;c fc0
fc00 ;
Q_ c ¼ m and _ a cp;a fa00
fa0 :
Q_ a ¼ m
T1;i , T1;iþ1 liquid temperature at the inlet and outlet of Values of the air-side heat transfer coefficient ha are
the control volume, °C calculated from the experimental data by subtracting the
Tf mean temperature of the fin, °C liquid-side and tube wall thermal resistances from the
U overall heat transfer coefficient related to the overall thermal resistance 1=U, as given by (3)
outer surface of the smooth tube Ats ,W/m2K
V_ c volume flow rate, m3/s 1 1 1 Ats dt Ats
¼

; ð3Þ
wd velocity of the cooling liquid in the lower ho U hc Atin kt Atm
(second) pass, m/s where the weighted heat transfer coefficient ho is defined
wg velocity of the cooling liquid in the upper by
(first) pass, m/s  
wm mean velocity of the cooling liquid in the Amf Af
ho ¼ ha þ  g ðha Þ : ð4Þ
lower and upper passes, m/s Ats Ats f
wmax mean axial velocity of air in the minimum free
The foregoing procedure is repeated for a variety of test
flow area, m/s
conditions. Then, following Kays and London [1], the
w0 air velocity in front of the radiator, m/s
Colburn factors, ja;i ,i ¼ 1; . . . ; n, are calculated and a
x, y, z Cartesian coordinates,
correlation of the form ja ¼ f ðRea Þ is determined using
the linear regression technique. The analysis described
Greek symbols above aims to determine a correlation for the air-side heat
Dx, Dy control volume size in x and y direction, m transfer coefficient only. This is a typical procedure used
df fin thickness, m in data reduction in order to find empirical air-side cor-
dt tube wall thickness, m relations.
gf fin efficiency, Information on the effect of the tube-side heat transfer
l fluid dynamic viscosity, PaÆs on the determined air-side heat transfer correlations and
m kinematic viscosity, m2/s on the heat transfer performance of compact heat
q fluid density, kg/m3 exchangers is limited.
r ratio of minimum free flow area to total The published literature and the manufacturer’s soft-
frontal area ware ignore the issue of the tube-side heat transfer cor-
relations and the heat transfer rate of the heat exchanger is
usually over-predicted under part-load conditions.
Subscripts It is assumed that the air-side resistance dominates and
a air the tube-side heat resistance is neglected [1, 2] or
c cooling liquid approximately calculated from correlations published in
d lower (second) pass literature [3–13]. The water-side thermal resistance is as-
g upper (first) pass sumed to be less than 10  20% of the overall thermal
t tube resistance [3, 4]. While this assumption is valid for high
water flow rates, the water-side heat transfer coefficient
1 must be determined more accurately for compact heat
Introduction exchangers, which operate at low water velocities. It was
Most engineering calculations of heat transfer in heat found [5] that the water-side resistance increases rapidly
exchangers with extended surfaces use heat transfer coef- as the water velocity decreases. At a Reynolds number of
ficients obtained from experimental data. The air-side heat 2500, the water-side resistance constitutes more than 60%
transfer coefficient is usually determined from the of the total heat transfer resistance [5]. The heat transfer
knowledge of the overall heat transfer coefficient U based coefficient on the tube-side is calculated using the Dittus-
on the air-side surface area A, the total rate of heat transfer Boelter [2, 6–10], Sider-Tate [11] or Gnielinski correlations
Q_ m between the hot and cold fluids and the logarithmic [4, 5, 12, 13]. The use of the Dittus-Boelter equation for
mean temperature difference DTlm calculating water-side heat transfer coefficient significantly
D. Taler: Prediction of heat transfer correlations for compact heat exchangers

under-predicts the water-side heat transfer resistance at measured and calculated thermal resistances is minimised.
low water flow rates [5]. The method proposed in [15] may also be used if the fluid
When tube-side fluid velocities are low and air velocities thermal resistance on the one side of the heat exchanger is
high, the heat transfer resistances are comparable on both not dominant.
tube sides, since the heat transfer on the air-side is enhanced The techniques presented in this paper accept experi-
by fins. An inaccurate estimation of the inside heat transfer mental data obtained at various flow rates on each side of
coefficient on the inner surface of the tube can cause large the heat exchanger. The purpose of the paper is to present
errors in the air-side heat transfer coefficient that is to be and correlate data showing the effect of the tube-side heat
determined. This will be demonstrated by means of the transfer on the searched empirical air-side correlations
following example. Calculations are conducted for the au- and on the total heat transfer rate of the smooth plate fin-
tomotive radiator, which will be analysed in this paper. and-tube heat exchangers. Two numerical methods for
139
Let us assume that the overall heat transfer coefficient U obtaining correlations for both fluid sides are presented.
obtained from measurements is U ¼ 600W/m2K. For the
purposes of this example, the following parameters are 2
specified: Determining heat transfer conditions
on the liquid- and air- sides
kt ¼ 207 W/mK; dt ¼ 0:0004 m; Af =Ats ¼ 17:551; The estimation of the heat transfer coefficients of the air-
Amf =Ats ¼ 0:92; Ats =Atin ¼ 1:1109: and coolant-sides is the inverse heat transfer problem [16,
17]. The following parameters are known from the mea-
A smooth plate fin is divided into equivalent rectangular surements:
fins. The efficiency of
the fin on the

oval tube is defined by – coolant volumetric flow rate V_ ,
the expression: gf ¼ T
f
Ta = Tbf
Ta . The mean c


temperature of the fin Tf was computed by means of the – air velocity w 0 ,
Finite Element Method (FEM) [14] for different values of – inlet liquid temperature fc0 ,
0
the heat transfer coefficient ha . Then, the calculated fin – inlet air temperature fam ,
efficiency gf was approximated by the expression of the – outlet liquid temperature fc00 .
form The construction of the heat exchanger and the materials

