The invention relates a heat transfer element capable of generating longitudinal vortex and an element pair thereof, and belongs to the field of strengthened heat transfer. The element is composed of a rib and a heat exchange surface, wherein the shape of the rib is a spiral cylinder with a square section; the element is obtained through the following manners that a straight line at the initial square center is a main axis, and one point outside the main axis rotates by an angle alpha clockwise around the main axis and advances for a length L along the main axis to obtain a spiral line, and the semidiameter of the spiral line is r; the initial square perpendicularly stretches by the length L so as to obtain a spiral cylinder; and the longitudinal vortex generated by the element has good quality; and compared with a discontinuous crossed rib, the heat transfer effect and the strengthened heat transfer property with same consumption are obviously improved.