Planar elastic tube bundles are a novel approach to enhance heat transfer by using flow-induced vibration. This paper studied the heat transfer characteristic and fluid flow in both tube-side and shell-side using numerical simulation. Two temperature difference formulas were used to calculate convective heat transfer coefficient and the results were verified by theoretical analysis and experimental correlations. The effect of Reynolds number on overall convective heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop in tube-side and shell-side were studied. The comparison of the secondary flow in planar elastic tube bundles and conical spiral tube bundles were conducted. The external flow field and local convective heat transfer around the periphery of fixed planar elastic tube bundles subjected to the cross fluid flow were also analyzed. The results show that the energy consumption efficiency should be taken into account in the forced heat transfer process conducted by adjusting the fluid flow. The secondary flow varies depending on the fluid flow state and the geometry of tube. Hence, it is deduced that the heat transfer enhancement is obtained because the thermal boundary layer in the deformed planar elastic tube bundles caused by flow-induced vibration is damaged by the disordered secondary flow. In addition, the convective heat transfer capability of outside the two intermediate tube bundles is enhanced because of the effect of irregular and complex fluid flow affected by the role of curved tubes on both sides. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.