International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)
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CFD Analysis of Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers –A review
Dilip S Patel1, Ravindrasinh R Parmar2, Vipul M Prajapati3
Associate Prof., Department of Mechanical Engineering S.K.Patel college of Engg. Visnagar, Gujarat, India
Student of ME, Department of Mechanical Engineering S.K.Patel college of Engg. Visnagar, Gujarat, India
3 Assistant Prof., Department of Mechanical Engineering S.K.Patel college of Engg. Visnagar, Gujarat, India
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Abstract - This review focuses on the various
researches on CFD analysis in the field of heat
exchanger. Shell and tube heat exchanger is an indirect
contact type heat exchange as it consists of a series of
tubes, through which one of the fluids runs. They are
widely used in power plant, chemical plants, petrochemical plants and automotive applications. Different
turbulence models available in general purpose
commercial CFD tools likes k-ԑ model, K-ω model and Kω SST models. Different CFD code available like CFX,
FLUENT. The quality of the solution has proved that CFD
is effective to predict the behavior and performance of a
wide variety of heat exchanger.
Key Words: Shell and tube heat exchanger, CFD,
turbulence model, computational modeling, Fluent.
1.INTRODUCTION
Heat exchangers are devices used to transfer heat energy
from one fluid to another. Typical heat exchangers
experienced by us in our daily lives include condensers
and evaporators used in air conditioning units and
refrigerators. Boilers and condensers in thermal power
plants are examples of large industrial heat exchangers.
There are heat exchangers in our automobiles in the form
of radiators and oil coolers. Heat exchangers are also
abundant in chemical and process industries.
There is a wide variety of heat exchangers for diverse
kinds of uses, hence the construction also would differ
widely. However, in spite of the variety, most heat
exchangers can be classified into some common types
based on some fundamental design concepts. We will
consider only the more common types here for discussing
some analysis and design methodologies.
inside it. One fluid runs through the tubes, and another
fluid flows over the tubes (through the shell) to transfer
heat between the two fluids. The set of tubes is called a
tube bundle, and may be composed of several types of
tubes: plain, longitudinally finned, etc.
Shell and tube heat exchanger design is based on
correlations between the Kern method and Bell-Delaware
method
-)n Bell’s method the heat-transfer coefficient and
pressure drop are estimated from correlations for flow
over ideal tube-banks, and the effects of leakage,
bypassing and flow in the window zone are allowed for by
applying correction factors. This approach will give more
satisfactory predictions of the heat-transfer coefficient and
pressure drop than Kern’s method; and, as it takes into
account the effects of leakage and bypassing, can be used
to investigate the effects of constructional tolerances and
the use of sealing strips. Bell-Delaware method is more
accurate method and can provide detailed results
In Kern's method-is based on experimental work on
commercial exchangers with standard tolerances and will
give a reasonably satisfactory prediction of the heattransfer coefficient for standard designs. The prediction of
pressure drop is less satisfactory, as pressure drop is more
affected by leakage and bypassing than heat transfer. The
shell-side heat transfer and friction factors are correlated
in a similar manner to those for tube-side flow by using a
hypothetical shell velocity and shell diameter.
2. SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER
A shell and tube heat exchanger is a class of heat
exchanger designs. It is the most common type of heat
exchanger in oil refineries and other large chemical
processes, and is suited for higher-pressure applications.
As its name implies, this type of heat exchanger consists of
a shell (a large pressure vessel) with a bundle of tubes
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Fig.1: Shell and tube heat exchanger
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3.COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS
CFD is useful for studying fluid flow, heat transfer;
chemical reactions etc by solving mathematical equations
with the help of numerical analysis.CFD resolve the entire
system in small cells and apply governing equations on
these discrete elements to find numerical solutions
regarding pressure distribution, temperature gradients.
This software can also build a virtual prototype of the
system or device before can be apply to real-world physics
to the model, and the software will provide with images
and data, which predict the performance of that design.
More recently the methods have been applied to the
design of internal combustion engine, combustion
chambers of gas turbine and furnaces, also fluid flows and
heat transfer in heat exchanger. The development in the
CFD field provides a capability comparable to other
Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) tools such as stress
analysis codes. Basic Approach to using CFD
4. TURBULENCE MODELS
Turbulence arises due to the instability in the flow.
