DESIGN OF SHELLAND-TUBE HEATEXCHANGERS 5/197 Figure §.3 Batile designs for reduced pressure drop (Source: Ref. 9). baffles as shown in Figure 5.3. Another option is to use helical baffles [8], which can significantly lower the pressure drop while still providing a relatively high shelrside heat-transfer coefficient (see also www-kochheattransfer.com). ‘More drastic measures for reducing the pressure drop include eliminating the tubes in the baffle windows (the baffle-cut areas) and using rod baffles (Figure 5.3). The no-ubes-in-window option requires a larger, more expensive shell for a given amount of heattransfer surface. However, it reduces window pressure drop and permits a larger baffle spacing without excessive tube vibration because each tube is supported by every baffle. Support plates can be placed between baffles (Figure 5.3) for added stability, thereby minimizing tube vibration problems. Rod baifles provide support for the tubes but do not force the flow across the bundle. The flow is parallel to the tubes, which greatly reduces both the pressure drop and the heat-transfer coefficient. For applications requiring very low shelFside pressure drops, a divided flow (type J) shell can be used. 5.7 Design Guidelines 5.7.1 Fluid placement Guidelines for fluid placement were given in Table 3.4. The most important considerations here are corrosion and fouling. Corrosive fluids should be placed on the tube side so that only the tubes, tubesheets, and (possibly) headers need to be made of corrosion-resistant alloy. Fluids that are heavy foulers should be placed on the tube side because it is (usually) easier to clean deposits from the interior surfaces of the tubes than from the exterior surfaces. Cooling water is usually placed in the tubes due to its tendency to corrode carbon steel and to form scale, which is difficult to remove from the exterior tube surfaces. Also, in services involving cooling water and an organic stream, finned tubes are frequently used to offset the low heat-transfer coefficient of the organic stream relative to the water. This requires the organic stream on the shell side in contact with the fins. Copper alloys such as Admiralty brass (71% Cu, 28% Zn, 1% Sn) are frequently used as corrosion-resistant tubing materials for water services. ‘Stream pressure is another factor that may influence the fluid placement. The reason is that it is generally less expensive to confine a high-pressure stream in the tubes rather than in the shell. Due to their small diameters, tubes of standard wall thickness can withstand quite high pressures, and only tube-side headers and nozzles normally require more robust construction.5/198 DESIGN OF SHELLAND-TUBE HEAT EXCHANGERS 5.7.2 Tubing selection ‘The most frequently used tube sizes are 34 and Lin. For water service, %/ in., 16 BWG tubes are recommended. For oil (liquid hydrocarbon) service, /ain., 14BWG tubes are recommended if the fluid is nonouling, while 1 in., 148WG tubes should be used for fouling fluids. Tube lengths ‘range from 8 to 304, and sometimes longer depending on the type of construction and the tubing material. A good value to start with is. 16 or 20ft. 5.7.3 Tube layout ‘Triangular and square layouts are the most common, but rotated square pitch is also used. A fourth configuration, rotated triangular pitch, is seldom used. With triangular pitch the tubes are more closely packed in the bundle, which translates to more heat-iransfer surface in a given shell and somewhat higher pressure drop and heatransfer coefficient. However, the clearance between tubes is typically the larger of 0.25in. and 0.25 D,, and with triangular pitch this is not sufficient to allow cleaning lanes between the tube rows. Although chemical cleaning may be possible, triangular pitch is usually restricted to services with clean shelfside fluids. Rotated square pitch provides ‘some enhancement in the heat-transfer coefficient (along with higher pressure drop) compared with square pitch, while still providing cleaning lanes between the tubes. This configuration is especially useful when the shell-side Reynolds number is relatively low (less than about 2000). ‘To summarize, the most commonly used tube layouts are either triangular or square, with a pitch of 1.0in. (for 3/4in. tubes) or 1.25 in. (for Lin. tubes). 