Numerical modeling and experimental validation of heat transfer and flow resistance on the shell side of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger with flower baffles

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (25-26) ◽  
pp. 7561-7569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yonghua You ◽  
Aiwu Fan ◽  
Suyi Huang ◽  
Wei Liu
2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Swanand Gaikwad ◽  
Ashish Parmar

AbstractHeat exchangers possess a significant role in energy transmission and energy generation in most industries. In this work, a three-dimensional simulation has been carried out of a shell and tube heat exchanger (STHX) consisting of segmental baffles. The investigation involves using the commercial code of ANSYS CFX, which incorporates the modeling, meshing, and usage of the Finite Element Method to yield numerical results. Much work is available in the literature regarding the effect of baffle cut and baffle spacing as two different entities, but some uncertainty pertains when we discuss the combination of these two parameters. This study aims to find an appropriate mix of baffle cut and baffle spacing for the efficient functioning of a shell and tube heat exchanger. Two parameters are tested: the baffle cuts at 30, 35, 40% of the shell-inside diameter, and the baffle spacing’s to fit 6,8,10 baffles within the heat exchanger. The numerical results showed the role of the studied parameters on the shell side heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop in the shell and tube heat exchanger. The investigation shows an increase in the shell side heat transfer coefficient of 13.13% when going from 6 to 8 baffle configuration and a 23.10% acclivity for the change of six baffles to 10, for a specific baffle cut. Evidence also shows a rise in the pressure drop with an increase in the baffle spacing from the ranges of 44–46.79%, which can be controlled by managing the baffle cut provided.


Author(s):  
Fadi A. Ghaith ◽  
Ahmed S. Izhar

This paper aims to enhance the thermal performance of an industrial shell-and-tube heat exchanger utilized for the purpose of cooling raw natural gas by means of mixture of Sales gas. The main objective of this work is to provide an optimum and reliable thermal design of a single-shelled finned tubes heat exchanger to replace the existing two- shell and tube heat exchanger due to the space limitations in the plant. A comprehensive thermal model was developed using the effectiveness-NTU method. The shell-side and tube-side overall heat transfer coefficient were determined using Bell-Delaware method and Dittus-Boelter correlation, respectively. The obtained results showed that the required area to provide a thermal duty of 1.4 MW is about 1132 m2 with tube-side and shell-side heat transfer coefficients of 950 W/m2K and 495 W/m2K, respectively. In order to verify the obtained results generated from the mathematical model, a numerical study was carried out using HTRI software which showed a good match in terms of the heat transfer area and the tube-side heat transfer coefficient.


Author(s):  
K. Mohammadi ◽  
W. Heidemann ◽  
H. Mu¨ller-Steinhagen

A semi-analytical model is presented for the evaluation of the performance factor of the inlet zone of an E type shell and tube heat exchanger without leakage flows. The performance factor is defined as the ratio of dimensionless heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops of both vertical and horizontal baffle orientation and therefore facilitates the decision between horizontal and vertical baffle orientation of shell and tube heat exchangers. The model allows the calculation of the performance factor of the inlet zone as a function of the baffle cut, the shell-side Reynolds number at the inlet nozzle and the Prandtl number of the shell-side fluid. The application of the model requires the knowledge of the performance factor of water at baffle cut equal to 24% of the shell inside diameter. For the development of the model a numerical data basis is used due to the lack of experimental data for shell and tube heat exchangers with different baffle orientations. The numerical data are obtained from CFD calculations for steady state conditions within a segmentally baffled shell and tube heat exchanger following the TEMA standards. Air, water and engine oil with Prandtl numbers in the range of 0.7 to 206 are used as shell-side fluids. The semi-analytical model introduced for the performance factor predicts the CFD results with a relative absolute error less than 5%. The presented model has to be validated with further experimental data and/or numerical results which explain the effect of baffle orientation on the shell-side heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop in order to check the general applicability.