4
1 þ 6:45184  10  ha of which it is made are also known. The following two
gf ¼ : ð5Þ cases are analyzed:
1 þ 2:76144  10
3  ha þ 5:16617  10
7  h2a
1. The heat transfer coefficient hc on the cooling liquid
The following procedure should be followed to calculate side is known, while the heat transfer coefficient on the
the heat transfer coefficient ha on the air-side. First, ho is air side ha is to be found.
calculated from (3). Then, the air-side heat transfer coef- 2. Both heat transfer coefficients hc and ha on the cooling
ficient ha is determined from (4). Since the fin efficiency gf liquid- and air-sides are to be determined simulta-
given by (5) depends upon ha , an iterative determination neously.
of ha from (4) is required. The results of the calculation are 00
The outlet temperatures Tc;i , i ¼ 1; . . . ; n were calculated
shown in Table 1. It can be seen that the determined air-
using the numerical model of the heat exchanger presented
side heat transfer coefficient ha ranges from 120.05 W/m2K
2 2 in [16].
for hc ¼ 1000W/m K to 37.42 W/m K for hc ¼ 10000W/
m2K. The variation of the tube side heat transfer coeffi-
2.1
cient hc has a large effect upon the determined air-side
The heat transfer coefficient hc on the cooling liquid-side is
heat transfer coefficient ha , especially for low values of hc .
known, and the heat transfer coefficient on the air-side ha
This simple example has demonstrated that an accurate
is determined
determination of the inside heat transfer coefficient hc is
In the first case, the experimental value of the heat transfer
very important.
coefficient hea;i is determined from the condition   that the
A modified Wilson plot technique for obtaining heat 00 e
transfer correlation on one side and the value of the heat calculated liquid outlet temperature T c;i ha;i must be
00
transfer coefficient on the other side is presented in [15]. equal to the measured temperature fc;i , where i denotes the
In this method, the fluid flow rate on the unknown side, data set number.
for which a correlation is to be determined, is varied This means that in order to determine hea;i , the following
systematically. The fluid thermal resistance on the other non-linear algebraic equation has to be solved for each
side, for which only the value of the heat transfer coeffi- data set  
cient is being determined, should remain approximately f 00
T 00 he ¼ 0; i ¼ 1; . . . ; n; ð6Þ
constant. The values of the unknown constants are esti- c;i c;i a;i

mated using non-linear regression. The sum of squares of where n denotes the number of data sets.
Table 1. Effect of the tube-side heat transfer coefficient on the determined air-side heat transfer coefficient
hc W/m2K 1000 1250 1500 3000 5000 7000 10 000
ha W/m2K 120.05 80.65 66.13 45.58 40.53 38.69 37.42
gf 0.8047 0.8580 0.8800 0.9135 0.9222 0.9254 0.9276
 Forsch Ingenieurwes 69 (2005)

0
The heat transfer coefficient on the air side hea;i was from the inlet temperature Tam and outlet temperature
00
determined by searching the preset interval so that the Tam .
00
measured outlet temperature of the liquid fc;i and the
00
computed outlet temperature Tc;i are equal. Next, a specific 2.2
form was adopted for the correlation formula for the Both heat transfer coefficients hc and ha on the cooling
Colburn factor ja ¼ ja ðRea Þ on the air-side, containing m liquid- and air-sides are determined simultaneously
unknown coefficients x1 ; x2 ; . . . ; xm ; m  n. The coeffi- In the previous chapter, the heat transfer coefficient ha on
the air-side was determined under the assumption that the
cients x1 ; x2 ; . . . ; xm are determined using the least squares
method from the condition heat transfer coefficient hc on the cooling liquid-side is
known.
X n h i2 In the second method, the coefficients and exponents of
140 S¼ jea;i
ja;i ðx1 ; x2 ; . .. ; xm Þ ¼ min; m  n; ð7Þ formula for determining heat transfer coefficients on the
i¼1 air- and cooling liquid-side are now determined simulta-
where neously in order to make a better approximation of the
experimental data. At first, a specific form is adopted for
ja ¼ Nua =ðRea Pra1=3 Þ ð8Þ the correlation formulas
of theheat transfer coefficient on
e the air-side
ha ¼ ha x1 ; . .. ; xp and on the cooling liquid
denotes the Colburn parameter. The symbol ja;i denotes
side hc ¼ hc xpþ1 ; . . . ; xm , where p < m.
the experimentally determined value of the factor, and
The symbol m denotes the total number of coefficients
ja;i the calculated factor value which results from the
present in the correlation formulas, and p the number of
adopted approximating function for the set value of the
unknown coefficients in the formula for the air-side co-
Reynolds number Rea;i . In this paper the average heat
efficient. The outlet temperature of the cooling liquid Tc00 is
transfer coefficient hc on the inner surface of the
a function of all coefficients: x1 ; x2 ; . . . ; xm .
tube was computed using the Dittus-Boelter correlation
The values of the coefficients x1 ; x2 ; . . . ; xm are selected
[18]
" # so that the sum of squared temperature differences
 2=3
dt Xn h i2
0:8 0:3
Nuc ¼ 0:023Rec Prc 1 þ ð9Þ S ¼ f 00

