Heat Exchanger Design

Anand V P Gurumoorthy
Associate Professor
Chemical Engineering Division
School of Mechanical & Building Sciences
VIT University
[EDITED BY AFRAZ ]
ICET PU[UNIVERSITY OF THE PUNJAB LAHORE]
Heat Exchanger Classification
Recuperative:
Cold and hot fluid flow through the unit without mixing
with each other. The transfer of heat occurs through the
metal wall.
Regenerative:
Same heating surface is alternately exposed to hot and
cold fluid. Heat from hot fluid is stored by packings or
solids; this heat is passed over to the cold fluid.
Direct contact:
Hot and cold fluids are in direct contact and mixing occurs
among them; mass transfer and heat transfer occur
simultaneously.

Heat Exchanger Standards and
Codes
British Standard BS-3274
TEMA standards are universally used.
TEMA standards cover following classes of
exchangers:
Class R designates severe requirements of petroleum
and other related processing applications
Class C moderate requirements of commercial and
general process applications
Class B specifies design and fabrication for chemical
process service.
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
Most commonly used type of heat transfer
equipment in the chemical and allied industries.
Advantages:
The configuration gives a large surface area in a small
volume.
Good mechanical layout: a good shape for pressure
operation.
Uses well-established fabrication techniques.
Can be constructed from a wide range of materials.
Easily cleaned.
Well established design procedures.

Types of Shell and Tube Heat
Exchangers
Fixed tube design
Simplest and cheapest type.
Tube bundle cannot be removed for cleaning.
No provision for differential expansion of shell and tubes.
Use of this type limited to temperature difference upto
80
0
C.
Floating head design
More versatile than fixed head exchangers.
Suitable for higher temperature differentials.
Bundles can be removed and cleaned (fouling liquids)
Design of Shell and Tube Heat
Exchangers
Kern method:
Does not take into account bypass and leakage streams.
Simple to apply and accurate enough for preliminary design
calculations.
Restricted to a fixed baffle cut (25%).
Bell-Delaware method
Most widely used.
Takes into account:
Leakage through the gaps between tubes and baffles and the baffles and
shell.
Bypassing of flow around the gap between tube bundle and shell.
Stream Analysis method (by Tinker)
More rigorous and generic.
Best suited for computer calculations; basis for most commercial
computer codes.
Construction Details Tube
Dimensions
Tube diameters in the range 5/8 inch (16 mm) to 2
inch (50 mm).
Smaller diameters (5/8 to 1 inch) preferred since
this gives compact and cheap heat exchangers.
Larger tubes for heavily fouling fluids.
Steel tubes BS 3606; Other tubes BS 3274.
Preferred tube lengths are 6 ft, 8 ft, 12 ft, 16 ft, 20
ft and 24 ft; optimum tube length to shell diameter
ratio ~ 5 10.
in (19 mm) is a good starting trial tube diameter.
Construction Details Tube
Arrangements
Tubes usually arranged in equilateral triangular, square or rotated
square patterns.




Tube pitch, P
t
, is 1.25 times OD.

Construction Details - Shells
Shell should be a close fit to the tube bundle to reduce bypassing.
Shell-bundle clearance will depend on type of heat exchanger.
Construction Details - Shell-
Bundle Clearance
Construction Details Tube
Count
Bundle diameter depends not only on number of tubes but also number of
tube passes.


N
t
is the number of tubes
D
b
is the bundle diameter (mm)
D
0
is tube outside diameter (mm)






n
1
and K
1
are constants






1
/ 1
1
0
n
t
b
K
N
d D
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
Construction Details - Baffles
Baffles are used:
To direct the fluid stream across the tubes
To increase the fluid velocity
To improve the rate of transfer
Most commonly used baffle is the single segmental baffle.