Turbulent flows contain a wide range of length, velocity
and time scales and solving all of them makes the costs of
simulations large. Therefore, several turbulence models
have been developed with different degrees of resolution.
There are several turbulence models available in CFDsoftware including the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and
Reynolds Average Navier- Stokes (RANS). There are
several RANS models available depending on the
characteristic of flow, e.g., Standard k-ε model, k- ε RNG
model, Realizable k- ε, k-ω and RSM Reynolds Stress
Model) models.
5. LITERATURE SURVEY
Muhammad Mahmood Aslam Bhutta et al.[1] focuses on
the applications of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in
the field of heat exchangers. It has been found that CFD
employed for the fluid flow mal-distribution, fouling,
pressure drop and thermal analysis in the design and
optimization phase. Different turbulence models such as
standard, realizable and RNG, k – ε, RSM, and SST k - ε with
velocity-pressure coupling schemes such as SIMPLE,
SIMPLEC, PISO and etc. have been adopted to carry out the
simulations. Conventional methods used for the design
and development of Heat Exchangers are expensive. CFD
provides cost effective alternative, speedy solution and
eliminate the need of prototype, it is limited to Plate, Shell
and Tube, Vertical Mantle, Compact and Printed Circuit
Board Exchangers but also flexible enough to predict the
fluid flow behavior to complete heat exchanger design and
optimization involving a wide range of turbulence models
and integrating schemes the k - ε turbulence model is most
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widely employed design and optimization .The
simulations results ranging from 2% to 10% with the
experimental studies. In some exceptional cases, it varies
to 36%.
Qiuwang Wang et al.[2] has investigated a combined
multiple shell-pass shell-and-tube heat exchanger (CMSPSTHX) with continuous helical baffles in outer shell pass
has been invented to improve the heat transfer
performance and simplify the manufacture process. The
CMSP-STHX is compared with the conventional shell-andtube heat exchanger with segmental baffles (SG-STHX) by
means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The
numerical results show that, under the same mass flow
rate M and overall heat transfer rate Q_m, the average
overall pressure drop ∆P_m of the CMSP-STHX is lower
than that of conventional SG-STHX by 13% on average.
Under the same overall pressure drop ∆P_m in the shell
side, the overall heat transfer rate Q_m of the CMSP-STHX
is nearly 5.6% higher than that of SG-STHX and the mass
flow rate in the CMSP-STHX is about 6.6% higher than that
in the SG-STHX. The CMSP-STHX might be used to replace
the SG-STHX in industrial applications to save energy,
reduce cost and prolong the service life.
K.Mohammadi et al.[3] has studied in the vertical baffle
orientation seems more desirable in the intermediate
baffle spacing zones particularly for low viscous shell
fluids. Same trend seems to apply for highly viscous shell
fluids at low Reynolds number. The baffle orientation has
a significant influence on the shell side pressure drop and
heat transfer of shall and tube heat exchanger. The
advantage of the horizontal baffle orientation over the
vertical has been found in the inlet and outlet zone of heat
exchanger for all investigated Prandtl numbers. Simulation
results for the inlet region show that the horizontal baffle
orientation produces up to 20% higher pressure drop than
the pressure drop in vertical baffle orientation. The result
also show that the Nusselt number for horizontal baffle
orientation is approximately 15% to 52% higher than the
nusselt number vertical orientation.
Hari Haran et al.[4] has compared result of C and ANSYS
and getting an error of 0.0274in effectiveness. By using
ANSYS process thermal analysis in less time and our
analysis report also almost accurate. In this paper using
theoretical formulae design a model of a shell and tube
heat exchanger using Pro-e and done the thermal analysis
by using ANSYS software and comparing the result that
obtained from ANSYS software and theoretical formulae.
Simplification of theoretical calculation use C code for
calculating the thermal analysis of a counter flow of shall
and tube heat exchanger.
Huadong Li et al.[5] has investigated local heat transfer
and pressure drop for different baffle spacing in the shell
and tube heat exchangers with segmental baffles. The
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distributions of the local heat transfer coefficients on each
tube surface were determined and visualized by means of
mass transfer measurements. The determination of the
shell-side flow distributions are allowed by the local
pressure measurements. For same Reynolds number, the
pressure drop and average heat transfer are increased by
an increased baffle spacing which can increase the heat
transfer coefficient in the whole baffle compartment due
to the reduction of the percentage of the leakage stream
and due to the higher flow velocity through the baffle
opening and the local heat transfer coefficient distribution
for individual tube is slightly affected by the baffle spacing.