2011 ◽  
Vol 236-238 ◽  
pp. 1607-1613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Gu ◽  
Yong Qing Wang ◽  
Qi Wu Dong ◽  
Min Shan Liu

A new concept of “Sideling Flow” in shell side of shell-and-tube heat exchanger is presented, which is relative to the cross flow, longitudinal flow and helical flow in heat exchanger. A type of new energy saving shell-and-tube heat exchanger with sideling flow in shell side, shutter baffle heat exchanger is invented, which exhibits the significant heat transfer enhancement and flow resistance reducement performance. The “Field Synergy Principle” is adopted to analyze the heat transfer enhancement mechanism of sideling flow, it is indicated that the shutter baffle heat exchanger exhibits the perfect cooperativity between velocity field and temperature grads field. Effects of the structure and processing parameters on the fluid flow and heat transfer are also investigated through numerical simulation, both the correlative equations of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop in shell side are deduced, which provide references for the design and popularization of this new type heat exchanger.


Author(s):  
Patrick M. Fourspring ◽  
Joseph P. Nehrbauer

Low-finned tubes can be effective in baffled flow heat exchangers, if the heat transfer coefficients on either side of the heat exchanger differ greatly and therefore limit the thermal conductance of the heat exchanger. Low-finned tubes can increase thermal conductance by providing additional heat transfer area on the limiting side. The height and the spacing of the low-fins must be greater than the thickness of the thermal boundary layer on the low-finned side of the heat exchanger. Otherwise, the effectiveness of the additional area that the low-finned tubes provide will be reduced. The boundary layer thickness is dependent on the velocity and the thermophysical properties of the fluids. Therefore, in a standard shell-and-tube heat exchanger, the number of heat exchanger shell-side baffles needs to be properly considered to provide the correct shellside velocity without introducing too much pressure drop. Testing of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger containing low-finned tubes varied the flow rate and pressure of the supercritical CO2 on the shell side as water provided the cooling on the tube side. The testing maintained the temperature and pressure of the CO2 above the critical point in order to determine the changes in the effectiveness of the low-finned tubes and thus the heat transfer rate of the heat exchanger. The results show that the additional heat transfer area provided by the low-finned tubes will remain fully effective, even as the supercritical fluid nears its critical point or a pseudo-critical temperature. This result also supports (but is not sufficient to prove) the guidance to limit the estimated thickness of the thermal boundary layer to the fin height and twice the fin spacing to ensure the additional heat transfer area provided by the low-finned tubes remain effective.


Author(s):  
Guidong Chen ◽  
Jing Xu ◽  
Ming Zen ◽  
Qiuwang Wang

In order to improve heat transfer performance of conventional segmental baffled shell-and-tube heat exchangers (STHXs), the shell-and-tube heat exchanger with combined helical baffles (CMH-STHX) were invented. In the present study, the CMH-STHX is compared with three other STHXs which were set up with continuous helical baffles (CH-STHX), discontinuous helical baffles (DCH-STHX) and segmental baffles (SG-STHX), by Computational Fluid Dynamics method. The numerical results show that, for the same mass flow rate at the shell side, the overall pressure drop of the CMH-STHX is about 50% and 40% lower than that of SG-STHX and CH-STHX. The heat transfer coefficient of the CMH-STHX is between those of CH-STHX and DCH-STHX and it is 6.3% lower than that of SG-STHX. The heat transfer coefficient under unit pressure drop h/Δp is introduced to evaluate the comprehensive performance of STHXs. The h/Δp of the CMH-STHX is 7.5%, 6.5% and 87.4% higher on average than those of the CH-SHTX, DCH-STHX and SG-STHX. Furthermore, the total heat transfer rate of CMH-STHX is about 25% higher than that of SG-STHX for the same total pressure drop of shell side. Supported by these results, the new heat exchanger (CMH-STHX) may be used to replace the conventional shell-and-tube heat exchanger in industrial applications.


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