Thermal Analysis of Shell-Side Flow of Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger Using Experimental and Theoretical Methods

Abstract

In this paper the thermal behavior of the shell-side flow of a shell-and-tufe heat exchanger has been studied using theoretical and experimental methods. The experimental method Provided the effect of the major parameters of the shell-side flow on thermal energy exchange. In the numerical method, besides the effect of the major paramerers, the effect of different geometric parameters and Re on thermal energy exchange in shell-side flow has been considered. Numerical analysis for six baffle spacings namely 0.20, 0.25, 0.33, 0.50, 0.66, and 1.0 of inside diameter of the shell and five baffle cuts namely 16%, 20%, 25%, 34%, and 46% of baffle diameter, have been carried out. In earlier numerical analyses, the repetition of an identical geometrical module of exchanger as a calculation domain has been studied. While in this work, as a new approach in current numerical analysis, the entire geometry of shell-and-tube heat exchanger including entrance and exit regions as a calculation domain has been chosen. The results show that the flow and heat profiles vary alternatively between baffles. A shell-and-tube heat exchanger of gas-liquid chemical reactor system has been used in the experimental method. Comparison of the numerical results show good agreement with experimental results of this research and other published experimental results over a wide rang of Reynolds numbers (1,000-1,000,000).