Heat Transfer
S. SU, ProPEng Inc., Calgary,
Calculate shell-and-tube exchanger
heat input for PSV fire case
According to API Recommended
Practice (RP) 521, 4.4.13.1, “Fire expo-
sure on equipment can result in over-
pressure due to vapor generation and/
or fluid expansion.” The scenario of a
shell-and-tube heat exchanger, with liq-
uids on both sides that are exposed to
open fire, is studied here. The shell-side
pressure safety valve (PSV) sizing for fire
exposure can be easily done by calculat-
ing the heat absorption from the shell
wetted surface area (see API RP 521,
4.4.13.2.4.2 for details). However, there
is no detailed guideline on how to size
the tube-side PSV for a fire case, since
the tubes are inside the shell and are not
directly exposed to fire.
Frequently, the wetted surface area of
the head(s) is used for the heat absorp-
tion calculation for this purpose, since
the heads are the only parts directly ex-
posed to fire on the tube side. This is
appropriate if the tube-side fluid boiling
point is higher than that of the shell-side
fluid at the relief pressures, because the
tube-side temperature will be higher
than the shell-side temperature, and
there will be no heat transfer from the
shell-side fluid to the tube-side fluid,
assuming that both shell- and tube-side
temperatures are evenly distributed.
However, if the tube-side fluid boil-
ing point is lower than that of the shell-
side fluid at the relief conditions, then
the tube-side fluid temperature will be
lower than that of the shell-side tem-
perature. There will be heat transfer
from the shell-side fluid to the tube-side
fluid, since the shell side is also exposed
to fire. This heat transfer is often signifi-
cant due to the large tube surface area.
Therefore, if only the surface area of the
head(s) is considered for tube-side PSV
fire sizing, then the heat input to the
Alberta, Canada
tube side may be significantly underes-
timated. An underestimated heat input
will result in a smaller-than-required
PSV on the tube side and lead to serious
safety issues.
Tube-side PSVs have also been sized
by taking the total heat absorption from
both the shell and tube sides, which is
too conservative and frequently leads to
much larger PSVs than required. Over-
sized PSVs may require larger relief or
flare systems. They can also chatter. Ac-
cording to API RP 520, Part II, 4.2.1,
“Chattering will result in lowered capac-
ity and damage to the seating surfaces.”
Sizing example case. An example is
used to illustrate the proper sizing meth-
od for the tube-side PSV sizing for a fire
case, if the tube-side fluid boiling point
is lower than that of the shell-side fluid
at the relief conditions. The key is to
calculate the heat transfer from the shell
side to the tube side at the relief condi-
tions when exposed to fire. The sum of
this heat transfer and the heat absorption
from the head(s) then can be used as the
total heat input to the tube-side fluid for
PSV fire sizing.
The following assumptions are made
for the analysis:
1. As stated in API RP 521,
4.4.13.2.4.1, “It is typically
assumed that the vessel is
isolated during a fire to simplify
the analysis.” When isolated
and generally shut down under
a fire emergency, there is no
flow on either the shell or tube
sides. The heat transfer between
the shell side and the tube side
will be driven by temperature
difference only. Therefore,
natural convection takes place
between the shell-side fluid and
the tube outside wall, and natural
convection is also assumed
between the tube inside wall
and the tube-side fluid.
2. The heat transfer is steady-state.
No transient analysis is included.
3. Assume clean tubes. Tube fouling
is ignored for the heat transfer
calculations, which is slightly on
the conservative side for the PSV
sizing since the resulting heat
transfer will be slightly higher.
4. For the convective heat transfer
calculations, the tube wall
temperature is assumed to be the
same from the inside wall to the
outside wall. This assumption is
not used for the tube conductive
heat transfer calculations.
5. The temperatures on both the
shell side and tube side are evenly
distributed—isothermal pools
at their respective saturation
temperatures. Therefore, the true
mean temperature difference
(TMTD) is taken for the heat
transfer calculations, as opposed
to the log mean temperature
difference (LMTD).
The tube inside convective heat trans-
fer coefficient, hi , and the tube outside
convective heat transfer coefficient, ho ,
can be calculated. The heat transfer mech-
anism through the tube wall is conduc-
tion, and the tube thermal conductivity is
known. From this, the overall heat trans-
fer coefficient, U, can be calculated. The
heat transferred from the shell side to the
tube side then can be calculated, based on
the overall heat transfer coefficient.