T 00
ð x ; . . . ; x Þ ¼ min ð15Þ
ch L c;i c;i 1 m
i¼1
or Gnielinski equation [19] achieves its minimum.
"  # The Levenberg-Marquardt method [20,21] is used to
n
8 ðRec
1000ÞPrc dt 2=3
Nuc ¼
1=2
2=3  1þ L ; find the coefficients x1 ; x2 ; . . . ; xm from (15).
1 þ 12:7 n8 Prc
1 ch The heat transfer coefficient formula at the air-side is
assumed to be of the form
ð10Þ
Nua ¼ x1 Rexa2 Pr1=3
a : ð16Þ
with the friction factor n given by
1 1 The Nusselt number Nuc for the cooling liquid is ap-
n¼ 2 ¼ : proximated by the formula of the form similar to the
ð1:82 log Rec
1:64Þ ð0:79 ln Rec
1:64Þ2 Dittus-Boelter equation
The Colburn ja factor was approximated by the power-law "  2=3 #
function dt
Nuc ¼ x3 Rexc 4 Pr0:3
c 1þ ; ð17Þ
ja ¼ x1 Rexa2 ; ð11Þ Lch

or by non-linear function (decay function) of the form or to the Gnielinski equation

x1 "
ja ¼ : ð12Þ n  2=3 #
1 þ x1 x2 Rea 8 ðRec
x3 ÞPrc dt
Nuc ¼
1=2
2=3  1þ L : ð18Þ
The unknown coefficients x1 and x2 in (11) or (12) are 1þ x4 n8 Prc
1 ch
determined by the Levenberg-Marquardt method [20,21]
using the Table-Curve program [22]. Combining Equa- Under the assumption that x3 = 1000 and x4 = 12.7, the
tions (8) and (11) or (12), one obtains formula (18) changes over into the Gnielinski formula
Nua ¼ x1 Reða1þx2 Þ Pr1=3 ð13Þ (10). All the physical properties of the liquid required for
a ;
the calculation of Nuc , Rec and Pr
c , are to
 be evaluated at
and the mean temperature Tm ¼ 0:5 Tc0 þ Tc00 .
x1 The values of parameters x1 , x2 , x3 and x4 are deter-
Nua ¼ Rea Pr1=3
a ; ð14Þ mined by minimising the sum of squares (15) using the
1 þ x1 x2 Rea
Levenberg-Marquardt method. In order to calculate the
where Rea ¼ wmax dh =ma . 00
outlet coolant temperatures Tc;i as a function of searched
All the air properties that appear in the dimensionless parameters xi ; i ¼ 1; . . . ; 4, a mathematical model of the
numbers are evaluated at the average temperature taken heat exchanger is required.
D. Taler: Prediction of heat transfer correlations for compact heat exchangers
3 (upper) into control volumes. There are 2 ng tubes in the
The numerical model of the heat exchanger
The automotive radiator for the spark-ignition combus-
tion engine with a cubic capacity of 1580 cm3 is a double-
row, two-pass plate-finned heat exchanger. The radiator
consists of aluminium tubes of oval cross-section. The
cooling liquid flows in parallel through both tube rows.
Figure 1 shows a diagram of the two-pass cross-flow
radiator with two rows of tubes.
The heat exchanger consists of the aluminium tubes of
oval cross-section.
A discrete mathematical model [16], which defines the
heat transfer was obtained using the control volume
method. Figure 2 shows the division of the first pass
upper pass, with ng in the first and second row. Similarly,
there are 2 nd pipes in the first and second rows in the
lower pass, with nd in each of them. Mass flow rate of the
liquid m_ Ic that passes through the first row of tubes in the
upper row is equal to the half of the total m _ c flow rate, e.g.
m_ Ic ¼ m
_ c =2. The outlets from the upper pass tubes con-
verge into one manifold. Upon mixing the cooling liquid
with the temperature T100 from the first tube row and the
cooling liquid with the temperature T200 from the second
tube row, the feeding liquid temperature of the second,
141
lower pass is Tcm . In the second, lower pass, the total mass
flow rate splits into two equal flow rates m _ c =2. On the
outlet from the first tube row in the bottom pass the
Fig. 1. Diagram of two row cross-flow
heat exchanger (automotive radiator)
with two passes; 1A) front view of the
radiator (a) and horizontal section of the
upper pass (b); 1B) flow diagram, 1 - first
tube row in upper pass, 2 - second tube
row in upper pass, 3 - first tube row in
lower pass, 4 - second tube row in lower
pass
 Forsch Ingenieurwes 69 (2005)

142

Fig. 2. Division of the upper pass of

the car radiator into control volumes;
- air temperature,  - cooling liquid
temperature

coolant temperature is T300 , and from the second row is T400 . W1ðN þ 1Þ from the first row of tubes has been mixed
Upon mixing the cooling liquid from the first and second with the liquid of temperature W2ðN þ 1Þ flowing out of
row, the final coolant temperature that leaves the radiator the second row of tubes. In the case of the automotive
is Tc00 . The air stream with mass flow rate m _ a flows cross- radiator, temperature Tc0 denotes the liquid temperature
wise through both tube rows. Assuming that the inlet ve- (of the engine coolant) at the inlet to the radiator whereas
0
locity w0 is in the upper and lower pass, the mass rate of Tam denotes air temperature in front of the radiator.
air flow through the upper pass is m _g ¼m _ a ng =nt , where Having determined the mean temperatures of the air
000 000
ng is the number of tubes in the first row of the upper pass Tgm and Tdm leaving the second row of tubes in the upper
and nt is the total number of tubes in the first row of the and lower pass, respectively, a mean  temperature of the air
upper and lower pass. The air mass flow rate across the 000 000 000
behind the whole radiator Tam ¼ ng Tgm þ nd Tdm =nt
tubes in the lower pass is m _d¼m _ a nd =nt , where nd is the was calculated. If the liquid and air temperatures are
number of tubes in the first row of the lower pass. known, the heat transfer rate in the first and second rows
A division of the upper pass of the exchanger into of tubes in the upper and lower passes can be determined.
control volumes is presented in Figure 2. In order to in- The total heat transfer rate for
crease the accuracy of the calculations, a staggered mesh the
0 radiator

