3-D numerical simulations are performed for heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics of the tubes fitted with helical screw-tape inserts The comparison between the RNG k-epsilon turbulence model and the SST k-omega turbulence model in prediction of swirling now shows that the latter has better qualitative and quantitative agreements with the experimental results than the former The simulation results show that the novel helical inserts with right and left twists alternately have better heat transfer performance than that of the helical inserts with uniformly right twists The simulation results are analyzed from the viewpoint of field synergy principle. it is found that the principle could explain well the mechanism of heat transfer enhancement of the helical twist inserts The smaller the mean intersection angle between the temperature gradient and velocity vector, the larger the Nusselt number, in addition, the smaller local intersection angle also implies the higher local heat transfer coefficient (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved