A symmetric outward convex corrugated tube design is introduced for parabolic trough receivers with the aim of increasing their heat transfer performance and reliability. An optical-thermal-structural sequential coupled method was developed to analyze the heat transfer performance and thermal deformation of the glass cover and metal tube of the parabolic trough receiver. The developed coupled method has been validated with experimental results conducted in the DISS test facility in Spain. The numerical results indicated that the introduction of a symmetric outward convex corrugated tube design for the metal tube of the parabolic trough receiver can effectively enhance the heat transfer performance and decrease the thermal strain. The effective heat transfer coefficient can be increased up to 8.4% and the maximum thermal strain of metal tube can be decreased up to 13.1% when symmetric outward convex corrugated tube is used at Re = 81728, p/D = 4.3. In addition, regression correlations are put forward in order to find an effective heat transfer coefficient and effective Nusselt number for the fluid flow in the parabolic trough receiver. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.