was 
calculated
using the formula _ chl ¼ m
Q _ i T
i T 00
¼m _ a
ca
will be applied. Liquid temperatures at the control volume
000 0
 c c c c c
Tam
Tam . The numerical model of the heat exchanger
nodes are denoted by W1(I) and W2(I) for the first and described briefly above is used in (6) and (15) to calculate
second rows of tubes, respectively. P1(I) denotes air tem- the outlet temperature of the cooling liquid Tc00 . The pos-
0 0
perature Tg;i ¼ Tam in front of the radiator, P2(I) denotes sibility of including the variable, thermophysical proper-
air temperature Tg;00 i after the first row of tubes and P3(I) ties as well as the variable heat transfer coefficient along
air temperature Tg;000 i after the second row of tubes in the the flow path is the advantage of the numerical model.
i-th control volume. Also, the gas flow through a part of the exchanger cross-
The coolant temperature flowing through the first and section, caused, e.g., by fan assembly, can easily be
second row, in the upper and lower pass, is a function of accounted for.
the x coordinate only.
0 000
Temperatures Tam and Tam denote the mean values of the
radiator’s inlet and outlet air temperatures, respectively. In
order to determine temperature distribution of the liquid 4
and air, a system of non-linear algebraic equations was Correlation of experimental data
solved, consisting of 4N balance equations for the liquid,Correlations for the heat transfer coefficients in an auto-
and 4N equations for the air. For the analysis, the liquidmotive radiator were determined using the methods de-
scribed above. The tested automotive radiator is used for
temperature at the inlet to the first and second row of tubes
in the upper pass was considered to be Tc0 and Tcm in the cooling the spark ignition engine of a cubic capacity of
1580 cm3. The cooling liquid for the engine is a 35 % water
lower pass. Using the notation shown in Figures 1 and 2, the
boundary conditions can be written in the following form solution of mono-ethylene glycol. The cooling liquid,
warmed up by the engine is subsequently cooled down by
W1ð1Þ ¼ W2ð 1 Þ ¼ Tc0 ¼ T10 ¼ T30 ; air in the radiator. The radiator consists of 38 tubes of an
0 0 ð19Þ oval cross-section, with 20 of them located in the upper
P1ð I Þ ¼ Tam ¼ Tgm I ¼ 1; . . . ; N:
pass with 10 tubes per row (Fig. 1). In the lower pass, there
The temperature Tcm is a temperature of the liquid at the are 18 tubes with 9 tubes per row. The radiator is 520 mm
outlet of the upper pass, where the liquid of temperature wide, 359 mm high and 34 mm thick. The outer diameters
D. Taler: Prediction of heat transfer correlations for compact heat exchangers

of the oval tube are dmin ¼ 6:35 mm, dmax ¼ 11:82 mm. Table 2. Thermal measurement results for the automotive
The thickness of the tube wall is dt ¼ 0:4 mm. The number radiator
of plate fins with the thickness df ¼ 0:08 mm is 520. The 0 0
0 00 
No. w0 [m/s] V_ c [l/h] fam [°C] fc [°C] fc
fc
plate fins and the tubes are made of aluminium. The path [K]
of the coolant flow is U-shaped. The two rows of tubes in
the first pass are fed simultaneously from one header. The 1. 1.51 5004 19.5 94.7 2.5
water streams from the first and second row are mixed in 2. 2.50 5009 19.3 94.7 3.7
the intermediate header. Following that, the water is uni- 3. 4.00 5002 19.5 94.7 4.9
4. 5.50 5000 19.7 94.7 5.9
formly distributed between the tubes of the first and sec-
5. 7.00 5004 20.4 94.7 6.5
ond row in the second pass. The inlet, intermediate and 6. 8.51 5008 20.4 94.7 7.2
outlet headers are made of plastic. The pitches of the tube 7. 1.51 3000 20.1 94.5 4.0 143
arrangement are as follows: perpendicular to the air flow 8. 2.51 3006 19.5 94.6 5.9
direction p1 =18.5 mm and longitudinal p2 =17 mm. 9. 4.01 3008 19.4 94.6 7.8
The hydraulic diameter of an oval tube is calculated 10. 5.50 2996 19.3 94.7 9.0
using the formula dt ¼ 4 Ain =Pin . The Reynolds and Nus- 11. 7.00 3005 20.3 94.7 9.9
12. 8.51 2992 20.1 94.7 10.9
selt numbers were determined on the base of the hydraulic
13. 1.50 1009 19.8 93.9 10.4
diameter dt . Equivalent hydraulic diameter dh on the side 14. 2.51 1000 20.2 94.0 13.9
of the air is specified by the following expression 15. 4.00 996 20.4 94.1 16.4
16. 5.50 991 19.7 94.0 18.9
2Amin L 17. 7.01 1004 20.4 94.1 19.7
dh ¼ ; ð20Þ
Af þ Amf 18. 8.52 1004 20.3 94.0 21.1

where


Af ¼ 2ðp1 p2
Aout Þ; Amf ¼ Pout s
df :
Table 3. Values of the air-side heat transfer coefficients ha de-
The velocity wmax in the Reynolds number Rea ¼ wmax dh = termined by the first method using Dittus-Boelter or Gnielinski
ma means the air velocity in the narrowest free flow cross- correlation for calculating tube-side heat transfer coefficient hc
section. As the tubes in the radiator are set in line, wmax is
the air velocity in the passage between two tubes. The air No. Dittus-Boelter correlation Gnielinski correlation
for hc for hc
velocity increases through the radiator as its volume grows
0 000
due to warming-up from temperature Tam to Tam , where hc;g and hc;d , ha , hc;g and hc;d , ha ,
0
Tam is the mean temperature in front of the radiator, and W/m2K W/m2K W/m2K W/m2K
000
Tam the mean air temperature behind the radiator.
1. 6740 7332 28.0 8354 9156 27.5
Assuming that the

