Global Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Computational Science– ISSN 2249-3468 GJMECS Vol.

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SUGGESTED STEPS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION OF A SHELL AND TUBE HEAT
EXCHANGER BY THE APPLICATION OF ENTROPY GENERATION MINIMIZATION PRINCIPLE

Subha Mondal*, Chitta Sahana and Nitesh Mondal

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birbhum Institute of Engineering & Technology, Suri, Birbhum
* Corresponding author: Subhamondal53@gmail.com.

ABSTRACTS
Entropy generation for any real system represents the degree of irreversibility involved in the process. So
minimization of entropy generation means minimization of irreversibility. However while minimization
of entropy generation in the case of a shell and tube heat exchanger the factors like compactness and heat
duty cannot be disregarded. In this paper an attempt has been done to suggest standard steps for
performance optimization of a shell and tube heat exchanger by taking care of parameter like
irreversibility as well as compactness and heat duty for given inlet conditions and mass flow rate of shell
and tube side fluid. ! " - -- !
Key words  #$% &'()*& #+% ,* # #*+  &' & + #% + #')$ . +* # '+ + /(  *+0 ,* # 0/#$1

INTRODUCTION
Design of heat exchange is a prime interest of engineers as it can act as a prime condition of efficient
utilization of energy. Shell and tube heat exchangers are very common in most of the power and chemical
industry. While optimizing the performance of a heat exchanger certain parameters like heat duty,
compactness, and electrical power consumptions for pumping work, fuel consumption etc are to be
considered. A major problem of assessing heat exchanger performance is to predict the value of overall
heat transfer coefficient. Generally designing is started with an assumed value of overall heat transfer
coefficient and then the heat exchanger dimension and fluid flow rates are adjusted to obtain that value.
In this respect method suggested by Donald Q Kern [1] to determine shell side convective heat transfer
coefficient is very much significant. For calculation of tube side heat transfer coefficient equation
suggested by Sider and Tate or Dittus –Boelter may be used depending on range of Reynolds and Prandlt
number. This present paper describes steps to be followed for minimization of irreversibility for heat
transfer in shell and tube heat exchanger with given inlet condition of shell and tube side fluid (2-3).

Proposed sequence of steps to be followed for optimization:

• For optimization performance of shell and tube heat exchanger by the application of “entropy
generation minimization method” following steps should be followed:
• Select suitable dimension of heat exchangers.
• Select mass flow rate and inlet temperature of shell side and tube side fluid.
• Select suitable thermo-physical property of fluids according to inlet condition.
• Calculate overall heat transfer co-efficient (U).
• Calculate outlet temperature of fluid by ε-NTU method.
• Consider thermo fluidic property at mean temperature of fluid.
• Repeat step 4 to 5 till the difference between newly calculated temperature and previously
calculated temperature is negligible.
• Calculated pressure drops. Tube side pressure drop can be calculated as follows by using D'Arcy-
Weisbach equation

4 f t LNρ t u t2
∆Pt =
2d
For tube side pressure drop the correlation suggested by kern [1] may be used.
f s G s2 ( N b + 1)D
∆Ps =
2 ρ De φ
µb
Where φ=
µw

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Global Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Computational Science– ISSN 2249-3468 GJMECS Vol.1 (3)

Calculated Entropy generation due to pressure drops and temperature variation. Total entropy
generation will be summation of previous two entropy generation components. Entropy generation due
to pressure drop is expressed as follows [2]:

Tt o Tso
ln() ln( )
. ∆Pt Tt i . ∆Ps Tsi
Sgen∆P = mt + ms
(
ρ t Tt o − Tt i )
ρ s Tso − Tsi ( )
Whereas entropy generation due to temperature difference can be represented as

. Tt o . Tso
Sgen ∆t = m t C Pt ln( o
) + m s C Ps ln( )
Tt Tsi
Now expression for total entropy generation is written as
Sgentotal = Sgen∆t + Sgen∆P

Calculate non dimensional entropy generation parameter termed as modified entropy generation number.
This non dimension parameter was proposed by Hesselgreaves [3] as expressed below.
S gentotal Tci
N sm = .
Q
Plot modified entropy generation number against heat exchanger dimensions.
Select heat-exchanger dimensions as optimum corresponding to minimum modified entropy generation
number.
However do not disregard factor of compact ness while minimization of entropy generation.

