Getting Started - Aspen Shell and Tube Exchanger PDF

Getting Started Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger
A Brief Tutorial (and supplement to training and online documentation)

By Tom Ralston, Product Manager; Steve Noe, Marketing Manager, Aspen Technology, Inc.
2011 Aspen Technology, Inc. AspenTech, aspenONE, the Aspen leaf logo, OPTIMIZE, and the 7 Best Practices of Engineering Excellence are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights
reserved. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
11-439-0611
About AspenTech
AspenTech is a leading supplier of software that optimizes process manufacturingfor energy, chemicals,
pharmaceuticals, engineering and construction, and other industries that manufacture and produce
products from a chemical process. With integrated aspenONE solutions, process manufacturers can
implement best practices for optimizing their engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain operations.
As a result, AspenTech customers are better able to increase capacity, improve margins, reduce costs,
and become more energy efficient. To see how the worlds leading process manufacturers rely on
AspenTech to achieve their operational excellence goals, visit www.aspentech.com.
1. Business Background
Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger enables optimum design, rating or simulation of shell and tube, double pipe, or multi-tube
hairpin exchangers for both the expert and casual user. Integration with process simulators and other AspenTech
engineering tools allows for improved overall process optimization through better collaboration across engineering
disciplines.
Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger addresses a wide range of application needs, serving both the engineering contractor and the
equipment fabricator, with the ability to share models from conceptual design to operational troubleshooting. It facilitates
the full range of practical process applications, including reflux condensers, kettle reboilers, thermosyphon reboilers,
falling film evaporators, and multi-shell, multi-pass feed-effluent trains. This flexibility allows the process streams to be
single phase, boiling or condensing vapors, single component or any mixture with or without non-condensable gases in
any condition (including superheated vapor, saturated vapor, or subcooled liquid).
2. Scope of this Document

This document serves as a simple getting started guide, taking you through the most common progression of how the
equipment designer would use this standalone equipment design tool. This guide is not meant to be used as the only
reference source for documentation. We recommend that a range of other resources be called upon to give the new user a
comprehensive view of how to use this capability. This may include:
Online documentation which can be accessed through the Aspen Exchanger Design & Rating (EDR) software user
screens.
AspenTech support website (support.aspentech.com), which contains a wide range of knowledge base items with
answers to frequently asked questions.
AspenTech courseware available in classroom and on-line versions, which provide formal training on process modeling
and heat transfer technology.
AspenTech business consultants.
Pre-recorded tutorials and webinars that provide another view of the information contained in this document. You will
be required to enter your AspenTech support id and password (go to the animated tutorial section on the following for
many of these resources: http://support.aspentech.com/webteamasp/My/product.asp?id1=3030&id2=
Aspen%20Shell%20%26%20Tube%20Exchanger&id3=all).
This document covers standalone use of the Aspen Exchanger Design & Rating program and assumes that the user has
Aspen EDR V7.0 or newer installed.
3. Problem Overview
We have been challenged with designing a shell side condenser containing a mixture of steam and methanol and using
water as a coolant. Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger provides the unique capability of automating the design process for
optimizing the sizing of the heat exchanger to lowest cost. The design calculation will determine the shell length and
diameter, the nozzle sizes, the number of tubes and passes, the number of baffles and baffle cut. Other details such as
shell and header type, baffle type, tube type and layout will use program defaults.
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The design logic will optimize the heat transfer against the allowable pressure drop on both the shell and tube sides. The
program has built in heuristic rules, which will stop searching once it realizes it has achieved the optimal calculation.
The process data details used for this example are shown in Table 1 below:
Fluid
Hot Side Steam 40%

& Methanol 60%
Cooling Water
Units
Total Flow Rate
12.6
76
kg/s
Temperature (In / Out)
116 / 77
38 / 82
Inlet Pressure
6.5
bar (abs)
Allowable Pressure Drop
0.05
0.7
bar
Fouling Resistance
0.00018
0.00018
m2*K/W
Table 1. Process Data
4. The Step-by-Step Guide

Launch Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger from the Start button on the Windows Task bar. Select Shell & Tube Exchanger (Shell
& Tube) from the New tab and click OK (Figure 1).
Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger will open to its navigator, which will be shown on the left-hand portion of the display. It
serves as a table of contents into the input, and once the program is run, the
output or results from the calculations. Categories marked with a red (X)
contain required information that must be completed in order for the
program to run (Figure 2).
Figure 1. Creating a New file
Figure 2. Aspen EDR User Interface
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You can proceed through the input data by either highlighting the individual fields from the navigator or use the
Next (
) button. Either will automatically take you to the next sequential section that requires input data. Highlight
Application Options and set the Calculation Mode to Design and the Hot Side Fluid to the Shell Side. The user interface
uses the convention of displaying user supplied information in black text and program defaults with red text (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Application Options
Use the Next (

) button to navigate to the Process Data form where input data is required. Input fields with a white
background are optional, input fields with a blue background are required, and input fields with a red background are
believed to be out of a valid range. The program will run with input supplied with a red background, but it is up to the user
to determine if the data entered is correct. Specify the Process Data information from the process information previously
provided in the Problem Overview section in
Table 1. The red (X) will disappear from the
section when all required data in the section has
been entered (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Process Data
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Use the Next (