0 mean 000air temperature through the 2. 6714 7304 42.1 8325 9125 41.1
radiator is T
am ¼ T þ T
am am =2, the maximum velocity 3. 6675 7262 55.7 8279 9075 54.0
of air flowing between the tubes is 4. 6646 7232 68.6 8247 9040 66.0

am þ 273 5. 6636 7219 76.7 8234 9027 73.4
sp T
wmax ¼
 1 0 þ 273 0
w ; ð21Þ 6. 6622 7204 87.0 8219 9010 82.8
s
df ðp1
dmin Þ Tam 7. 4443 4834 28.2 5271 5796 27.6
8. 4421 4810 42.9 5245 5768 41.6
where T
am and T 0 are in °C. 9. 4390 4777 58.2 5208 5728 55.9
am
The experimental results are shown in Table 2. The 10. 4359 4743 67.1 5169 5685 64.0
measurements were conducted in an aerodynamic tunnel 11. 4354 4737 76.9 5164 5680 72.9
by a leading manufacturer of automotive radiators. The air 12. 4322 4703 86.9 5122 5634 81.7
passed the whole front cross-section. 13. 1804 1962 29.0 1701 1921 29.4
14. 1768 1923 41.4 1647 1864 42.4
At the beginning, the first method described in Section 15. 1746 1900 49.8 1614 1829 51.6
2.1 was used to determine a power law correlation of the 16. 1721 1872 61.6 1575 1787 64.8
form (11). The tube side heat transfer coefficient was 17. 1735 1887 66.7 1594 1808 70.2
calculated using the Dittus-Boelter (9) or Gnielinski (10) 18. 1724 1875 76.3 1576 1789 81.3
correlation. Using the measured data given in Table 2, the
interval was searched for each data set and the air-side
heat transfer coefficients were determined to satisfy
equation (6). The physical properties of air and glycol found that, relative differences tend to increase with
solution were approximated using simple functions. The decreasing liquid velocity inside the tube. For the large
effect of temperature-dependent properties is taken into values of liquid velocity both predictions are more com-
account by evaluating all the properties at the mean tem- patible. In the eighteenth data set a small difference in the
perature of the air and glycol solution, respectively. The tube-side heat transfer coefficients causes noticeable dif-
computation yielded eighteen values of the heat transfer ference in the determined air-side heat transfer coeffi-
coefficient hea;i , i ¼ 1; . . . ; 18 (Table 3). cients.
The discrepancy between the results of the air-side heat Subsequently, the Colburn factors jei , i ¼ 1; . . . ; 18 were
transfer coefficients ha obtained for the Dittus-Boelter and calculated as a function of the Reynolds number using (8).
Gnielinski correlation does not exceed 7%. It has been A commercially available software package, Table Curve
 Forsch Ingenieurwes 69 (2005)

[22] was used to perform a non-linear regression analysis.

The goodness of fit can be assessed by means of the co-
efficient of determination r 2 and the 95% confidence
interval.
When the tube-side heat transfer coefficient hc was
calculated from the Dittus-Boelter correlation (9), the
following values of the constant x1 and exponent x2 in
equation (11) were obtained: x1 ¼ 5:683  10
2  0:01528
and x2 ¼
0:37106  0:04355. The coefficient of determi-
nation is r 2 ¼ 0:9529.
Substituting the estimated constants x1 and x2 into (11)
144
and (13) gives, respectively
ja ¼ 0:05683 Re
0:3711
a ; ð22Þ
200  Rea  1500;
Nua ¼ 0:05683Re0:6289
a Pr1=3
a : ð23Þ
Using the Dittus-Boelter correlation (9) for the tube-side
heat transfer coefficient hc in conjunction with (12), the
following values of the constant x1 and exponent x2 with
95% confidence limits were obtained: x1 ¼ 9:3982  10
3 
Fig. 3. Air-side Colburn factor ja as a function of Reynolds
6:13  10
4 and x2 ¼ 0:12499  0:0137. The coefficient of number Rea determined by using method I and the Dittus-Boelter
determination is r2 ¼ 0:9668. equation for determining tube-side heat transfer coefficient;
Substituting the estimated constants x1 and x2 into (12)  - Colburn factor jea;i based on the heat transfer coefficient
and (14) gives, respectively determined from equation (6), 1- Equation (22), 2- Equation (24)
0:009398
ja ¼ ; ð24Þ
1 þ 0:00117469 Rea
200  Rea  1500;
200  Rea  1500;
0:009380
0:009398 Nua ¼ Rea Pr1=3 a : ð29Þ
Nua ¼ Rea Pr1=3 a : ð25Þ 1 þ 0:00120534 Rea
1 þ 0:00117469 Rea
The data point jea;i ; i ¼ 1; . . . ; 18 and the correlations
The data point jea;i ; i ¼ 1; . . . ; 18 and the correlations(26) and (28) are shown in Figure 4. As in the previous
(22) and (24) are shown in Figure 3. The difference be- case, it has been found that the deviation between these
tween these two predictions is noticeable for larger values two predictions tends to increase as the values of the
of the Reynolds number. Reynolds number increase. It can be concluded that the
When the tube-side heat transfer coefficient hc was choice of the function, which approximates the data is also
calculated from the Gnielinski correlation (10), the fol- of great importance.
lowing values of the constant x1 and exponent x2 in Next, the second method described in section 2.2 was
equation (11) with 95% confidence limits were obtained: used to estimate parameters x1 , x2 , x3 and x4 by minimising
x1 ¼ 5:80975  10
2  0:0122 and x2 ¼
0:3765  0:0341. the sum of squares (21) using the Levenberg-Marquardt
The coefficient of determination is r 2 ¼ 0:9715. method. When the air-side Nusselt number Nua is
Substituting the estimated constants x1 and x2 into approximated by (16) and the tube-side Nusselt number
Equations (11) and (13) gives, respectively Nuc by (17), the least squares non-linear regression analysis
ja ¼ 0:05810 Rea
0:3765
; ð26Þ gives: x1 ¼ 0:068805  0:00309, x2 ¼ 0:607209  0:01158,
x3 ¼ 0:011042  0:00223, x4 ¼ 0:871166  0:02453. The
200  Rea  1500; value of the minimum sum of squares S, defined by (15), for
0:6235 1=3 the determined value of the parameters equals S ¼ 0:328
Nua ¼ 0:05810Rea Pra : ð27Þ
K2. Substituting parameters x1 and x2 in (16) and para-
Using the Gnielinski correlation (10) for the tube-side heat meters x3 and x4 in (17) gives:
transfer coefficient hc in conjunction with (12), the fol- 0:6072 1=3
lowing values of the constant x1 and exponent x2 with 95% Nua ¼ 0:0688Rea Pra ; 200  Rea  1500; ð30Þ
"