Optimal baffle cut ~ 20-25%
Basic Design Procedure
General equation for heat transfer is:


where Q is the rate of heat transfer (duty),
U is the overall heat transfer coefficient,
A is the area for heat transfer
T
m
is the mean temperature difference
We are not doing a mechanical design, only a
thermal design.

m
T UA Q A =
Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient
Overall coefficient given by:




h
0
(h
i
) is outside (inside) film coefficient
h
od
(h
id
) is outside (inside) dirt coefficient
k
w
is the tube wall conductivity
d
o
(d
i
) is outside (inside) tube diameters
i i id i w
i
od
h d
d
h d
d
k
d
d
d
h h U
1 1
2
ln
1 1 1
0 0
0
0
0 0
+ +
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ + =
Individual Film Coefficients
Magnitude of individual coefficients will depend on:
Nature of transfer processes (conduction, convection,
radiation, etc.)
Physical properties of fluids
Fluid flow rates
Physical layout of heat transfer surface
Physical layout cannot be determined until area is
known; hence design is a trial-and-error procedure.
Typical Overall Coefficients
Typical Overall Coefficients
Fouling Factors (Dirt Coeffs)
Difficult to predict and usually based on past experience
Mean Temperature Difference
(Temperature Driving Force)


To determine A, T
m
must be estimated
True counter-current flow logarithmic temperature difference
(LMTD)
m
T UA Q A =
LMTD
LMTD is given by:





where T
1
is the hot fluid temperature, inlet
T
2
is the hot fluid temperature, outlet
t
1
is the cold fluid temperature, inlet
t
2
is the cold fluid temperature, outlet
|
|
.
|

\
|

= A
1 2
2 1
1 2 2 1
ln
) ( ) (
t T
t T
t T t T
T
lm
Counter-current Flow
Temperature Proflies
1:2 Heat Exchanger
Temperature Profiles
True Temperature Difference
Obtained from LMTD using a correction factor:



T
m
is the true temperature difference
F
t
is the correction factor
F
t
is related to two dimensionless ratios:



lm t m
T F T A = A
) (
) (
1 2
2 1
t t
T T
R

=
) (
) (
1 1
1 2
t T
t t
S

=
Temp Correction Factor F
t
















Temperature correction factor, one shell pass, two or more even tube passes
Fluid Allocation: Shell or Tubes?
Corrosion
Fouling
Fluid temperatures
Operating pressures
Pressure drop
Viscosity
Stream flow rates
Shell and Tube Fluid Velocities
High velocities give high heat-transfer coefficients
but also high pressure drop.
Velocity must be high enough to prevent settling of
solids, but not so high as to cause erosion.
High velocities will reduce fouling
For liquids, the velocities should be as follows:
Tube side: Process liquid 1-2m/s
Maximum 4m/s if required to reduce fouling
Water 1.5 2.5 m/s
Shell side: 0.3 1 m/s
Pressure Drop
As the process fluids move through the heat exchanger there is
associated pressure drop.

For liquids: viscosity < 1mNs/m
2
35kN/m
2

Viscosity 1 10 mNs/m
2
50-70kN/m
2

Tube-side Heat Transfer
Coefficient
For turbulent flow inside conduits of uniform cross-section, Sieder-Tate
equation is applicable:







C=0.021 for gases
=0.023 for low viscosity liquids
=0.027 for viscous liquids
= fluid viscosity at bulk fluid temperature

w
=fluid viscosity at the wall

14 . 0
33 . 0 8 . 0
Pr Re
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
w
C Nu

f
e i
k
d h
Nu =

e t
d u
= Re
f
p
k
C
= Pr
Tube-side Heat Transfer
Coefficient
Butterworth equation:





For laminar flow (Re<2000):


If Nu given by above equation is less than 3.5, it should be taken as 3.5


505 . 0 205 . 0
Pr Re

= E St
p t
i
C u
h
Nu
St

= =
Pr Re
( )
2
Pr) (ln 0225 . 0 exp 0225 . 0 = E
14 . 0
33 . 0
33 . 0
Pr) (Re 86 . 1
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
w
e
L
d
Nu

Heat Transfer Factor, j

h

j factor similar to friction factor used for pressure
drop:




This equation is valid for both laminar and turbulent
flows.

14 . 0
33 . 0
Pr Re
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
w
h
f
i i
j
k
d h

Tube Side Heat Transfer Factor

Heat Transfer Coefficients for
Water
Many equations for h
i
have developed specifically
for water. One such equation is:



where h
i
is the inside coefficient (W/m
2 0
C)
t is the water temperature (
0
C)
u
t
is water velocity (m/s)
d
t
is tube inside diameter (mm)
2 . 0
8 . 0
) 02 . 0 35 . 1 ( 4200
i
t
i
d
u t
h
+
=
Tube-side Pressure Drop



where P is tube-side pressure drop (N/m
2
)
N
p
is number of tube-side passes
u
t
is tube-side velocity (m/s)
L is the length of one tube
m is 0.25 for laminar and 0.14 for turbulent
j
f
is dimensionless friction factor for heat
exchanger tubes
2
5 . 2 8
2
t
m
w i
f p t
u
d
L
j N P