Application of proposed method for optimization of an air pre heater:

Here an air pre heater is considered with shell side fluid is flue gas at 4500C and tube side fluid is air at
40oC. Optimization has been done for single pass and square pitch arrangement. It is observed in fig-1
that modified entropy generation number rapidly increase as L /d ratio becomes more than 114.7. Also it
is clear from this fig as p/d goes above 1.5 a rapid jump in modified entropy generation number will be
observed. As heat transfer is dependent on surface area of tube so above mentioned L/d ratio and P/d
ratio can be taken as optimum which will yield minimum irreversibility with maximum compactness and
appreciable amount of heat duty (4-5). It should be noted that same results will be observed for any
combination of shell and tube side mass flow rate. From fig-2 variation of modified entropy generation
number with no of tube per pass can be studied, while L/d ratio is 114.7 and P/d ratio 1.5. From this
study 100 numbers of tubes is found to be satisfactory with consideration of factor like irreversibility,
compactness and heat duty. In the fig-3 effect of baffle spacing on entropy generation number with
already selected fixed value of L/d ratio, P/d ratio and number of tube per pass is shown. The optimum
baffle spacing is found to be same as shell diameter. With reduction in baffle spacing modified entropy
generation number increases rapidly. Baffle spacing should not be increased much as baffles provides
support for tube as well as provide turbulence to the flow of shell side fluid. Higher turbulence will lead to
higher convective heat transfer coefficient or higher heat duty (6).

CONCLUSIONS
The proposed method has been applied to determine optimum combinations of a shell and tube heat
exchanger to be utilized as air pre heater for specified inlet conditions. This method can be applied for
any other case with different working fluids and inlet conditions.

REFERENCES
1. Donald Q. Kern. 1997. “Process Heat Transfer” Tata-McGraw-Hill Edition, New Delhi.
2. Guo J., Cheng. L and M. Xu. 2009. “Multi-Objective Optimization of Heat Exchanger Design by
Entropy Generation Minimization. J. Heat Transfer. 132 (8): 81801-81809. "
3. Hesselgreaves, J.E. 2000. “Rationalization
" -
* *+0 - of second law analysis of heat exchangers”, + #+* # '+*
/ +*
'  '  # * *+
    , 43: 4189–4204.

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Global Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Computational Science– ISSN 2249-3468 GJMECS Vol.1 (3)

4. Bejan, A. 1982. “Entropy Generation through Heat and Fluid Flow”, Wiley, New York.
5. Bejan, "A.- 1979. “A study of entropy generation in fundamental convective heat transfer”

 ' / +* ' , * *+ -
  # #   718-722.
6. Hewit G.F, 1994. “Process Heat transfer”, C.R.C Press, Bengell House.

Fig-1: Modified entropy generation number

P /d = 1 .3
P /d = 1 .5 f o r m f= 5 k g /s & m a = 8 k g /s
p /d = 1 .8
p /d = 2
2000

optimum L/d ratio with minimum

irreversibility and compactness
Modified entropy generation number
1500

1000

500 o p tim u m p /d ra tio w ith m in im u m

irr e v e r s ib ility a n d c o m p a c tn e s s

80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170

L /d r a tio

Fig-2: Variation of modified entropy generation number

m s
/ m t= 1 . 0
180 m s
/ m t= 1 . 6
m / m t= 2 . 0
Optimum no of tube per-pass while

160
m /m isvarying between 1 to 2
Modified entropy generation number

140

120

100
t

80
s

60

40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220

N o o f tu b e p e r p a s s

Fig-3: Effect of baffle spacing on entropy generation number

m t
=5kg /s , m s
= 5 k g / s & m s / m t= 1 ) ) )
m t
=8kg /s , m s
= 8 k g / s & m s / m t= 1 )
180
m t
=5kg /s , m s
= 8 k g /s & m s / m t= 1 .6 )
modified entropy generation number

160 m t
=5kg /8 , m s
= 1 2 . 8 k g / s & m s / m t= 1 . 6 )
m t
=5kg /s , m s
= 1 0 k g /s & m s / m t= 2 )
140
optimum baffle spacing

120
L /d = 1 1 4 .2 8 , P /d = 1 .5 & n o o f tu b e p e r p a s s
100
a r e 5 0 , 1 0 0 & 1 0 0 r e s p e c t i f o r m t/ m s = 1 ,
80 1 .5 & 2 re s p e c tiv e ly

60

40

20

0
0 .7 0 .8 0 .9 1 .0 1 .1 1 .2 1 .3 1 .4 1 .5 1 .6

b a ffle s p a c in g /s h e ll d ia

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