Experimental investigation of in-line tube bundles

Abstract

In the present paper, an experimental investigation of in–line tube bundles is carried out using a subsonic wind tunnel for the following physical parameters:• Reynolds number = 35500 (based on diameter and gap bulk velocity);• free stream and Gap bulk velocity: U∞ = = 3.1321 m/s, Ug = 10.2505 m/s;• sampling time = 1 second;• pitch ratio, P/D =1.44 (P = T = 57.6 mm, D = = 40 mm).The pressure distributions along the seven tubes (15 pressure tapings) were determined for a variation of the azimuthal angle from 0 to 360º.The drag and lift forces are the two excitations forces components in a cross flow.A comparison of the present results with some numerical simulations performed on a tube bundle with an aspect ratio of 1.5 for the central tube has given a fairly good agreement. The effect of flow deflection is observed in term of stagnation pressure region located somewhere around 45º from the flow direction. This shift of stagnation point location is also validated from LES of Afgan and Benhamadouche.