© JUL 2019 | IRE Journals | Volume 3 Issue 1 | ISSN: 2456-8880

Thermal Design of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

SU PON CHIT1, PAUK KYAW MA2, CHO CHO KHAING3
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technological University, Mandalay, Myanmar
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technological University, Banmaw, Myanmar
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technological University, Magway, Myanmar

Abstract- The purpose of this paper is to design the and tube heat exchanger but the most common types
shell and tube heat exchanger for Diesel in use are-
Locomotive. A characteristic of heat exchanger 1. U tube heat exchanger
design is the procedure of specifying a design, then 2. Straight tube (1- Pass or 2- Passes).
calculating the heat transfer coefficients, heat
transfer surface area and pressure drops and The optimum thermal design of a STHE involves the
checking whether the assumed design satisfies all consideration of many interacting design parameters
requirements. The inlet temperature of shell and which can be summarized as follows;
tube heat exchanger is about 86°C. This
temperature must be cooled down to a constant Part A —Thermal Design
temperature 78°C. The design has been done using The thermal design of STHE includes:
Bell Delaware method in order to obtain various 1. Process fluid assignments to shell side or tube side.
dimensions such as shell, tubes, baffles etc. Then 2. Selection of stream temperature specifications.
the thermal simulation in COMSOL Multiphysis 3. Setting shell side and tube side pressure drop
has been performed by applying several thermal design limits.
loads on variable baffle number. Viscous fluids go 4. Setting shell and tube side velocity limits.
on the shell side, since this will usually improve the 5. Selection of heat transfer models and fouling
rate of heat transfer. The pressure values from the coefficients for shell side and tube side.
simulations results compared with theoretical.
Part B — Mechanical Design
Indexed Terms- COMSOL Multiphysis, Diesel The mechanical design of STHE includes:
Locomotive, and Shell and tube heat exchanger 1. Selection of heat exchanger TEMA layout and
number of passes.
I. INTRODUCTION 2. Specification of tube parameters –size, layout,
pitch and material.
Heat exchangers are devices used to enhance or 3. Setting upper and lower design limits on tube
facilitate the flow of heat. Every living thing is length.
equipped in some way or another with heat 4. Specification of shell side parameters – materials,
exchangers. They are commonly used as oil coolers, baffles cut, baffles spacing and clearances.
power, condensers, preheaters and steam generators 5. Setting upper and lower design limits on shell
in both fossil fuel and nuclear-based energy diameter, baffles cut and baffle spacing.
production applications. To develop calculations there are several design
andrating packages available.
Shell and tube heat exchangers still take a noted place
in many industrial processes. They are widely used
because of their robut and flexible design. However,
conventional heat exchangers with segmental baffles
in shell side have some shortcomings resulting in the
relatively low conversion of pressure drop into a
useful heat transfer. There are many types of shell

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and bypass flow streams and ideal heat transfer

coefficient is calculated by using the following
correlation of Nusselt number.
Nu =1.04(Res )0.4 (Prs )0.36 (6)
hi do
Nu = (7)
ks
hi =1.04 (ks /do )(Res )0.4 (Prs )0.36
(8)
Figure 1. The Basic Flow of Shell and Tube Heat
Exchanger From the above equation the shell side heat transfer
coefficient is given by considering the various
II. MATHEMATICAL MODELLING leakages and by pass flow streams.

A: Thermal Analysis
 
h s = J c J l J b J r Js h i (9)

There are many methods to calculate the shell inside Where, Jc =baffle cut correction factor
diameter. Therefore following one is the formula for Jl =baffle leakage correction factor
finding the shell inside diameter. Jb=bundle bypass correction factor
Jr= laminar flow correction factor
Tube matrix diameter; Js= unequal baffle spacing correction factor
hi= the ideal tube blank heat transfer.
0.87
 
0.5
D m =0.637× × π×d o2 ×N t ×Pt2 (1)
0.9
3) Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient:
Shell inside diameter; The overall heat transfer coefficient U depend on the
Ds =1.075 Dm tube side and shell side heat transfer coefficient and
(2) fouling resistance which can be calculated as follows.
Where, Nt = number of tubes,
1 1 d   d   L  d   1 
Pt = tube pitch, =  o  +R t  o  +  w   o  +R s +   (10)
U h t  di   di   k w   di   ho 
do =tube outer diameter.
Where, Lw= tube wall thickness
1) Tube Side Heat Transfer Coefficient: kw = thermal conductivity of tube wall
The tube side heat transfer coefficient hi can be
calculated from the Nusselt number correlation. 4) Log Mean Temperature Difference
Heat flows between the hot and cold streams due to
Nu =0.023×Re0.88 ×Pr 0.33 (3)
the temperature difference across the tube acting as a
h t di (4) driving force. The difference will vary with axial
Nu =
kt location. Average temperature or effective
k temperature difference for either parallel or counter
h t =0.023× ×Re0.88 ×Pr 0.33 (5) flow may be written as:
di
ΔT -ΔT2
Where k = thermal conductivity ΔTLM = 1 (11)
di = tube inner diameter  ΔT1 
ln  
 ΔT2 
2) Sell Side Heat Transfer Coefficient: The correction factors, FT, can be found the
For the segmental baffled shell and tube heat theatrically and presented in analytical form. The
exchanger, the Bell-Delaware method is usually used equation given below has been shown to be accurate
in the shell and tube heat exchanger design. In this for any arrangement having 2-tube passes per shell
method, the shell side heat transfer coefficient is pass.
determined by correcting the ideal heat transfer
coefficient through considering the various leakage