The following data is used for the ex-
ample of an AFU-type shell-and-tube
heat exchanger:
Hydrocarbon Processing | MAY 2019 59
 Heat Transfer

• Shell surface area, A s = 194 ft2 ∆T = Temperature difference = h × Do

• Head surface area, Ah = 20 ft2 To – Tw, °C Nu = o
(5)
• Tube outside diameter, Do = ¾ in. µ = Viscosity of fluid, cP. k
• Tube wall thickness, tw = 0.109 in. If Tw is known, then the tube outside where:
• Total length of the tubes, film temperature, Tfo , can be determined; Nu = Nusselt number, dimensionless
Lt = 3,859 m and the fluid properties, including ρ, β ho = Tube outside convective heat
• Tube material thermal and µ, can be determined given the fluid transfer coefficient, W/(m2-°C)
conductivity, Kw = 50 W/m-K composition. Therefore, Gr is a function Do = Tube outside diameter, m
• Shell-side fluid saturation of Tw only here. k = Thermal conductivity of fluid,
temperature, To = 272°C Per the GPSA Engineering Data Book, W/(m-K).
• Tube-side fluid saturation Eq. 8-7, the Prandtl number (Pr) can be Based on Eqs. 4 and 5, Eq. 6 can be
temperature, Ti = 256°C. calculated as shown in Eq. 3: calculated:
The fluid properties will be determined
based on the corresponding film tem-  Cp × µ ho × Do
Pr = (3) C (Gr × Pr)m = (6)
perature. k k 

Step 1 calculation. In Step 1, the tube where: If Eq. 8-6a and Eq. 8-7 from the GPSA En-
outside convective heat transfer coef- Pr = Prandtl number, dimensionless gineering Data Book are plugged into Eq. 6,
ficient, ho , is calculated. Tube wall tem- Cp = Specific heat of fluid, then Eq. 7 can be determined:
perature, Tw , is related to both tube inside KJ/(Kg-K)
m
and outside heat transfer calculations, µ = Viscosity of fluid, cP ⎡ 106 × Do3 × ρ 2 × ⎤
and reiterations are needed to determine k = Thermal conductivity of fluid, ⎢ ⎥
Tw . The reiteration procedure will be de- W/(m-K). (7) Ck ⎢ g β (To − Tw )C p ⎥
ho =
scribed in detail later in this article. The Similarly, if Tw is known, then Tfo can Do ⎢ µ×k ⎥
⎢ ⎥
tube outside film temperature, Tfo , and be determined; and the fluid properties, ⎢ ⎥
Grashof number (Gr) can be calculated including Cp, µ and k, can be determined ⎣ ⎦
as shown in Eqs. 1 and 2: given the fluid composition. Pr can then
Tfo = (To + Tw) ÷ 2 (1) be calculated. It can be seen that ho is a function of
The Nusselt number (Nu) can be cal- Tw only.
Per the GPSA Engineering Data Book, Eq. culated per the GPSA Engineering Data
8-6a: Book, Eq. 8-4, as shown in Eq. 4: Step 2 calculation. In Step 2, the tube
6 inside convective heat transfer coefficient,
10 × Do3 ×ρ 2
Nu = C(Gr × Pr)m(4) hi , is calculated using Eq. 10:
× g × β × ∆T (2) Tube inside film temperature:
Gr = where:
µ2 Tfi = (Ti + Tw) ÷ 2 (8)
Nu = Nusselt number, dimensionless
where: Gr = Grashof number, dimensionless Temperature difference:
Gr = Grashof number, dimensionless Pr = Prandtl number, dimensionless ∆T = Tw – Ti , °C(9)
Do = Tube outside diameter, m C and m = Heat transfer constants As in Step 1, Eq. 10 can be deduced:
ρ = Density of fluid, Kg/m3 that can be obtained from GPSA m
g = Acceleration due to gravity = Engineering Data Book Fig. 8-4: ⎡ 106 Do3 × ρ 2 × ⎤
9.81 m/sec2 C = 0.53, m = 0.25. ⎢ ⎥
β = Volumetric coefficient of thermal Per the GPSA Engineering Data Book, Ck ⎢ g β (Tw − Ti )C p ⎥ (10)
hi =
expansion, 1/(°C or K) Eq. 8-5a, Eq. 5 is then used to calculate Nu: Do ⎢⎢ µ ×k ⎥
⎥
⎢ ⎥
Calculate ho Calculate Uo
⎣ ⎦
Assume Tw (between To and Ti)
(using Eq. 7) (using Eq. 13)
Step 3 calculation. In Step 3, the tube
wall conductive thermal resistance, rw , can
Calculate hi
Take Tw = Tw’ (using Eq. 10) be calculated per the GPSA Engineering
Data Book, Eq. 9-12, as shown in Eq. 11:
Calculate rw Do ⎛D ⎞
No (using Eq. 11) rw = ln ⎜ o ⎟ (11)
2 × 1000K w ⎝ Di ⎠
Yes Calculate Tw’ Calculate Q
End Tw = Tw’ ?
