Spirally corrugated tube is one of the most important parts of coaxial heat exchangers. It can greatly improve the heat transfer efficiency of heat exchangers. Here, a novel spirally corrugated tube with six-start is proposed. However, up to now, there is little literature about the heat transfer performance and flow field of this novel six-start spirally corrugated tube. In this paper, the effects of geometric parameters (pitch p, corrugation depth e), Reynolds number Re and fluid properties on the heat transfer performances are investigated based on the validated numerical model. The results show that with the increasing of pitch p, both the heat transfer coefficient h and Nusselt number Nu decrease gradually. Meanwhile, with the increasing of corrugation depth e, both the secondary flow velocity v(xy) and the vorticity of longitudinal vortex increase gradually. Moreover, under the same working condition, the heat transfer performances of the six-start spirally corrugated tube are affected by both the working medium and Reynolds number. Finally, a criterion correlation for heat transfer calculation in the six-start spirally corrugated tube is'proposed and validated to be reliable and suitable. This work can reveal the enhanced heat transfer mechanism of the six-start spirally corrugated tube and benefit the further research on heat transfer characteristics of multi-start spirally corrugated tube or other related devices. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.