Numerical simulation of the effect of baffle spacing to the effectiveness of a shell and tube heat exchanger

Abstract

Heat Exchanger is an important equipment in engineering application. In order to improve the efficiency of a heat exchanger many modifications can be promoted such as baffles. The objective of the present study is to explore the effect of baffle spacing to the effectiveness of a heat exchanger. A U-tube type of shell and tube heat exchanger has been analysed numerically using a commercial code of computational fluid dynamic. The baffle spacing is varied from 40 mm, 50 mm and 60 mm. The temperature distribution, path line and vector velocity are plotted and discussed. The temperature effectiveness and the heat transfer rate of the heat exchanger is then examined. The results show that the smaller baffle spacing results in higher thermal effectiveness.