Thermohydraulic analysis of a shell-And-Tube "helical baffles" heat exchanger

Abstract

In the paper a 3D numerical solution of two real shell-And-Tube heat exchangers, with different type of baffles, segmental and pseudo-helical, is presented, through the use of commercial codes, in order to evaluate the influence of the baffles type on heat exchanger performance. The parameters to be evaluated, which influence the efficiency of the thermal exchange and the maintenance and pumping costs, are the pressure drops, the heat transfer coefficient and the fouling resistance. The fluid dynamic study of the shell-And-Tube heat exchanger is conducted under stationary flow conditions. In the paper, furthermore, the results of the thermohydraulic analysis, performed under stationary flow conditions, more "helical baffles" exchangers, with different baffles helix angle, are presented. Exchangers with pseudo-helical baffles inclined by 7°, 20°, 30° and 40° are analyzed. The simulations are carried out considering a real fluid, approximately incompressible, under laminar flow conditions. Finally, to verify the correctness of the results, they are compared with correlations in the literature.