(
(

+
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
= A

Tube Side Friction Factor
Shell-side Heat Transfer and
Pressure Drop
Kerns method
Bells method
Procedure for Kerns Method
Calculate area for cross-flow A
s
for the hypothetical row of
tubes in the shell equator.


p
t
is the tube pitch
d
0
is the tube outside diameter
D
s
is the shell inside diameter
l
B
is the baffle spacing, m.
Calculate shell-side mass velocity G
s
and linear velocity, u
s
.


where W
s
is the fluid mass flow rate in the shell in kg/s


t
b s t
s
p
D d p
A
) (
0

=
s
s
s
A
W
G =

s
s
G
u =
Procedure for Kerns Method
Calculate the shell side equivalent diameter (hydraulic diameter).
For a square pitch arrangement:





For a triangular pitch arrangement

0
2
0
2
4
4
d
d p
d
t
e
t
t
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
2
4 2
1
87 . 0
2
4
0
2
0
d
d
p
p
d
t
t
e
t
t
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
Shell-side Reynolds Number
The shell-side Reynolds number is given by:




The coefficient h
s
is given by:




where j
h
is given by the following chart

e s e s
d u d G
= = Re
14 . 0
3 / 1
Pr Re
|
|
.
|

\
|
= =
w
h
f
e s
j
k
d h
Nu

Shell Side Heat Transfer Factor

Shell-side Pressure Drop
The shell-side pressure drop is given by:


where j
f
is the friction factor given by following chart.

14 . 0
2
2
8

|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
= A
w
s
B e
s
f s
u L
d
D
j P

Shell Side Friction Factor

) (
) (
1 2
2 1
t t
T T
R

=
) (
) (
1 1
1 2
t T
t t
S

=
(Figure 8 in notes)
m
T UA Q A =
1
/ 1
1
0
n
t
b
K
N
d D
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
(Figure 4 in notes)
(Figure 2)

2 . 0
8 . 0
) 02 . 0 35 . 1 ( 4200
i
t
i
d
u t
h
+
=
(Figure 9 in notes)
t
b s t
s
p
D d p
A
) (
0

=
2
4 2
1
87 . 0
2
4
0
2
0
d
d
p
p
d
t
t
e
t
t
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
i i id i w
i
od
h d
d
h d
d
k
d
d
d
h h U
1 1
2
ln
1 1 1
0 0
0
0
0 0
+ +
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ + =
(Figure 10 in notes)
(Table 3 in notes)
2
5 . 2 8
2
t
m
w i
f p t
u
d
L
j N P

(
(

+
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
= A

14 . 0
2
2
8

|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
= A
w
s
B e
s
f s
u L
d
D
j P

(Figure 12 in notes)
Bells Method
In Bells method, the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop are
estimated from correlations for flow over ideal tube banks.
The effects of leakage, by-passing, and flow in the window zone are
allowed for by applying correction factors.
Bells Method Shell-side Heat
Transfer Coefficient


where h
oc
is heat transfer coeff for cross flow
over ideal tube banks
F
n
is correction factor to allow for no.
of vertical tube rows
F
w
is window effect correction factor
F
b
is bypass stream correction factor
F
L
is leakage correction factor
L b w n oc s
F F F F h h =
Bells Method Ideal Cross Flow
Coefficient
The Re for cross-flow through the tube bank is given by:


G
s
is the mass flow rate per unit area
d
0
is tube OD
Heat transfer coefficient is given by:

0 0
Re
d u d G
s s
= =
14 . 0
3 / 1
0
Pr Re
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
w
h
f
oc
j
k
d h

Bells Method Tube Row

Correction Factor
For Re>2100, F
n
is obtained as a function of N
cv
(no. of tubes between
baffle tips) from the chart below:




For Re 100<Re<2100, F
n
=1.0
For Re<100,
18 . 0 '
) (

c n
N F
Bells Method Window
Correction Factor
F
w
, the window correction factor is obtained from the
following chart:







where R
w
is the ratio of bundle cross-sectional area in the
window zone to the tube bundle cross-sectional area
(obtained from simple formulae).
Bells Method Bypass
Correction Factor
Clearance area[Ab] between the bundle and the shell


