Wavy type heat exchangers are one of the prominent corrugated plate heat exchangers. The experimental studies have been carried out on wavy type heat exchangers with glycerol and water as test fluids. The experimental work involves in studying the various factors affecting the fluid flow mostly Friction factor and Pressure Drop , where the energy losses are calculated across the wavy type corrugated plate heat exchanger.

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)
Volume 6, Issue 12, Dec 2015, pp. 60-65, Article ID: IJMET_06_12_006
Available online at
http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=6&IType=12
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359
© IAEME Publication
PRESSURE DROP STUDIES IN WAVY
CORRUGATED PLATE HEAT
EXCHANGERS
Dr. B Sreedhara Rao, M Mayuri, Y Sarasija, G Rohini
Dept. of Chem. Engineering, CBIT, Hyderabad
R.C Sastry
Dept. of Chem. Engineering, NIT, Warangal
ABSTRACT
Wavy type heat exchangers are one of the prominent corrugated plate heat
exchangers. The experimental studies have been carried out on wavy type heat
exchangers with glycerol and water as test fluids. The experimental work
involves in studying the various factors affecting the fluid flow mostly Friction
factor and Pressure Drop , where the energy losses are calculated across the
wavy type corrugated plate heat exchanger. The pressure drop studies were
carried out in a corrugated plate heat exchanger with different corrugation
angles of 30˚, 40˚ and 50˚ and corrugation channel spacing of 15 mm. It has
been found that the pressure drop increases with an increase in the
corrugation angle and viscosity of test fluid. Experimental data has been
plotted for pressure drop against Reynolds number and observed that the
pressure drop increases with increase in the corrugated angle.
Key words: Corrugated Plate Heat Exchanger, Pressure Drop, Reynolds
Number, Friction Factor
Cite this Article: Dr. B Sreedhara Rao, M Mayuri, Y Sarasija, G Rohini and
R.C Sastry. Pressure Drop Studies In Wavy Corrugated Plate Heat
Exchangers, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and
Technology, 6(12), 2015, pp. 60-65.
http://www.iaeme.com/currentissue.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=6&IType=12
1. INTRODUCTION
Heat exchangers are one of the prime equipments used in many chemical, food,
pharmaceutical and dairy industries. There are many types of heat exchangers in use
like plate heat exchanger, shell and tube heat exchangers. The use of corrugated plate
heat exchangers is very less due to the limited availability of literature. The
Corrugated Plate heat exchanger leads to increased heat transfer due to large surface
area and corrugation angle [1], as the corrugated angle is high the pressure drop is

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also high .Variations in the velocity results in occurrence of pressure drop and heat
transfer. C. Albanakis et.al [3] have conducted the experimental studies on the effect
of heat transfer on pressure drop and stated that the effect of angle is much significant
on the Pressure drop. In the present experimental investigations pressure drop
variations with respect to Reynolds number for various concentrations of glycerol as
test fluid with corrugation angles of 30˚, 40˚ & 50˚ are studied.
2. EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY
The experiment deals with the factors affecting the rate of heat transfer such as
pressure drop, friction factor, Reynolds number for a glycerol-water system. It is
carried out at different flow rates of glycerol for a fixed flow rate of water. Here water
is the hot fluid and glycerol is considered to be the test fluid .The corrugated plates
used are of angles 30˚, 40˚ and 50˚ for different concentrations of glycerol. The same
process is carried out with water to have a brief idea of the variations occurring at
different angles with respect to glycerol.
2.1. Experimental Setup
Figure 1 The Experimental Setup
Fig 1.The equipment consists of a test box, test fluid collection tank, hot water
tank, two motors and two rotameters in which we regulate the flow rates of the hot
and cold fluids respectively. The test box is composed of three sinusoidal plates
welded together. The plates are as shown in Fig2.it consists of two channels and three
plates welded together, through the two different channels the hot fluid and test fluid
flow. The inlet, outlet and the wall temperatures of the fluid have been recorded by
means of a digital temperature indicator with the help of 7 thermocouples welded at
different locations on the surface of the corrugated plate,
Figure 2 Sinusoidal plates welded together[2]

3. Dr. B Sreedhara Rao, M Mayuri, Y Sarasija, G Rohini and R.C Sastry
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2.2. Materials Used
We have used 60%, 50% and 40% glycerol solutions and by using a digital U-tube
manometer the pressure drop have been recorded and the values are tabulated. The
density of the glycerol solution has been taken from the literature.
Table No 1 Glycerol-water system fluid properties
Properties At 3080
k WATER GLY40% GLY50% GLY60%
Density (Kg/M3
) 994.038 1112.98 1137.768 1175.62
Viscosity (Ns/M2
) 0.00072 0.0018015 0.002574 0.004058
Thermal Conductivity (W/M-K) 0.65495 0.3779255 0.3541436 0.3351728
Specific Heat (Kj/Kg-K) 4.1785 3.1906826 3.01721 2.814344
The experiment is run for different concentrations of glycerol as mentioned earlier
at different corrugation angles. The two rotameters kept are useful in regulating the
required flow rates. The hot fluid flow rate and temperature are kept constant
throughout the experimental studies. The same procedure is followed for different
corrugated plates at different viscosities of test fluid.
The corrugation angle and the viscosity of the fluid are two important
considerations in a corrugated plate heat exchanger.
2.3. Specifications
Equivalent length of the channel = 30cm
Width of the channel = 10cm
Spacing of the channel containing test fluid=15cm
Material used in construction is stainless steel
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The Experimental data obtained is plotted for Pressure Drop against Reynolds
Number to describe the variations in the Pressure drop with respect to Reynolds
Number which describes the fluid flow characteristics. The plots obtained show that
as the viscosity and corrugation angle of the test fluid increase the Pressure drop also
increases [2]. The plate with the lesser corrugated angle i.e 30 ˚ plate has shown much
lesser Pressure drop
The several factors affecting Pressure drop are the corrugation angle, viscosity of
the test fluid, friction factor.
The variation of Friction factor and the Pressure drop with corrugation angle has
been analysed. Further, the variation of friction factor and Pressure drop with
Reynolds number for different corrugation angles using different test fluids have been
compared.
For an efficient operation, the energy losses and power consumption should be
minimum. As the corrugation angle increases, pressure drop offered by the channel
increases.
We now consider a case dealing with 60% concentrated glycerol solution for
different corrugated plates having corrugated angles of 30˚, 40˚, 50˚ respectively and
the variation of pressure drop with Reynolds number would be as shown in fig-3.

