Behaviour of a Non-Newtonian Fluid in a Helical Tube Under the Influence of Thermal Buoyancy

This work is an evaluative study of heat transfer in the helical-type heat exchanger. The fluid used is non-Newtonian in nature and is defined by Oswald’s model. The work was performed numerically by solving each of the Navier–Stokes equations and the energy equation using the package ANSYS-CFX. Following are the aspects that have been dealt with in this paper: the effects of thermal buoyancy, fluid nature and the tube shape on the heat transfer, and the fluid comportment. The interpretation of the obtained results was done by analyzing the isotherms and the streamlines. The mean values of the Nusselt number were also obtained in terms of the studied parameters. The results of this research enabled us to arrive at the following conclusion: the intensity of thermal buoyancy and the nature of the fluid affect the heat transfer distribution but keep the overall rate of heat transfer the same.