Convective heat and mass transfer in tube-fin exchangers under dehumidifying conditions

The article analyzes convective heat and mass transfer in the flow passages of tube-fin exchangers, adopting a simplified two-dimensional approach. The flow structure on the air side of these devices is spatially periodic, with fully developed conditions prevailing a short distance from the entrance. In numerical simulations, symmetric and/or antisymmetric periodicity in pressure, velocity components, temperature, and mass concentration of the water vapour are taken into account to reduce the computational domain. Using a finite-element discretization velocity, temperature and mass concentration fields are computed within wavy, offset-ship, and louver fin surfaces. Quantitative results are also obtained for friction factors, Nusselt numbers, and Colburn factors for heat and mass transfer.