Ender Ozden et al.[6] has worked on the design of shell
and tube heat exchanger by numerically modeling in
particular the baffle spacing, baffle cut and shell diameter
dependencies of heat transfer coefficient and pressure
drop. The flow and temperature fields are resolved by
using a commercial CFD package and it is performed for a
single shell and single tube pass heat exchanger with a
variable number of baffles and turbulent flow. The best
turbulent model among the one is selected to compare
with the CFD results of heat transfer coefficient, outlet
temperature and pressure drop with the Bell-Delaware
method result. By varying flow rate the effect of the baffle
spacing to shell diameter ratio on the heat exchanger
performance for two baffle cut value is investigated. Three
turbulence models are taken for the first and second order
discretizations to mesh density. By comparing with the
Bell-Delaware results the k-ԑ realizable turbulence model
is selected as the best simulation approach. By varying
baffle spacing between 6 to 12,and the baffle cut values of
36% and 25% for 0.5 and 2 kg/s flow rate, the simulation
results are compared with the results from the kern and
Bell-Delaware methods. It is observed that the CFD
simulation results are very good with the Bell-Delaware
methods and the differences between Bell-Delaware
method and CFD simulations results of total heat transfer
rate are below 2% for most of the cases.
Apu Roy, D.H.Das [7] has carried out with a view to
predicting the performance of a shell and finned tube heat
exchanger in the light of waste heat recovery application.
Energy available in the exit stream of many energy
conversion devices such as I.C engine gas turbine etc goes
as waste, if not utilized properly. The performance of the
heat exchanger has been evaluated by using the CFD
package fluent 6.3.16 and the available values are
compared with experimental values. By considering
different heat transfer fluids the performance of the above
heat exchanger can also be predict. The performance
parameters of heat exchanger such as effectiveness,
overall heat transfer coefficient, energy extraction rate etc,
have been taken in this work.
D.P.Naik et al.[8] did an assessment of counter flow shell
and tube heat exchanger by entropy generation
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minimization method. The design variables which are
used for the shell and tube heat exchanger are tube inside
diameter, tube outside diameter, number of tubes, baffle
spacing and tube pitch etc. The analyses of these design
parameters are very important for the better performance
of shell and tube heat exchanger. Shell and tube heat
exchanger performance has improved significantly by
minimization of entropy generation number considering
the various design variables. As the mass flow rate of shell
side fluid increases, the entropy generation number
increases. Therefore we can reduce the entropy
generation number by reducing the mass flow rate of cold
fluid by optimization. If we change tube side area heat
exchanger effectiveness also change.
Hamidou Benzenine et al.[9] has investigated numerically
to study a turbulent flow of air through a rectangular
section. Two baffles were introduced into the field to
produce vortices, to improve the mixture and thus, the
transfer of heat. The numerical results obtained by the
finite volume method, are validated and presented to
analyze the dynamic behavior of a turbulent flow using the
low Reynolds number model. The highest disturbance is
obtained upstream second baffle. This study showed that
the undulation of the baffles induced with an
improvement on the skin friction of about 9.91 % in the
case of α= °, more than
% in the other cases.
Concerning the pressure loss the undulation of the baffles
was insured improvements starter from 10, 43% in all
cases compared with the baffles of plane form. The
investigation was carried for four cases of slopes for the
corrugated baffles going from 0° up to 45°, with a step
equal to 15°. It may be concluded that the purely vertical
use of the waved baffles α= in the geometry studied,
ensures the optimal size of the zone of recirculation and
thus necessary time for guarantee the improvement of
heat exchange. Also this case ensures us a very high
velocity in the exit of the channel, measures more than
four times the reference velocity, and most significant is to
reduce less the action flow induces on the pressure losses.
