Numerical Assessment of Heat Transfer Enhancement in Shell-and-Tube Exchanger

Abstract

One such numerical CFD study (11-E-09) was performed on the industrial shell-and-tube heat exchanger to compare the thermal-hydraulic performance of three fin geometries (external segmented fins, continuous rectangular wrap fins, and internal twisted-tape inserts): These three fin shapes and variations were investigated. All fin designs improved heat transfer relative to the smooth tube baseline. The Type 1 segmented fins, in fact, resulted in an even enhancement of ≈12% in heat transfer with moderate pressure drop. Type 2 helical fins also offered similar thermal enhancement because they maintained surface contact throughout the fins in order to increase overall conductance. The twisted-tape (Type 3) insert generated the most thermal gains (~19% gain) but had a much higher hydraulic penalty. The design of fin geometry to enhance the performance of exchanger while controlling pumping power is suggested by the study