3
confidence limits were obtained:x1 ¼ 9:3802  10  4:16  2=3 #
d t
10
4 and x2 ¼ 0:1285 9:4  10
3 . The coefficient of Nuc ¼ 0:01104 Re0:8712
c Pr0:3
c 1þ ;
determination is r2 ¼ 0:9668. Lch
Substituting the estimated constants x1 and x2 into (12) 3000  Rec  21000: ð31Þ
and (14) gives, respectively
When the air-side Nusselt number Nua is approximated by
0:009380 (16) and the tube-side Nusselt number Nuc by (18), the
ja ¼ ; ð28Þ
1 þ 0:00120534 Rea least squares non-linear regression analysis gives:
D. Taler: Prediction of heat transfer correlations for compact heat exchangers
Fig. 4. Air-side Colburn factor ja as a function of Reynolds
number Rea determined by using method I and the Gnielinski
equation for determining tube-side heat transfer coefficient;
 - Colburn factor jea;i based on the heat transfer coefficient
determined from equation (6), 1- equation (26), 2- equation (28)
x1 ¼ 0:06951  0:0030; x2 ¼ 0:6043  0:0065; x3 ¼
442:92  0:3431; x4 ¼ 19:25  0:3603. The given limits of
the 95% confidence intervals are small; this results from
good accuracy of the developed mathematical model of the
radiator and small measurement errors. The expression
(16) for the Nusselt number on the air-side, as well as (18)
defining the Nusselt number on the side of the cooling
liquid, have the form
Nua ¼ 0:06951Re0:6043 Pr1=3 200  Rea  1500;
a a ;
2=3 #" 
n
ð Re
442:92 ÞPr
c c d t
Nuc ¼ 8 qffiffi
 1 þ Lch ; The maximum relative difference in the Nusselt
n 2=3
1 þ 19:25 8 Prc
1
3000  Rec  21000:
Exponent x2 ¼ 0:6072 and x2 ¼ 0:6043 present at the
Reynolds number in (30) and (32), respectively, are close
to the exponent x2 ¼ 0:625 in the correlation derived by
Schmidt [23] for in-line, high-fin circular tube arrays. A
00
very good fit of the calculated outlet temperatures Tc;i to
00
measured temperatures fc;i ,i ¼ 1; . . . ; 18 is achieved. The
value of the minimum sum of squares S, defined by the
formula (15) for the determined value of the parameters, is
extremely small and equals S ¼ 0:324 K2. This proves that
the accuracy of the mathematical model of the radiator,
described in Section 3 is good. Additionally, it confirms
the appropriateness of the form of (26) and (27) that
approximates Nusselt numbers both for the air- and coo-
lant-sides as well as the high accuracy of the experimental
data.
The correlation for the Colburn ja factor obtained from
(30) and (32) are
ja ¼ 0:0688 Re
0:3928
a ð34Þ
200  Rea  1500:
ja ¼ 0:06951Re
0:3957 ð35Þ
The Colburn ja factors (22) and (24) obtained from the
first method are compared in Figure 5a with the
corresponding correlations (34) and (35) obtained from
the second method. It can be seen that the agreement 145
between the correlations obtained from the first method
is very good. Similar agreement appears between
correlations obtained by the second method. The
correlations (34) and (35) differ slightly from each
other. However, the relative differences between the
correlations obtained from the first and second method
are larger.
 D
B
The relative difference ea ¼ 100 ja
jD
Ba =ja be-
tween the predicted Colburn jD
Ba factors and the Colburn
jD
B
a factor given by (22), which is obtained from the first
method when the tube-side heat transfer coefficient hc is
calculated using the Dittus-Boelter correlation, is shown in
Figure 5b.
From the analysis of the results presented in Figure 5b
we see that the correlation (34) obtained by the second
method yields Nusselt number values higher by up to 9 %
than (26) obtained from the first method.
Next, the Nusselt numbers Nuc on the cooling liquid
side, calculated by the Dittus-Boelter (9) and the Gnielin-
ski (10) correlations as well as (31) and (33) obtained from
the second method are
compared in Figure 6a. The relative
difference ec ¼ 100 Nuc
NuD
B c =NuD
B
c between the
predicted tube-side Nusselt number Nuc and the Nusselt
number NuD
B c given by the Dittus-Boelter equation (9) is
shown in Figure 6b.
The comparison is carried out for a Prandtl number Prc
ð32Þ of 7. The equivalent diameter dt and length Lch of the
radiator are dt = 0.00706 m and Lch = 0.52 m.
numbers predicted by the Dittus-Boelter correlation (9)
and the Gnielinski correlation (10) is of the order of
ð33Þ 30% at the tube-side Reynolds numbers of 2000 and
14000 (Fig. 6). It follows from Figure 6 that the Nusselt
numbers obtained from the Dittus-Boelter equation (9)
are greater than those calculated by the Gnielinski
equation (10) for small Reynolds numbers and smaller
for larger Reynolds numbers. The new correlations (31)
and (33) obtained from the second method are more
accurate since they account for the oval shape of the
cross-section of tubes used in the car radiator and
for the complicated flow path of the cooling liquid.
It should be noted that the form of the function
approximating the tube-side Nusselt number has only
small influence on the predicted Nusselt numbers
Nuc as the correlations (31) and (33) are in good
agreement.
In the next chapter, the power law correlations (31) and
(33) for the air- and tube-side Nusselt numbers will be
 Forsch Ingenieurwes 69 (2005)

