Abstract
A new method is presented to predict heat transfer coefficients for gas flow normal to smooth and finned tube tanks with triangular pitch. A transformation from the actual tube bank to an equivalent equilateral triangular pitch infinite smooth tube bank (ETP-I-STB) is made. A function of Ch(Ch = NSTNPR2/3NRe0.4) versus (Xt D0)Δ, ratio of transverse pitch to tube diameter for the ETP-I-STB, was developed. The Ch for the equivalent ETP-I-STP then applies to the actual tube bank. The method works with circular finned tubes, smooth tubes, continuous finned tubes, and segmented finned tubes with any triangular pitch. Also, fair predictions were made for in-line tubes with high Reynolds numbers.