) button to navigate to the Hot Stream Compositions section under Property Data. Use the pull down
for the Physical Properties Package to select Aspen Properties (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Hot Stream Compositions
Click Search Databank to build the component list that contains 60% by weight of methanol and 40% of water. Step 1
type in the component name, Step 2 click Find Now, Step 3 highlight the component, Step 4 click Add selected
compounds. Repeat the same steps to add the second compound water. Click Close after water has been added
(Figure 6).
Figure 6. Hot Stream Find Compounds
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Specify the appropriate percentage composition for the two compounds (Figure 7).
Figure 7. Hot Stream Composition Percentage
Click on the Property Methods tab. Select NRTL from the pull down (Figure 8).
Figure 8. Hot Stream Property Method
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Click on Hot Stream Properties and use the Get Properties button to retrieve the properties from the Aspen Properties
package (Figure 9).
Figure 9. Hot Stream Properties
Click on Cold Stream Compositions. We are using cooling water for the coolant. Specify 100 for the composition for water
(Figure 10).
Figure 10. Cold Stream Composition
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Click on the Property Methods tab. Select STEAMNBS from the pull down to use the ASME steam tables for the
properties of water (Figure 11).
Figure 11. Cold Stream Property Method
Click on Cold Stream Properties and use the Get Properties button to retrieve the properties from the Aspen Properties
package (Figure 12).
Figure 12. Cold Stream Properties
Save the case All the required data has been entered, indicated by no red (Xs) remaining for any of the sections in the
navigator. It is important to save the dataset. From the menu click File, then Save As. Now you can run by clicking on the
Run button ( ) or from the menu, Run, Run Shell & Tube Exchanger.
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The heat exchanger selected by the program can be viewed in Results | Results Summary | Optimization Path. Aspen Shell
& Tube Exchanger will vary the shell size, tube length, number of tube passes, the baffle spacing, baffle cut, number of
tubes, and number of shells in series and parallel to arrive at the lowest cost exchanger that provides adequate surface
area to meet the duty and pressure drop requirements. The heat exchanger selected will be highlighted and shown as the
final exchanger in the optimization path (Figure 13).
Figure 13. Optimization Path
The intermediate heat exchangers shown in the optimization path combined with the remaining information contained in
the Results section provide necessary information to the user that can be used to interact with the program to improve on
the initial exchanger design selection. Techniques for fully optimizing exchanger design are covered in our Shell & Tube
Exchanger training course.
The Results section contains the thermal details necessary to evaluate the performance and operation of the selected heat
exchanger design. Hot and cold side film coefficients, pressure drops, and other basic thermal information can be found by
choosing Results then Thermal / Hydraulic Summary and Performance (Figure 14).
Figure 14. Performance
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Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger also produces graphical output. The setting plan is quite useful and allows the design
engineer to view a dimensional drawing of the heat exchanger selected (Figure 15).
Figure 15. Graphical Output
4. Further Resources
For further information on this workflow, or any of the individual products or elements covered briefly in this written
tutorial, please consult:
Public website:
The following web page provides information on Aspen Exchanger Design & Rating http://www.aspentech.com/core/aspen-edr.aspx
Support website:
The support website provides an extensive and growing knowledge base on Aspen Exchanger Design & Rating.
The following knowledge base article provides a getting-started location:
http://support.aspentech.com/webteamasp/KB.asp?ID=130722
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Worldwide Headquarters
Aspen Technology, Inc.
200 Wheeler Road
Burlington, MA 01803
United States
phone: +17812216400
fax: +17812216410
info@aspentech.com
Regional Headquarters
Houston, TX | USA
phone: +12815841000
So Paulo | Brazil
phone: +551134436261
Reading | United Kingdom
phone: +44(0)1189226400
Singapore | Republic of Singapore
phone: +6563953900
Manama | Bahrain
phone: +97317503000
2011 Aspen Technology, Inc. AspenTech, aspenONE, the Aspen leaf logo, OPTIMIZE, and the 7 Best Practices of Engineering Excellence
are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. 11-439-0611
For a complete list of offices, please visit

www.aspentech.com/locations

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Getting Started Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger

A Brief Tutorial (and supplement to training and online documentation)

Getting Started Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger

2. Scope of this Document

Getting Started Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger

Hot Side Steam 40%

Total Flow Rate

Temperature (In / Out)

Allowable Pressure Drop

Table 1. Process Data

4. The Step-by-Step Guide

Figure 1. Creating a New file

Figure 2. Aspen EDR User Interface

Getting Started Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger

Figure 3. Application Options

Use the Next (

Figure 4. Process Data

Getting Started Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger

Use the Next (

Figure 5. Hot Stream Compositions

Figure 6. Hot Stream Find Compounds

Getting Started Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger

Figure 7. Hot Stream Composition Percentage

Figure 8. Hot Stream Property Method

Getting Started Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger

Figure 9. Hot Stream Properties

Figure 10. Cold Stream Composition

Getting Started Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger

Figure 11. Cold Stream Property Method

Figure 12. Cold Stream Properties

Getting Started Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger

Figure 13. Optimization Path

Figure 14. Performance

Getting Started Aspen Shell & Tube Exchanger

Figure 15. Graphical Output

For a complete list of offices, please visit

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