146

Fig. 5. Comparison of correlations for Colburn factor ja obtained

from the method I
and II; a) Colburn
 D
B factor ja , b) the relative Fig. 6. Comparison of correlations for the tube-side Nusselt
difference ea ¼ 100 ja
jD
B
a =ja between the predicted Col- number Nuc used in the method I and obtained using method II;
burn factors ja and the Colburn factor jD
Ba given by Equation a) Nusselt
number Nuc ,b) the relative difference
(22); 1 Method I, Equation (22), tube-side heat transfer coefficient ec ¼ 100 Nuc
NuD
Bc =NuD
B
c between the predicted tube-side
calculated using the Dittus-Boelter Equation (9), 2 Method I, Nusselt numbers Nuc and the Nusselt number NuD
B c given by the
Equation (26), tube-side heat transfer coefficient calculated using Dittus-Boelter Equation (9) ; 1 Dittus-Boelter Equation (9), 2
the Gnielinski Equation (10), 3 Method II, Equation (34), tube- Gnielinski Equation (10), 3 Equation (31) of the Dittus-Boelter
side heat transfer coefficient calculated using Equation (31) of the type obtained from the method II, 4 Equation (33) of the Gni-
Dittus-Boelter type, 4 Method II, Equation (35), tube-side heat elinski type obtained from the method II
transfer coefficient calculated using Equation (33) of the Gni-
elinski type 5
Numerical simulation
used in the numerical model of the heat exchanger and the In order to determine the 3D flow and heat transfer in the
obtained air temperatures will be compared with the re- air and heat conduction through the fins and tubes, the
sults obtained from 3D simulations using a CFD code. problem will be studied numerically. In this paper, the air
D. Taler: Prediction of heat transfer correlations for compact heat exchangers

147

Fig. 7. Modelled section of the radiator

(for the data set No. 5), dimensions are
given in millimeters

and heat flow in the tested two-row automotive radiator – Data set No. 5: w0 ¼ 7:00m/s (Rea ¼ 1048),
was simulated numerically by using the CFD program 0
fam ¼ 20:4°C, V_ c ¼ 5004 L/h,
FLUENT [24]. The three-dimensional (3D) flow is treated
as laminar, since the air-side Reynolds Rea number, based hc ¼ 6395:7 W/m2 K; T100 ¼ 90:85  C; T200 ¼ 91:50  C;
on the maximum mean axial velocity in the minimum free
flow area, is less than 1550. Owing to the complicated – Data set No. 17: w0 ¼ 7:01m/s (Rea ¼ 1061),
construction of the radiator, the numerical study of the
0
fam ¼ 20:4° C, V_ c ¼ 1004 L/h,
whole radiator is very difficult to carry out. Due to the hc ¼ 1479:7 W/m2 K; T100 ¼ 82:43 C; T200 ¼ 83:63 C;
symmetry, the 3D flow through the single narrow passage
between the fins was simulated. The temperature distri- The flow passage between the fins is divided into twelve
bution in the adjacent plate fins and tube walls was also layers of control volumes, while only two layers are on
calculated. In this way, the effect of non-uniform heat the half of the thickness of the fin (Fig.8). The distribu-
transfer coefficient on the tube and fin surfaces is taken tions of the fin temperature and air temperature in the
into account, as well as the effect of the tube-to-tube heat centre plane between adjacent fins obtained from the
conduction through the fins on the heat transferred from numerical simulation are shown in Figures 9 and 10
the cooling liquid to the air. The computations were respectively. The fin and air temperatures are signifi-
conducted for the data sets No. 5 and 17 from the Table 2. cantly higher for the data set No. 5, as the tube-side fluid
The uniform frontal velocity w0 and uniform temperature temperatures and heat transfer coefficients on the inner
0
Tam in front of the radiator were assumed. The boundary surface of the tubes are larger, than in the case of the
condition of the third kind (convection surface condition) data set No. 17. The simulation reveals high values of the
is specified at the inside surface S of the oval tubes (Fig. 7)heat flux on the fin’s leading edge due to the developing
air flow. Near the fin surface, the temperature of the air
@Tt

kt jS ¼ hc ð Tt jS
Tc Þ: ð36Þ increases in the flow direction and causes a corre-
@n sponding reduction in the heat flux. Stagnation flow on
The tube-side heat transfer coefficient hc was obtained the front of the tube in the first row produces high heat
from (31). The liquid temperatures T100 and T200 at the outlet transfer near the base of the fin and at the frontal part of
of the first pass were taken as the bulk liquid temperatures the tube circumference. Behind the tubes, the low-ve-
at the first and second row tubes, respectively. The locity wake regions exist. In the downstream regions of
numerical model of the radiator was used to calculate the tubes, low air velocities and very low heat fluxes can
00
temperatures T1 and T2 . 00 be observed in the first and second row. Relatively low
The 3D simulations were conducted for the following heat fluxes are encountered on the portions of the fin
data: that lie downstream of the minimum flow cross sections.
 Forsch Ingenieurwes 69 (2005)

calculating heat transfer coefficients the following results

are obtained:
– Data set No.5
 numerical model of the radiator (Fig.2):
hc ¼ 6395:7 W/m2 K; ha ¼ 78:4 W/m2 K;
U ¼ 1033:5 W/m2 K; Q_ chl ¼ 35462 W;
00 0
DTI;N ¼ Tg;N
Tam ¼ P2ðNÞ
P1ðNÞ ¼ 12:27 K;
000 00
DTII;N ¼ Tg;N
Tg;N ¼ P3ðNÞ
P2ðNÞ ¼ 10:24 K;
148
DTI ¼ DTI;N þ DTII;N ¼ 22:51K;
 numerical simulation