5.7.4 Tube passes For typical low-viscosity process streams, it is highly desirable to maintain fully developed turbu- lent flow in the tubes. Although this may not be practical with high viscosity liquids, turbulent flow provides the most effective heat transfer. Once the tube size and number of tubes have been determined, the number of tube passes can be chosen to give an appropriate Reynolds number, ie., >t G27) Dine Except for single-pass exchangers, an even number of tube passes is almost always used so that the tubeside fluid enters and exits at the same header. With U-tubes, this is the only feasible arrangement, and accommodating nozzles on internal (type Sor) floating heads in order to provide an add number of passes is very cumbersome. Fluid velocity can also be used as a criterion for setting the number of tube-side passes. It is desirable to maintain the liquid velocity in the tubesin the range of about 3-8 fi/s. Too low velocity can cause excessive fouling, while a very high velocity can cause erosion of the tube wall. Some materialspecific maximum velocities are given in Appendix 5.B. Harder tubing materials, such as steel, can withstand somewhat higher velocities than softer metals such as copper or aluminum, for example. Maximum vapor velocities are also given in Appendix 5.B. 5.7.5 Shell and head types Shelland head types were presented in Figure3.3. Thesingle pass type E shellisstandard. Ifmultiple shell passes are required, as indicated by the logarithmic mean temperature difference(LMTD) correction factor, E shells can be connected in series. Alternatively, a two-pass type F shell can be used, although the longitudinal baffle may be subject to leakage. An F Shell can also be used with two tube passes to obtain the equivalent of a 1-1 (true counter flow) exchanger. The other shell types listed in Figure 3.3 are used for more specialized applications, including reboilers (G, H, K, X) and units, such as condensers and gas coolers, that require low shell-side pressure drops (J, X). ‘The most important consideration with respect to head typeis fixed tubesheet versusfloating head. A fixed-tubesheet design is cheaper and less prone to leakage. However, the tube bundle cannot be removed to clean the exterior surfaces of the tubes. Therefore, fixed-tubesheet exchangersDESIGN OF SHELLAND-TUBEHEATEXCHANGERS 5/199 are usually restricted to services with clean shell-side fluids. Also, if the temperature difference between the two inlet streams is greater than about 100°F, an expansion joint is required in the shell of a fixed-tubesheet exchanger to accommodate the differential thermal expansion between the tubes and shell. The added cost of the expansion joint largely offsets the cost advantage of the fixed-tubesheet design. With floating-head and U-tube exchangers, the entire tube bundle can be pulled out of the shell from the front (stationary head) end. This allows mechanical cleaning of the exterior tube surfaces, usually by high-pressure jets of water, steam or supercritical carbon dioxide. (Of course, square or rotated square pitch must be used to provide cleaning lanes.) Also, since only one tubesheet is attached to the shell (at the front end), the tubes are free to expand or contract relative to the shell due to temperature differences. Another consideration with respect to head type is bonnet versus channel. Bonnets are cheaper and less prone to leakage, However, to gain access to the tubesheet for inspecting or cleaning the tubes, the stationary head must be disconnected from the process piping and removed from the shell. With a channeltype head, access to the tubesheet is obtained simply by unbolting and removing the channel cover. Thus, a channeltype stationary head is preferable if the tubes will require frequent cleaning. Other factors that may affect the choice of head type are given in Appendix 5.D. The most widely used floating-head design in the process industries is the AES exchanger. U-tube exchangers are less expensive and are also widely used. The advent of equipment for cleaning the interiors of Ustubes using high-pressure water jets has mitigated the problem of cleaning the return bends, leading to increased use of these exchangers [10]. 5.7.6 Baffles and tubesheets Single segmental baffles are standard and by far the most widely used. In order to provide good flow distribution on the shell side, the spacing between baffles should be between 0.2 and 1.0 shell diameters (but not Jess than 2in.). However, the maximum baffle spacing may be limited by tube support and vibration considerations to less than one shell diameter [11,12] (Gee also Appendix 5.C). As previously noted, the no-ubesin-window option can be used to extend the bafile spacing in these situations. For good flow distribution, the bafile cut should be between 15% and 45%. For single-phase flow, however, a range of 20-35% is recommended [9]. With the Simplified Delaware method, the baffle cut is fixed at 20%. Although baffle spacing and baffle cut are ostensibly independent parameters, in practice they are highly correlated. Figure 5.4 shows the recommendations given by Taborek [11], who states: A sound design should not deviate substantially from the recommended values, which are based ‘on avast amount of practical experience as well as on studies of the shel-side flow patterns.” Ifthe baffle cut is set at 20% for the Simplified Delaware method, then Figure 5.4 indicates that the baffle spacing should be in the range of 0.2 to about 0.4 shell diameters for single-phase flow. Baffle thickness is not required for the Simplified Delaware method, but itis used in the Stream Analysis method and in commercial computer programs. Iivaries from 1/16 to 3/4 in., and generally increases with shell size and baffle spacing. If this parameter isnot specified asinput, most computer programs will default to the standard values given in Table 52. ‘Tubesheet thickness is another parameter used in commercial computer programs. It varies from about 1 to 6in., and generally increases with shell size and operating pressure. As a rough approximation, a value equal to the larger of Lin. and 0.1 times the shell ID can be used [11]. Detailed methods for calculating required tubesheet thickness based on bending and shear stresses are given in Ref. [12]. 