Performance Evaluation of Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger with 3-Fluid Sets using CFD and NTU

Abstract

Energy generation to the present growing population is a crucial challenge for the power sector. Heat exchangers (HE) plays an important role in the industrial development. In this present work an attempt is made to develop a Shell-and- Tube Heat Exchanger (STHE) with segmental baffles using commercial CATIA V5 and Autodesk CFD Simulation Softwares. TEMA standards are considered for design of STHE with baffle-cut of 25%. 3-different sets of fluids are allowed to pass through the shell and tube sides i.e. Methanol - Sea Water (M-S), Distilled Water – Raw Water (D-R) and Kerosene- Crude Oil (K-C). The boundary conditions imposed for analysis are fluid inlet temperatures and velocities. ϵ-NTU is employed for the validation of simulation results and found good agreement between them. Results are plotted for temperature, pressure and velocity contours. The performance of the STHE is shown best for the K-C fluid set among other fluid sets.