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 R 2 +1    1-P   The zones covered by this pressure drop are the

   ln   central baffle compartments for flow between the
 R-1    1-PR   baffle cuts. The pressure drop in all the central baffle
F1-2 = (12)
 2/P-1-R+ R 2 +1  compartments is
 
 2/P-1-R- R 2 +1  Δpc =Δpbl (Nb -)R b R l (20)

Where the capacity ratio, R, is defined as:

Where ∆pbi is the ideal bundle pressure drop for one
T T
R  s1 s2 (13) baffle compartment of the Nb compartments and is
Tt2  Tt1 based on the mass velocity defined earlier. The
The parameter may be given by the equation: expression for ∆pbi
T  Tt1 Δpbi =0.002fi Ntcc (m.w )2 /ρs (21)
P  t2 (14)
Ts1  Ts2
Where, ∆T2 = Tho – Tco subscript i = inlet The pressure drop and mass velocity in all Nb
∆T1 = Thi – Tci subscript o = window zones for turbulent flow (Re>100) are
outlet  0.001mw 
Δp w =N b  2+0.6N tcw   Rl (22)
The total tube outside heat transfer area;  2ρ 

Q =UAOFT ∆TLM (15)

The total tube heat transfer of length; The pressure drop ∆pe in the two end zones of the
Ao =(πdo +Tf Nf )N t Lcal tube bundle is
(16)  N 
Δpe =Δp bi 1+ tcw R b R s (23)
 N tcc 
B: Hydraulic Analysis: Where, Nb= the number baffle
1) Pressure Drop for Tube Side Rb= the bypass correction factor
The pressure drop encountered by the fluid making Rl =the linkage correction factor
number of passes through the heat exchanger plus the Rs= the end zone correction factor.
additional pressure drop introduced by the change of
direction in the passes are multiplied by the kinetic III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
energy of the flow. Therefore the tube side pressure
drop is calculated, by the formula: The stream analysis shell-side heat transfer
 LN p  ρ u2 coefficient for single-phase flow hs is used by
Δp t =  4f t +4N p  t t (17)
 di  2 Equation (9). In this equation JC, JL, JB, JR and JS
are the correction factor and then calculated
Where
-2
correction factor. Assume number of baffle Nb is 2, 3
f t = 1.58ln(Ret )-3.28 (18) and 4.As the baffle spacing is decreased the number
of baffles will be increased which will lead to
2) Shell side Pressure drop increase in shell side Reynolds’s number that will
The shell side pressure drop is calculated as a lead to increase in overall heat transfer coefficient.
summation of the pressure drops for three The heat load is computed from Equation (10) and
components. They are comparing with given heat load. If the calculated heat
(1) Pressure drop in cross flow zone, ∆p c load is greater than the given heat load, it can be said
(2) Pressure drop in window zone, ∆p w that the design is satisfied. If not, by increasing Nt,
(3) Pressure drop in end zone, ∆pe. the total number of tubes, and the whole procedure
may be repeated till the above condition is satisfied.
The total pressure drop for shell side is The result tables of heat load and heat transfer
Δps =Δpc +Δpe +Δpw (19) coefficient are shown in Table 1.

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Table 1. Result Table of Heat Transfer Coefficient 3. The leak flows between tube and baffle and that
and Heat load between baffles and shell are neglected
4. The natural convection induced by the fluid
Nb = 2 Nb = 3 Nb = 4 density variation is neglected
5. The tube wall temperature kept constant in the
JC 1.030960 1.030960 1.030960 whole shell side
6. The heat exchanger is well insulated hence the
JL 0.786558 0.735269 0.690211 heat loss to the environment is totally neglected.
In all of the preliminary simulation, flow inside the
JB 0.871091 0.908660 0.932108 shell is observed to be turbulent viscous model
JS 0.974289 0.976656 0.977258 selected to be K-ε turbulent model [11]. The result is
investigated using the heat exchanger model with Nb
JR 0.98 0.98 0.98 = 2, 3 and 4 baffle spacing for 25% baffle cut. In
Figure2, 4 and 6, velocity path lines for four baffles
Ju 0.98 0.98 0.98 are given for the shell side velocity flow of 1.2 m/sec,
inlet boundary condition and outlet boundary
his 1049.477 1209.377 1353.992
condition is pressure, no viscous stress.
hs 693.6637 781.3488 842.8832
ht 15904 15904 15904

U 618.54 687.32 734.49

Q 160.9 178.8 191.1

The pressure drop for shell side is computed from the

Equation (19) and comparing with allowable pressure
drop. If the calculated pressure drop is less than the
given pressure drop (0.6bar), it can be said that the
Figure 2.Velocity on Shell Side when Nb=2
design is satisfied. If not, calculation can be repeated
with a revised value of Nt till the above condition is
satisfied. The result table for checking pressure drop
for shell side is shown in Table 2.