(using Eq. 17) (using Eq. 15)
where:
rw = Tube wall conductive thermal
resistance, (m2-°C)/W
FIG. 1. Reiteration procedure for calculations.
Do = Tube outside diameter, m
60 MAY 2019 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
 Heat Transfer

Di = Tube inside diameter, m resistance, (m2-°C)/W The TMTD is used in lieu of the LMTD,
Kw = Tube material thermal rfo = Tube outside fouling resistance, ∆TLM . In addition, U is to be calculated
conductivity, W/(m-°C). (m2-°C)/W corresponding to the tube outside sur-
rfi = Tube inside fouling resistance, face area as in Eq. 13. Therefore, Eq. 14
Step 4 calculation. In Step 4, the over- (m2-°C)/W. can be rewritten as shown in Eq. 15:
all heat transfer coefficient, Uo , can be If tube fouling is ignored, then rfo = rfi
calculated per the GPSA Engineering Data = 0. Also, for the tube surface areas, Ao Q = Uo × Ao × (To – Ti )(15)
Book, Eq. 9-11, as shown in Eq. 12: ÷ Ai = Do ÷ Di. Therefore, the simplified
equation for the overall heat transfer coef- Calculations summary. The preced-
1 ficient, Uo, is shown in Eq. 13: ing five steps can be used to calculate the
Uo =
⎡ 1 ⎛ Ao ⎞ ⎛ 1 ⎞ ⎤ heat transfer from the shell-side fluid to
⎢ + ⎜ ⎟⎜ ⎟ + ⎥ (12) Uo =
1
the tube-side fluid with a proper reitera-
⎢ ho ⎝ Ai ⎠ ⎝ hi ⎠ ⎥ ⎡ 1 ⎛ Do ⎞ ⎛ 1 ⎞ ⎤ (13) tion procedure, since the tube wall tem-
⎢ ⎛ ⎞ ⎥ ⎢ + ⎜ ⎟⎜ ⎟⎠ + rw ⎥
⎢rw + r fo + Ao r fi ⎥ ⎣ ho ⎝ Di ⎠ ⎝ hi ⎦ perature, Tw , is unknown. The reiteration
⎢⎣ ⎜⎝ A ⎟⎠ ⎥⎦ procedure is described as follows.
i
Eq. 13 is the same as that shown in the A Tw can be placed between To and Ti ,
where: GPSA Engineering Data Book, Eq. 8–11, and ho and hi can be calculated per Eqs. 7
Uo = Overall heat transfer coefficient when there is only one solid layer. and 10, since rw is calculated per Eq. 11.
based on tube outside area, Then, Uo can be calculated per Eq. 13,
W/(m2-°C) Step 5 calculation. In Step 5, the and Q can be calculated per Eq. 15.
ho = Tube outside convective heat heat transfer, Q , from the shell side to Looking at the tube outside convec-
transfer coefficient, W/(m2-°C) the tube side can be calculated per the tive heat transfer only, based on New-
Hi = Tube inside convective heat GPSA Engineering Data Book, Eq. 8-10, ton’s law of cooling, Q can be calculated
transfer coefficient, W/(m2-°C) as shown in Eq. 14: using Eq. 16:
Ao = Tube outside surface area, m2
Ai = Tube inside surface area, m2 Q = U × A × ∆TLM(14) Q = ho Ao (To – Tw )(16)
rw = Tube wall conductive thermal

Hydrocarbon Processing | MAY 2019 61

 Heat Transfer
Then, Tw can be calculated using Eq. 17:
Q (Kg–K)
Tw = To −
(17)
ho Ao
For shell-and-tube heat exchangers, if the tube-side fluid
boiling point is lower than that of the shell-side fluid at
their respective relief pressures, then the tube-side PSV
sizing for the fire case should consider two heat sources.
Based on Eq. 17, a new Tw (e.g., Tw’)
can be calculated using the Q calculated
from the five steps. This calculated Tw’
can be compared with the Tw used in
Steps 1 and 2, if they differ, and then
Tw = Tw’ can be plugged into Eqs. 7 and
10 again to calculate ho and hi. This pro-
cedure can be repeated until Tw is basi-
cally stable with little change. The cal-
culated Q is the heat transfer from the
shell-side fluid to the tube-side fluid at
relief conditions. This reiteration pro-
cedure can be easily carried out using a
spreadsheet (FIG. 1).