I;N ¼ 16:81K; DT
DT
II;N ¼ 9:09 K;

I ¼ DT
DT
I;N þ DT

II;N ¼ 25:90 K:
– Data set No.17
 numerical model of the radiator (Fig.2):
hc ¼ 6395:7 W/m2 K; ha ¼ 78:0 W/m2 K; ;
00 0
DTI;N ¼ Tg;N
Tam ¼ P2ðNÞ
P1ðNÞ ¼ 6:98 K;
000 00
DTII;N ¼ Tg;N
Tg;N ¼ P3ðNÞ
P2ðNÞ ¼ 6:33 K;
DTI ¼ DTI;N þ DTII;N ¼ 13:31K;
 numerical simulation

I;N ¼ 8:88 K; DT
DT
II;N ¼ 5:56 K;
Fig. 8. Mesh of finite volumes for the modelled section of the
automotive radiator
I ¼ DT
DT
I;N þ DT

II;N ¼ 14:44 K:

The heat transfer rates are especially low in the re-cir- The comparison of the results, which have been obtained
culation regions behind the tubes. In the regions with for the data sets No.5 and No.17 using the mathematical
small air velocities, the air temperatures are large model of the radiator reveals, that for the same air velocity
(Fig. 10). Using the correlations (30) and (31) for the overall heat transfer coefficient U increases

Fig. 9. Computed isotherm contours on the fin surface; a) data Fig. 10. Computed air temperature contours in the middle plane
set No. 5 b) data set No. 17 between adjacent fins; a.) data set No. 5 b) data set No. 17
D. Taler: Prediction of heat transfer correlations for compact heat exchangers
1033:5=646:1 ¼ 1:69 times due to a higher heat transfer
coefficient on the tube inner surface. It corresponds to the
increase of the total heat transfer rate of the radiator, that
is 35462=21407 ¼ 1:66. Examination of the results shows
that the tube side heat transfer coefficient has great in-
fluence on the radiator performance.
It has been found from the numerical CFD simulation
that the second-row fin and tube are less effective as heat
transfer surfaces than those in the first row. The 64.9% and
61.5% of the total heat transfer rate is transferred in the
first tube row, for the case No. 5 and No. 17, respectively.
The heat transfer rate at the second row tube is especially
low due to the presence of the wakes in front of and behind
the tube. The key to heat transfer enhancement on the fin
associated with the first tube row is a major contribution
of the developing flow region, while the portion of the fin
adjacent to the second tube row has no developing flow
contribution and only a small vortex contribution. The
regions behind the tubes contribute very little to the per-
formance of the heat exchanger.
The lower values of the air temperature difference
across the radiator obtained from the numerical model of
the heat exchanger, which used the empirical heat transfer
correlations based on the experimental data, may result
from the contact resistance between the fins and the tubes.
The numerical CFD simulation does not account for the
thermal contact conductance, because the homogenous
tube and fin material is assumed. On the other hand, in the
developed data reduction method, contact resistance be-
tween the tube and fin has implicitly been included in the
air-side heat transfer coefficient, which was used in the
numerical model of the radiator. The air temperature
differences across the first and second row of tubes ob-
tained from the mathematical model of the radiator are
not so large as in the case of the numerical simulation. The
small differences between the temperature drop over the
first and second row are caused by the uniform air-side
heat transfer coefficient assumed in the mathematical
model of the radiator.
6 changers. ASHRAE Transactions, Vol. 93, Part 2: 1961–1986
Conclusions
Two different methods were used to determine correla-
tions for the heat transfer coefficients.
In the first method, only the correlation for the air-side
heat transfer coefficient was determined from the condi-
tion that the calculated and measured coolant outlet
temperatures are equal.
In the second method the problem of determining heat
transfer correlations both on the air- and tube-side is
formulated as a parameter estimation problem by selecting
the functional form for the Nusselt number Nu ¼ f ðRe,PrÞ.
There are m parameters to be determined in such a way
that computed outlet tube side liquid temperatures agree
in the least-squares sense with the experimentally obtained
temperatures. A numerical model of the heat exchanger
was used to calculate the outlet liquid temperature as the
function of searched parameters.
The results of the experimental investigation of the
plate-fin-tube automotive radiator are presented. The
tested two-pass radiator consists of two inline rows of oval
tubes with smooth plate fins. The new correlations for the
heat transfer coefficients on the air and coolant sides were
developed using presented techniques.
The temperature differences across the first and second
tube rows obtained from the mathematical model of the
radiator were compared with the results obtained from the
numerical simulation of the 3D fluid and heat flow, per-
formed by means of the commercially available CFD code.
The empirical correlations obtained from the method II
were used in the mathematical model for calculating heat
transfer coefficients on the air- and tube-side. The ob-
149
tained results are in good agreement
The heat transfer correlations should be predicted si-
multaneously both on the tube and air-side in order to
properly predict the heat transfer correlations on the air-
side. The first method, in which only the air-side heat
transfer correlation is determined, can be less accurate
when the fluid velocities inside the tubes are low or when
the inner tube surface is fouled.
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