For the case of no sealing strips, F
b
as a function of A
b
/A
s
can be
obtained from the following chart

) (
b s B b
D D A =
Bells Method Bypass
Correction Factor
For sealing strips, for N
s
<N
cv
/2 (N
s
is the number of
baffle strips)





where =1.5 for Re<100 and =1.35 for Re>100.

|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
3 / 1
2
1 exp
cv
s
s
b
b
N
N
A
A
F o
Bells Method Leakage
Correction Factor
Tube-baffle clearance area A
tb
is given by:



Shell-baffle clearance area A
sb
is given by:



where C
s
is baffle to shell clearance and
b
is the angle subtended by baffle chord
A
L
=A
tb
+A
sb





where
L
is a factor obtained from following chart




) (
2
8 . 0
0
w t tb
N N
d
A =
t
) 2 (
2
b
s s
sb
D C
A u t =
(

+
=
L
sb tb
L L
A
A A
F
) 2 (
1 |
Coefficient for F
L
, Heat Transfer
Shell-side Pressure Drop
Involves three components:
Pressure drop in cross-flow zone
Pressure drop in window zone
Pressure drop in end zone
Pressure Drop in Cross Flow
Zone


where P
i
pressure drop calculated for an equivalent ideal tube
bank
F
b
is bypass correction factor
F
L
is leakage correction factor





where j
f
is given by the following chart
N
cv
is number of tube rows crossed
u
s
is shell-side velocity
' '
L b i c
F F P P A = A
14 . 0
2
2
8

|
|
.
|

\
|
= A
w
s
cv f i
u
N j P

Friction Factor for Cross Flow
Banks
Bells Method Bypass
Correction Factor for Pressure
Drop



is 5.0 for laminar flow, Re<100
4.0 for transitional and turbulent flow, Re>100
A
b
is the clearance area between the bundle and shell
N
s
is the number of sealing strips encountered by bypass
stream
N
cv
is the number of tube rows encountered in the cross-
flow section
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
3 / 1
'
2
1 exp
cv
s
s
b
b
N
N
A
A
F o
Bells Method Leakage Factor
for Pressure Drop



where A
tb
is the tube to baffle clearance area
A
sb
is the shell to baffle clearance area
A
L
is total leakage area = A
tb
+A
sb


L
is factor obtained from following chart

(

+
=
L
sb tb
L L
A
A A
F
) 2 (
1
' '
|
Coefficient for F
L

Pressure Drop in Window Zones

where u
s
is the geometric mean velocity


u
w
is the velocity in the window zone



W
s
is the shell-side fluid mass flow
N
wv
is number of restrictions for cross-flow in window
zone, approximately equal to the number of tube rows.
2
) 6 . 0 0 . 2 (
2
'
z
wv L w
u
N F P

+ = A
s w z
u u u =

w
s
w
A
W
u =
Pressure Drop in End Zones



N
cv
is the number of tube rows encountered in the cross-flow section
N
wv
is number of restrictions for cross-flow in window zone,
approximately equal to the number of tube rows.





'
) (
b
cv
cv wv
i e
F
N
N N
P P
(

+
A = A
Bells Method Total Shell-side
Pressure Drop
zones window N
zones crossflow N zones end P
b
b s
+
+ = A ) 1 ( 2
w b c b e s
P N P N P P A + A + A = A ) 1 ( 2
Effect of Fouling
Above calculation assumes clean tubes









Effect of fouling on pressure drop is given by table above
Condensers
Construction of a condenser is similar to other shell and tube
heat exchangers, but with a wider baffle spacing


Four condenser configurations:
Horizontal, with condensation in the shell
Horizontal, with condensation in the tubes
Vertical, with condensation in the shell
Vertical, with condensation in the tubes
Horizontal shell-side and vertical tube-side are the most
commonly used types of condenser.

s B
D l =
Heat Transfer Mechanisms
Filmwise condensation
Normal mechanism for heat transfer in commercial condensers
Dropwise condensation
Will give higher heat transfer coefficients but is unpredictable
Not yet considered a practical proposition for the design of
condensers
In the Nusselt model of condensation laminar flow is
assumed in the film, and heat transfer is assumed to take
place entirely by conduction through the film.
Nusselt model strictly applied only at low liquid and vapor
rates when the film is undisturbed.
At higher rates, turbulence is induced in the liquid film
increasing the rate of heat transfer over that predicted by
Nusselt model.
Condensation Outside Horizontal
Tubes



where (h
c
)
1
is the mean condensation film coefficient, for a single tube
k
L
is the condensate thermal conductivity