The fluid properties should be at the
film temperatures instead of at the fluid
temperatures. During the process of reit-
eration, the film temperatures vary with
the tube wall temperature. The fluid
properties should be updated accord-
ingly, using process simulation software.
For the example given, when Tw con-
verges at 270.44°C, the fluid properties
are as follows for the shell side:
• Fluid viscosity, µ = 0.11 cP
• Density, ρ = 788 Kg/m3
• Volumetric thermal expansion
coefficient, β = 0.0027783 1/C
• Specific heat,
Cp = 4.283 KJ/(Kg-K)
• Thermal conductivity,
k = 0.3356 W/(m-K).
The fluid properties for the tube side are:
• Fluid viscosity, µ = 0.041 cP
• Density, ρ = 306.8 Kg/m3
• Volumetric thermal expansion
coefficient, β = 0.0145678 1/C
TABLE 1. Heat comparison
Shell-side heat Tube-side heat absorption
absorption, W from head, W
462,664 71,798
62 MAY 2019 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
• Specific heat, Cp = 4.606 KJ/
• Thermal conductivity,
k = 0.009865 W/(m–K).
The results are as follows:
• Tw = 270.44°C
• ho = 633.38 W/(m2-°C)
• hi = 96.52 W/(m2-°C)
• rw = 6.5915E-8 (m2-°C)/W
• Uo = 61.78 W/(m2-°C)
• Q = 228,302 W.
Per API RP 521 (4.4.13.2.4.2), the heat
absorption due to fire exposure is shown
in Eq. 18:
0.82
Q = C1 × F × A WS  (18)
where:
Q = Total heat absorption to the
wetted surface, W
C1 = 43,200 in SI units (assuming
adequate drainage and firefighting
equipment)
F = Environmental factor =
1 (assuming bare vessel)
Aws = Total wetted surface area, m2.
If the heat exchanger is assumed to be
full of liquid inside both the shell and the
head, and the total surface area is used as
the wetted surface area, then the calculat-
ed heat absorption for the shell and head,
together with the calculated heat transfer
from the shell side to the tube side using
the reiteration method, are included in
TABLE 1 for comparison.
From TABLE 1, two observations can
be made:
1. Since 71,798 ÷ 300,100 = 23.92%,
if only the heat absorption
from the head is used for the
tube-side PSV fire sizing, then the
PSV is likely to be undersized.
Heat transferred from Tube-side total
shell to tube side, W heat input, W
228,302 300,100
2. Since (71,798 + 462,664) ÷
300,100 = 178.1%, if using the
total heat absorption from both
the shell and head for the tube-
side PSV sizing, then the PSV
is likely to be oversized.
Takeaway. For shell-and-
tube heat exchangers, if the
tube-side fluid boiling point
is lower than that of the shell-
side fluid at their respective
relief pressures, then the
tube-side PSV sizing for the
fire case should consider two
heat sources: the heat absorption from
the head(s) directly exposed to fire, and
the heat transferred from the shell side.
The sum of these two should be used for
the total relief load calculation for the
tube-side PSV fire sizing.
This article explained in detail the
heat transfer calculation from the shell
side to the tube side. A step-by-step ap-
proach and reiteration procedure were
presented. The detailed PSV sizing
method after calculating the heat input
are included in API RP 520 and API RP
521, and were not discussed here.
NOMENCLATURE
i = Inside
o = Outside
s = Shell
t = Tube
h = Head
w = Wall
fi = Inside film or inside fouling
fo = Outside film or outside fouling
LM = Log mean
LITERATURE CITED
1 American Petroleum Institute, “API RP 520:
Sizing, selection, and installation of pressure-
relieving devices, Part I—Sizing and selection,”
9th Ed., July 2014; “Part 2—Installation,” 5th Ed.,
(reaffirmed), February 2011.
American Petroleum Institute, “API RP 521:
2
Pressure-relieving and depressuring systems,” 6th
Ed., January 2014.
3 Gas Processors and Suppliers Association, GPSA
Engineering Data Book, 12th Ed., 2004.
4 M. R. Lindeburg, Mechanical Engineering Reference
Manual, 13th Ed., Professional Publications Inc.,
2015.
SCOTT SU is a Senior Process
Engineer with ProPEng Inc. in
Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He
received a BSc degree in chemical
equipment and mechanical
engineering from the Liaoning
University of Petroleum and
Chemical Technology in 1995, and an MSc degree
in mechanical engineering from the University of
Calgary. Mr. Su is a registered Professional Engineer
in Alberta (Canada) and Texas and Pennsylvania (US).
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