Table2. Result Table of Pressure Drop for Shell Side

versus Number of Baffle

Nb = 2 Nb = 3 Nb = 4

∆Pt 0.30590 0.30590 0.30590

∆Ps 0.2344 0.5623 0.7293 Figure 3.Pressure on Shell Side when Nb=2

The flows hit the baffle plate, and the direction of the
To simplify numerical simulation, some basic
flow is changed. In Figure 2, the shell space behind
characteristics of the process following assumption
the baffle is not effectively used for cross flow, as
are made :
marked with a circle. For this reason, the pressure
1. The shell side fluid is constant thermal properties
drop occurs high mark and total pressure drop is 0.26
2. The fluid flow and heat transfer processes are
bar in Figure 3.
turbulent and in steady state

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Figure 5.Pressure on Shell Side when Nb=4

Figure 4.Velocity on Shell Side when Nb=3
In Figrue 6, the velocity stream line of two
recirculation zones appear and also occur increasing
pressure drop result is 0.72 bar in Figure 7. Hence, it
is observed that three baffle gives better pressure
drop compare with other baffle over allowable
pressure drop for oil cooler for Locomotive. So,
number of baffles (3) is good for theoretical and
simulation.

Above the calculation result table, determined shell

Figure 5.Pressure on Shell Side when Nb=3
and tube heat exchanger design for diesel locomotive
transmission system is shown in Table 3.
In Figure 4, the flow is obseved to be well
developed.The cross flow throughout the shell
Table 3. Verification with Existing Data
volume and the recirculation zone appears little. So,
Result Industrial Calculated Data
the pressure drop is effectively average shown in
Data
Figure 5, the simulation result is gained the pressure
Shell diameter, 0.221 0.238
drop 0.58 bar.
m 1.17 1.17
Tube length, m 526 556
Total no. of 0.007 0.007
tubes 3 3
Tube diameter, 176.6 178.5
m 0.5 0.41261
Number of baffle 0.6 0.5623
Heat load, kW
Tube side
pressure drop
(bar)
Figure 6.Velocity on Shell Side when Nb=4 Shell side
pressure drop
(bar)

IV. CONCLUSION

In this research, in current numerical analysis, entire

geometry to shell and tube heat exchanger including
entrance and exist regions were considered as a

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domain of calculation, theoretical and numerical [7] Shan, R.K. and D. Sekulic, 2003. Fundamentals
results have been compared with number of baffle.In of Heat Exchanger Design. Wiley New York.
this shell diameter (0.238m), number of tubes (556) [8] Professor John R. Thom, 2004, "Wolverine.
and number of baffles (3), design heat load is greater Single Phase Shell Side Flows and Heat Transfer
than the limited heat load. Suitable tube sides are Data BookII‖, Wolverine Tube Inc,
chosen by Standard Table-3. Design pressure drop for www.Wolverine.com.
shell and tube side are less than limited pressure
[9] R. Hesseini, A. Hesseini-Ghaffar, M. Soltani,
drop. This pressure drop is depending on nozzle
―Experimental determination of shell side heat
diameter. The bigger the nozzle diameter, the less
transfer coefficient and pressure drop for an oil
pressure drop becomes. The less pressure drop, the
cooler shell and tube heat exchanger with three
better the efficient it gets.
different tube bundles‖, Applied Therminal
Engineering 27 (2007).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
[10] M. M. E-Fawal, A. A. Fahmy and B. M, Taher, ―
First of all, the author is particularly intended to Dr. Modelling of Economical Design of Shell and
Sint Soe, Rector, Mandalay Technological University Tube Heat Exchanger using Specificed Pressure
(MTU) and Dr. Kyaw Aung, Professor and Head of Drop‖, Journal of American Science, 2011.
Mechanical Engineering Department for their [11] COMSOLAB, ―Turbulent Flow through Reactor,‖
encouragement and suggestion for completion. The Heat transfer Module Library, Version: COMSOL
author wishes to my parents, express their gratitude 4.3b, 2012.
to all who had helped directly or indirectly towards
the successful completion of research study.

REFERENCES

[1] J.P. Holman, 1963, Heat Transfer, 8thed,

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[3] Bell KJ. Delaware method for shell side design.
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[4] Halle H, Chenoweth JM, Wabsganas MW. Shell
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[5] Gaddis ES, Gnielinski V. Pressure drop on the
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[6] Taborek, J., 1998. Shell and Tube Heat
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