Turbulent forced convection in a shell and tube heat exchanger equipped with novel design of wing baffles
International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow
ISSN: 0961-5539
Article publication date: 3 June 2019
Issue publication date: 11 June 2019
Abstract
Purpose
This work presents a numerical study of the dynamic and thermal behavior of a turbulent flow in a shell and tube heat exchanger equipped with a new design of baffle type wing. The implementation of this type of baffle makes it possible to lengthen the path of the fluid in the shell, to increase the heat flux exchanged on the one hand and is to capture the weakness of the shell and tube heat exchanger with segmental baffles on the other hand.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper aims to analyze numerically the thermo-convective behavior of water using CFD technique by solving the conservation equations of mass, momentum and energy by the finite volume method based on the SIMPLE algorithm for coupling velocity-pressure. To describe the turbulence phenomenon, the Realizable k–ε model is employed. The analysis is done for different mass flow rates. The parameters studied are: the fluid outlet temperature, the average heat transfer coefficient, the pressure drop, the total heat transfer rate, the effect of the geometric shape of the baffle on the thermal behavior. The purpose of this study is to propose a new design of a shell and tube heat exchanger with a high heat transfer coefficient and a lower pressure drop compared to a shell and tube heat exchanger with transverse and segmental baffles.
Findings
The results showed that the use of the wing baffles enhanced the heat transfer coefficient significantly and reduced the friction coefficient. Compared with segmental baffles, the wing baffles are 11.67, 18.53 and 11.5 per cent lower in the pressure drop and 1.79, 1.9 and 2.39 per cent higher in the Nusselt number for the three mass flow rates 0.5, 1 and 2 kg/s, respectively.
Originality/value
The originality of this work lies in proposing a three-dimensional analysis for a novel heat exchanger.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The third and last authors extend their appreciation to International Scientific Partnership Program ISPP at King Saud University for funding this research work through ISPP#131.
Citation
Youcef, A., Saim, R., Öztop, H.F. and Ali, M. (2019), "Turbulent forced convection in a shell and tube heat exchanger equipped with novel design of wing baffles", International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat & Fluid Flow, Vol. 29 No. 6, pp. 2103-2127. https://doi.org/10.1108/HFF-12-2018-0754
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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