Kevin M. Lunsford et al.[10] has analyzed to increase the
heat exchanger performance and suggested increasing
heat exchanger performance through a logical series of
steps. The first step considers if the exchanger is initially
operating correctly. The second step considers increasing
pressure drop if available in exchangers with single-phase
heat transfer. Increased velocity results in higher heat
transfer coefficients, which may be sufficient to improve
performance. Next, a critical evaluation of the estimated
fouling factors should be considered. Heat exchanger
performance can be increased with periodic cleaning and
less conservative fouling factors. Finally, for certain
conditions, it may be feasible to consider enhanced heat
transfer through the use of finned tubes, inserts, twisted
tubes, or modified baffles.
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A.E. Zohir [11] The analysis of the Heat transfer
characteristics in a heat exchanger for turbulent pulsating
water flow with different amplitudes has been carried out.
The effect of pulsation on the heat transfer rates, for
turbulent water stream with upstream pulsation of
different amplitudes, in a double- pipe heat exchanger for
both parallel and counter flows, with cold water on the
shell side, was investigated. The heat transfer coefficient
was found to increase with pulsation, with the highest
enhancement observed in the transition flow regime. The
heat transfer coefficient was strongly affected with
pulsation frequency, amplitude and Reynolds number. In
the counter flow, the enhancements in heat transfer rates
are somewhat greater than that in the parallel flow. The
heat transfer coefficient was found to increase with
pulsation, with the highest enhancement observed in the
transition flow regime. The results showed that an
enhancement in relative average Nusselt number of
counter flow up to 10 times was obtained for higher
amplitude and higher pulsation frequencies. While, an
enhancement in relative average Nusselt number of
parallel flow up to 8 times was obtained for higher
amplitude and higher pulsation frequency. The maximum
enhancements in the heat transfer rates were obtained at
Reynolds number of 3855 and 11570
Simin Wang et al. [12] has investigated that the shell-andtube heat exchanger was improved through the
installation of sealers in the shell-side. They are cheap,
firm and convenient to install. Sealers effectively
decreases the short-circuit flow in the shell-side and
decrease the circular leakage flow. The original shortcircuit flow then participates in heat transfer, which
intensifies the heat transfer performance inside the heat
exchanger. The results of heat transfer experiments show
that the shell-side heat transfer coefficient of the improved
heat exchanger increased by 18.2–25.5%, the overall
coefficient of heat transfer increased by 15.6–19.7%, and
the energy efficiency increased by 12.9–14.1%. Pressure
losses increased by 44.6–48.8% with the sealer
installation, the energy utilization improves, which is of
significance of the optimum design to the shell-and-tube
heat exchanger. The sealers are a solution settling the
puzzle of the effect of baffle-shell leakage flow in tube-andshell heat exchangers. The heat transfer performance of
the improved heat exchanger is increased, which is a
benefit for optimizing of heat exchanger design.
J.S. Jayakumar et al.[13] has established that heat transfer
in a helical coil is higher than that in a corresponding
straight pipe. However, the detailed characteristics of fluid
flow and heat transfer inside helical coil is not available
from the present literature. This paper brings out clearly
the variation of local Nusselt number along the length and
circumference at the wall of a helical pipe. Movement of
fluid particles in a helical pipe has been traced. CFD
simulations are carried out for vertically oriented helical
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coils by varying coil parameters such as (i) pitch circle
diameter, (ii) tube pitch and (iii) pipe diameter and their
influence on heat transfer has been studied. After
establishing influence of these parameters, correlations
for prediction of Nusselt number has been developed. A
correlation to predict the local values of Nusselt number
as a function of angular location of the point is also
presented.
6.CONCLUSIONS
CFD provides cost effective alternative, speedy solution
and eliminate the need of prototype. The literature review
focus on the analysis of various parameters which
influence on the performance of the STHE. It has been
observed that computational modeling is one of the
efficient techniques to study these type of heat elements.
The parameters like tube and shell diameter, number of
tubes, pitch and baffle angles are the important one to be
worked upon. A detailed analysis using the CFD simulation
will be worthy to be carried out. An heat exchanger used
in the KLTPS Pandro power plant has been taken for the
further study in the proposed research work.
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Muhammad Mahmood Aslam Bhutta, Nasir Hayat,
Muhammad Hassan Bashir, Ahmer Rais Khan,
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International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)
e-ISSN: 2395 -0056
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p-ISSN: 2395-0072
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