The distributions of thermal resistance in viscous sublayer,buffer region and turbulent core region,local flow resistance and local heat transfer characteristics at different locations downstream of the twisted-tape element were numerically studied in a converging-diverging tube inserted with spaced twisted-tape element by analyzing the attenuation of self-sustaining swirl flow.The results showed that the local performance was poor as thermal resistance was too concentrated in its distribution for a particular region.The more uniform the distribution of thermal resistance,the better the local performance.The local performance reached its best when the fluid just left the spaced twisted-tape,in which the flow resistance dropped substantially but the enhancement of heat transfer was still significant.The self-sustaining flow was maintained at a long distance.The best performance was at the length of 36.85 times the diameter,increasing by 6.8% compared with a converging-diverging tube.
