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THERMAL SCIENCE
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ANALYSIS OF VORTEX SHEDDING CHARACTERISTICS AND HEAT TRANSFER PERFORMANCE OF STAGGERED TUBE BUNDLE SYSTEM
ABSTRACT
Tube bundle systems’ heat transfer is unclear due to complex flow channels and turbulent fluctuations, affecting energy efficiency. This study simulates 2-D staggered 18 row tube bundles at Reynolds numbers 3100-50000. The 3-D cylinders are simplified to 2-D tubes, with grid independence and model validation. Flow, temperature fields, and synergy angles are analyzed for positions, Reynolds numbers, and spacings. High vortex shedding frequency in front tubes with multiple subfrequencies at different amplitudes. Asymmetric solutions emerge due to turbulent fluctuations. At high Reynolds, vortex shedding patterns complexify and frequencies rise. Nusselt number and synergy angle trends similar at low Reynolds number, but diverge at high Reynolds nimber. Small tube spacings significantly impact heat transfer; large spacings have weaker effects.
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2024-10-12
PAPER REVISED: 2025-01-15
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2025-03-01
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2025-04-05
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI241012061J
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
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© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence