Prediction of the heat transfer performance of twisted tape inserts by using artificial neural networks

Abstract

A numerical study is undertaken to investigate the effect of twisted tape inserts on heat transfer. Twisted tapes with various aspect ratios and single, double, and triple inserts are placed inside a tube for Reynolds numbers ranging from 8000 to 12000. Numerical results show that the tube with a twisted tape and different numbers of tape is more effective than the smooth tube in terms of thermo-hydraulic performance. The highest heat transfer is achieved with the triple insert, with the highest turning number and an increment of 15 %. Then, an artificial neural network (ANN) model with a three-layer feedforward neural network is adopted to obtain the Nusselt number on the basis of four inputs for a heated tube with a twisted insert. Several configurations of the neural network are examined to optimize the number of neurons and to identify the most appropriate training algorithm. Finally, the best model is determined with one hidden layer and thirteen neurons in the layer. Bayesian regulation is chosen as the training algorithm. With the optimized algorithm, excellent precision for measuring the output is provided, with R2 = 0.97043. In addition, the optimized ANN architecture is applied to similar studies in the literature to predict the heat transfer performance of twisted tapes. The developed ANN architecture can predict the heat transfer enhancement performance of similar problems with R2 values higher than 0.93.