Turbulent flow characteristics and heat transfer applications of a twisted heat exchanger with 3-lobed cross section along with Y-tape insert are numerically studied. The working fluids for the simulations are pure water and water–Al2O3 nanofluid using two-phase mixture model. The study is carried out for various nanofluid volume fractions of 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03 with Reynolds number in the range of 5000–20,000. The effect of nanoparticles in heat transfer augmentation for smooth and lobed tubes is discussed based on presenting the highest thermal performance, which is a relation between heat transfer rate and pressure loss. Results show that implementing the twisted tube with Y-tape insert enhances the heat transfer more than the twisted tube. Relative Nusselt numbers for twisted tubes decrease with Reynolds number in comparison with the plain tube. Turbulent intensity, swirl number and tangential velocity of twisted tube with insert are higher than empty twisted tube indicating that inserting the Y-tape intensifies the turbulence and disturbs the fluid flow further. On the other hand, although the twisted tube increases the pressure drop more than plain tube, the case with Y-tape drastically increases the friction factor. So, the thermal performance of twisted tube with insert is lower than empty twisted tube. Adding nanoparticles to the base fluid has different influence on the investigated cases. It augments the relative Nusselt number inside plain tube and empty twisted tube with slight increment in friction factor. Increasing the nanoparticles concentration enhances the heat transfer rates for these cases while it does not increase the relative Nusselt number inside twisted tube with Y-tape insert at high Reynolds number and nanoparticle concentration. Moreover, it can be found that twisted tube with or without Y-tape insert is more efficient at low Reynolds number in comparison with the plain tube
