The ALBA Synchrotron Light Facility crotch absorbers, that remove the unused storage ring radiation, incorporate an internal cooling system composed by a number of parallel pinholes and by the corresponding stainless steel inner tubes inserted into each of them. Water flows in the resulting annular sections to evacuate the total heat power. Around each inner tube, a spiral wire is fixed along the whole length with a given pitch height in order to enhance the convection heat transfer. The

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... ce of several design parameters on the absorber thermo-fluid behavior has been evaluated by means of the CFD software ANSYS CFX. In particular, the wall heat transfer coefficients and the pressure losses through a single pinhole have been evaluated for a range of different flow rates and pitch heights. Moreover, some modifications of the end wall geometry have been simulated as well as the effect of reversing the flow direction inside the channels. Finally, the critical crotch absorber type 3 has also been simulated and the limiting pitch height-flow rate combinations have been found based on the available driving pressure of the cooling system.