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Figure 3 Pressure Drop Vs Reynolds No for 60% Concentration
Now further we procced by taking 50% concentration of glycerol solution for
different corrugated plates with corrugated angles of 30˚,40˚and 50˚ respectively ,
behaviour of the pressure drop with Reynolds number can be shown in the obtained
plot as shown in Fig-4.
Figure 4 Pressure Drop Vs Reynolds No for 50% Concentration
We can say that the pressure drop increases with respect to Reynolds number and
also we observe few fluctuations because of experimental conditions.
Further we discuss about the variation of pressure drop with Reynolds number for
40% concentration of glycerol for different corrugated plates with corrugated angles
of 30˚,40˚and 50˚ respectively. The variation of the pressure drop with Reynolds
number can be represented as shown in the obtained plot as shown in the Fig-5.
Figure 5 Pressure Drop Vs Reynolds No for 40% Concentration

5. Dr. B Sreedhara Rao, M Mayuri, Y Sarasija, G Rohini and R.C Sastry
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Studying the behaviour of Pressure Drop with Reynolds number by taking
glycerol at different concentrations for different corrugated angles. We proceed by
taking the test fluid as water itself and study the behaviour of the Pressure drop with
respect to Reynolds number for water at different corrugated angles and the variation
can be as shown in the Fig-6
Figure 6 Pressure Drop Vs Reynolds No for water – water system
All the above obtained plots clearly state that as the corrugation angle is high the
Pressure drop increases and thereby increases the load on the motor which results in
high energy losses , also as the Reynolds number is increasing the flow pattern is
turbulent thereby paving a way for higher pressure drop as the turbulence increases at
higher flow rates .
With reference to the above results obtained we find that the Pressure drop was
found to be much lesser in case of 30˚ corrugated plate, now we compare the variation
of Pressure drop with Reynolds number for different concentrations of glycerol used
and water at a corrugated angle of 30˚the variations are as shown in the Fig-7
Figure 7 Pressure drop Vs Reynolds number for 30˚angle at different concentrations
of glycerol, water.
4. GOODNESS OF FIT
Curve fitting has been done using a software, in which a 4th degree polynomial is
found to be the best fit for the experimental data. The R-square value for each plot on
an average is ranging between 0. 9904 to 0.9995

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5. CONCLUSIONS
The experimental results state that there is a higher pressure drop at higher viscosities
and higher corrugated angle i.e. 50˚.
If the pressure drop is high it results in higher energy losses.
As per the experimental data obtained there exists two types of fluid flows
Laminar and turbulent, the laminar flow prevails in the beginning i.e. for lesser flow
rates of test fluids and on increasing the flow rate it becomes a turbulent flow. It is
noticed that the pressure drop is increasing with an increase in the flow rate at
different corrugated angles. The plate with corrugated angle of 30˚ has shown lesser
pressure drop when compared to 50˚and 40˚ degree plates. The 40˚corrugated plate
has given optimum results. Amongst all the three corrugated plates the 30˚ plate is
found to be efficient based on this experimental study in terms of pressure drop.
6. REFERENCES
[1] Nishimura T., Yano K., Yoshino T., Kawamura Y., “Occurance and structure of
Taylor-Goertler vortices induced in two-dimensional wavy channels for steady
flow”, J. Chemical Engineering Jpn., 697-703, 1990.
[2] B. Sreedhara Rao , S. Varun , MVS Murali Krishna , R. C. Sastry,” Pressure
Drop Studies of Newtonian Fluid in a corrugated plate heat exchanger”
International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Applications 2014; pg-42
[3] C.Albanakis, K. Yakinthos, K.Kritikos D.Missirlis, A.Goulas, P. Storm “The
effect of heat transfer on the pressure drop through a heat exchanger for aero
engine applications
[4] B. SreedharaRao, Varun S, Surywanshi G D, R C Sastry, “Experimental Heat
Transfer Studies of Water in Corrugated Plate Heat Exchangers: Effect of
Corrugation Angle”,Volume No. 3 Issue No.7, IJSET@2014 Page 9025.
Nishimura T., Murakami S., arakawa S., Kawamura Y., “Flow observation and
mass transfer characteristics in symmetrical wavy-walled channels at moderate
Reynolds numbers for steady flow”, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 33, 835-845, 1990
[5] Dr. B. Sreedhara Rao, M. Mayuri, D. Krishna Kant, Himanshu V Dr. M. V. S.
Murali Krishna and Prof. R. C. Sastry. Heat Transfer Studies In Wavy Corrugated
Plate Heat Exchangers, International Journal of Advanced Research in
Engineering and Technology, 6(11), 2015, pp. 72-79.
[6] Mahadev M Biradar. Two Fluid Electromagneto Convective Flow and Heat
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