Thermo-Fluid Characterization of Corrugated U-Tube Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger with Polymer Composite Tube Wall: A Combined CFD and Experimental Investigation

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Year : 2026 | Volume : 14 | 03 | Page :
    By

    Samyak Sonawane,

  • Sandesh Walunj,

  • Kamlakar Dhumal,

  • Abhijeet Malge,

  • Pramod Kothmire,

  1. UG Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT Academy of Engineering, Alandi(D), Pune, Maharashtra, India
  2. Technical Assistant, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT Academy of Engineering, Alandi(D), Pune, Maharashtra, India
  3. Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT Academy of Engineering, Alandi(D), Pune, Maharashtra, India
  4. Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT Academy of Engineering, Alandi(D), Pune, Maharashtra, India
  5. Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT Academy of Engineering, Alandi(D), Pune, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Shell-and-tube heat exchangers built with metallic tubes work well thermally, but corrosion problems, extra weight, and the inability to adjust the wall’s thermal properties through material choice remain genuine engineering headaches, particularly for corrosive or weight-critical applications. Over the past few years there has been a fair amount of interest in replacing metal tubes with polymer composite alternatives, since blending thermally conductive fillers — graphite nanoplatelets, boron nitride platelets and similar — into an epoxy or PTFE base raises the effective wall conductivity appreciably while keeping the corrosion resistance intact. This paper reports an experimental and CFD-based study of a corrugated U-tube shell-and-tube heat exchanger in which the central question is how tube wall conductivity affects the overall thermo-hydraulic behaviour. Three-dimensional simulations were carried out in ANSYS Fluent using a standard k-ε turbulence closure under steady conditions, and a purpose-built stainless steel test rig provided experimental data for model validation. After validation, the tube wall was swapped out in the CFD model for a polymer composite and its conductivity stepped from 0.2 W/m·K right up to 20 W/m·K, covering the range from nearly unfilled polymer to a well-loaded composite. The corrugated tube outperformed the plain tube in every test condition — heat transfer rate up by around 7–13%, temperature difference by 6–10%, and Nusselt number by 8–13%. More interestingly from the materials perspective, the parametric runs showed that when composite wall conductivity is above roughly 5 W/m·K, the performance gap with stainless steel narrows to within a few percent, mainly because the corrugation-driven turbulence does most of the work on the fluid side. The conclusion from this is that a properly formulated polymer composite tube, fitted with a corrugated profile, is a realistic design option where weight reduction or corrosion resistance takes priority over absolute maximum heat transfer.

Keywords: Shell-and-tube heat exchanger, Corrugated U-tube, Polymer composite tube, Effective thermal conductivity, CFD analysis, Heat transfer enhancement, Thermo-hydraulic performance.

How to cite this article:
Samyak Sonawane, Sandesh Walunj, Kamlakar Dhumal, Abhijeet Malge, Pramod Kothmire. Thermo-Fluid Characterization of Corrugated U-Tube Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger with Polymer Composite Tube Wall: A Combined CFD and Experimental Investigation. Journal of Polymer & Composites. 2026; 14(03):-.
How to cite this URL:
Samyak Sonawane, Sandesh Walunj, Kamlakar Dhumal, Abhijeet Malge, Pramod Kothmire. Thermo-Fluid Characterization of Corrugated U-Tube Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger with Polymer Composite Tube Wall: A Combined CFD and Experimental Investigation. Journal of Polymer & Composites. 2026; 14(03):-. Available from: https://journals.stmjournals.com/jopc/article=2026/view=244996


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Ahead of Print Subscription Original Research
Volume 14
03
Received 29/04/2026
Accepted 23/05/2026
Published 25/05/2026
Publication Time 26 Days
2

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