L
is the condensate density

v
is the vapour density

L
is the condensate viscosity
g is the gravitational acceleration
is the tube loading, the condensate flow per unit length of tube.
If there are N
r
tubes in a vertical row and the condensate is assumed to flow
smoothly from row to row, and if the flow is laminar, the top tube film coefficient
is given by:

3 / 1
1
) (
95 . 0 ) (
(

=
L
v L L
L c
g
k h

4 / 1
1
) ( ) (

=
r c N c
N h h
r

Condensation Outside Horizontal
Tubes
In practice, condensate will not flow smoothly from tube to
tube.
Kerns estimate of mean coefficient for a tube bundle is
given by:


L is the tube length
W
c
is the total condensate flow
N
t
is the total number of tubes in the bundle
N
r
is the average number of tubes in a vertical tube row
For low-viscosity condensates the correction for the number
of tube rows is generally ignored.

6 / 1
3 / 1
) (
95 . 0 ) (

(

=
r
h L
v L L
L b c
N
g
k h

t
c
h
LN
W
= I
Condensation Inside and Outside
Vertical Tubes
For condensation inside and outside vertical tubes the Nusselt
model gives:


where (h
c
)
v
is the mean condensation coefficient

v
is the vertical tube loading, condensate per unit tube perimeter
Above equation applicable for Re<30
For higher Re the above equation gives a conservative (safe)
estimate.
For Re>2000, turbulent flow; situation analyzed by Colburn and
results in following chart.


3 / 1
) (
926 . 0 ) (
(

=
v L
v L L
L v c
g
k h

Colburns Results
Boyko-Kruzhilin Correlation
A correlation for shear-controlled condensation in tubes; simple to use.
The correlation gives mean coefficient between two points at which vapor quality, x, (mass fraction of
vapour) is known.




1,2 refer to inlet and outlet conditions respectively




In a condenser, the inlet stream will normally be saturated vapour and vapour will be totally
condensed. For these conditions:








For design of condensers with condensation inside the tubes and downward vapor flow, coefficient
should be evaluated using Colburns method and Boyko-Kruzhilin correlation and the higher value
selected.




x J where
J J
h h
v
v L
i BK c (

+ =
(

+
'
=

1
2
) (
2 / 1
2
2 / 1
1
43 . 0 8 . 0
Pr Re 021 . 0
|
|
.
|

\
|
= '
i
L
i
d
k
h
(
(
(
(

+
' =
2
1
) (
v
L
i BK c
h h

Flooding in Vertical Tubes

When the vapor flows up the tube, tubes should not
flood.
Flooding should not occur if the following condition is
satisfied:

where u
v
and u
L
are velocities of vapor and liquid and
d
i
is in metres.
The critical condition will occur at the bottom of the
tube, so vapor and liquid velocities should be
evaluated at this point.

| | | |
4 / 1
4 / 1 2 / 1 4 / 1 2 / 1
) ( 6 . 0
v L i L L v v
gd u u < +
Condensation Inside Horizontal
Tubes
When condensation occurs, the heat transfer coefficient at any point along the
tube will depend on the flow pattern at that point.








No general satisfactory method exists that will give accurate predictions over a
wide flow range.


Two Flow Models
Two flow models:
Stratified flow
Limiting condition at low condensate and vapor rates
Annular flow
Limiting condition at high vapor and low condensate rates













For stratified flow, the condensate film coefficient can be estimated as:




For annular flow, the Boyko-Kruzhilin equation can be used
For condenser design, both annular and stratified flow should be considered and
the higher value of mean coefficient should be selected.
3 / 1
) (
76 . 0 ) (
(

=
h L
v L L
L s c
g
k h

Condensation of steam
For air-free steam a coefficient of 8000 W/m
2
-
0
C should be used.

Mean Temperature Difference
A pure, saturated, vapor will condense at a constant temperature, at
constant pressure.
For an isothermal process such as this, the LMTD is given by:



where T
sat
is saturation temperature of vapor
t
1
(t
2
) is the inlet (outlet) coolant temperature
No correction factor for multiple passes is needed.
(

= A
2
1
1 2
ln
) (
t T
t T
t t
lm
sat
sat
T