5.7.7 Nozzles Nozzles can be sized to meet pressure drop limitations and/or to match process piping. The guidelines given by Kern [4] and reproduced in Table 5.3 are useful as a starting point. Other considerations in sizing nozzles are tube vibration and erosion. The fluid entering the shell through the inlet nozzle impinges directly on the tube bundle. If the inlet velocity is too high, excessive tube vibration and/or erosion may result. TEMA specifications to prevent tube erosion5/200 DESIGN OF SHELLAND-TUBE HEAT EXCHANGERS 50 40 ‘an 20 20 10 0 of 02 05 6 06 or 08) (0810 Bids Figure 5.4 Recommended baffle cut, B., as a function of baffle spacing. SBC, for single-phase flow; CV, for condensing vapors (Source: Ret. [11]. Table 5.2 Standard Values (Inches) for Baffle Thickness in Class R Heat Exchangers* Bafile spacing, inches Shell ID, inches aud 0.375 15-28 0.500 29-38 0.625 39-60 0.625 61-100 0.750 © Class R exchangers are for the generally severe requirements of petroleum and related processing applications. ‘Source: HEXTRAN and TEAMS computer programs. Table §3 Guidelines for Sizing Nozzles Shell size, inches Nominal nozzle diameter, inches 440 12-17.25 19.25-21.25DESIGN OF SHELL-AND-TUBE HEATEXCHANGERS 5/201 are given in terms of the product of density (Ibm/ft!) and nozzle velocity (ft/s) squared [12]: pVz < 1500lbm/ft-s? for non-abrasive single-phase fluids <500lbm/ft+s? for all other liquids, including bubble-point liquids Beyond these limits (and for all other gases, including saturated vapors and vapor-liquid mixtures regardless of the pV2 value) an impingement plate is required to protect the tubes. This is a metal plate, usually about /;in. thick, placed beneath the nozzle to deflect the fluid and keep it from impinging directly on the tubes. With impingement protection, values of pV? up to twice the above values are acceptable [11]. For still higher nozzle velocities (or in lieu of an impingement plate) an annular distributor can be used to distribute the fluid more evenly around the shell periphery and thereby reduce the impingement velocity [11]. An impingement plate may not be adequate to tube vibration problems, and a larger nozzle or a distributor may be needed for this purpose as well. Furthermore, impingement plates actually reduce the bundle entrance area, and as aresult, tubes near plate edges may be exposed to very high velocities that can cause them to fail. Thus, impingement plates can sometimes be counterproductive. An alternative that can be used to avoid. this problem is to replace the first two rows of tubes with solid rods of diameter equal to the tube OD. The rods serve to protect the tubes without reducing the bundle entrance area. 5.7.8 Sealing strips ‘The purpose of sealing strips is to reduce the effect of the bundle bypass stream that flows around the outside of the tube bundle. They are usually thin strips of metal that fit into slots in the baffles and extend outward toward the shell wall to block the bypass flow and force it back into the tube bundle. They are placed in pairs on opposite sides of the baffles running lengthwise along the bundle. Sealing strips are mainly used in floating-head exchangers, where the clearance between. the shell and tube bundle is relatively large. Typically, one pair is used for every four to ten rows of tubes between the baffle tips. Increasing the number of sealing strips tends to increase the shell- side heat-transfer coefficient at the expense of a somewhat larger pressure drop. In the Simplified Delaware method, the number of sealing strips is set at one pair per ten tube rows. 5.8 Design Strategy ShelLand-tube design is an inherently iterative process, the main steps of which can be summarized as follows: (@) Obtain an initial configuration for the heat exchanger. This can be accomplished by using the preliminary design procedure given in Section 3.7 toestimate the required heattransfer surface area, along with the design guidelines and tube-count tables discussed above to completely specify the configuration. (b) Rate the design to determine ifitis thermally and hydraulically suitable. (©) Modify the design, if necessary, based on the results of the rating calculations. (d) Goto step (b) and iterate until an acceptable design is obtained. ‘The design procedure is illustrated in the following examples.