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DESIGN OF SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER USING COMPUTATIONAL

FLUID DYNAMICS TOOLS

Thesis · February 2014

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.14939.05924

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 PROJECT REPORT
on
DESIGN OF SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER
USING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS TOOLS

for partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Technology
in
Mechanical Engineering
Submitted by
Arjun K S
(Reg. No. : MBU-1010-26591 & Trainee No.:102423)
under the guidance of:
Prof. Prasad S., Internal Supervisor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Manav Bharti University, Solan-173 229

and
Mr.Gopu K.B., External Supervisor
Senior Manager, Maintenance Department
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited Kochi Refinery
Ambalamugal-682 302

FEBRUARY, 2014
 ii

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the thesis entitled “Design of Shell and tube heat exchanger

using Computational Fluid Dynamics Tools” submitted by Arjun K.S. (Reg. No. : MBU-1010-

26591 & Trainee No. 102423) for the partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award

of Degree of Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from Manav Bharti

University, Solan-173 229 is an authentic project work carried out by him under my

supervision and guidance at Maintenance Department, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited

Kochi Refinery, Ambalamugal-682 302 from 17th to 28th February, 2014.

To best of knowledge, the matter embodied in this thesis has not been submitted to any

other university or institute for the award of any degree.

Date: 28-2-2014
Place: Ambalamugal Mr. Gopu K.B. Prof. Prasad S.
External Guide Internal Guide
 iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to convey my sincere gratitude to my project internal supervisor and Head of the

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Prasad S. for his invaluable suggestions,

constructive criticism, motivation and guidance for carrying out related experiments and

for preparing the associated reports and presentations. His encouragement towards the

current topic helped me a lot in this project work.

I owe my thankfulness to Mr. Gopu K.B., External Supervisor and Senior Manager,

Department of Maintenance, for providing necessary facilities for the project work. I hereby

express my heartfelt thanks to Mr. Harsh L. Kansagara, Engineer (Maintenance) and Mr. C.V.

Venu, Senior Welder (Maintenance), who have motivated me and encouraged me in completing

this project within the time frame. I thank the staff of Maintenance and Training Departments

for their technical advice for completing this task.

I thank my parents, sister and friends for being providing constant support throughout my life.

Date: 28-2-2014
Place: Ambalamugal

Arjun K S
(Reg. No. :MBU-1010-26591 & Trainee No. 102423)
 iv

ABSTRACT

The present work has been carried out with a view to predicting the performance of a shell and

tube heat exchanger. The process in solving simulation consists of modeling and meshing

the basic geometry of shell and tube heat exchanger using Computational Fluid Dynamics

package ANSYS 13.0. The performance of the heat exchanger has been evaluated by using

the CFD package FLUENT and has been compared with the existing experimental values. An

attempt has also been made to calculate the performance of the above heat exchanger by

considering helix baffles instead of regular Segmental Baffles and the result so obtained have

been compared. The performance parameters pertaining to heat exchanger such as effectiveness,

overall heat transfer coefficient, energy extraction rate etc., have been reported in this work.

The objective of the project is design of shell and tube heat exchanger with

helical baffle and study the flow and temperature field inside the shell. The heat

exchanger contains 7 tubes of outer diameter 20 mm and a 600 mm long shell of inner

diameter 90 mm. The helix angle was varied from 00 to 200. The simulation shows how the

pressure vary in shell due to different helix angle and flow rate. The flow pattern in the

shell side of the heat exchanger with continuous helical baffles was forced to be rotational

and helical due to the geometry of the continuous helical baffles, which results in a

significant increase in heat transfer coefficient per unit pressure drop in the heat exchanger.

For a given baffle cut of 36 per cent, the heat exchanger performance is investigated by varying

mass flow rate and baffle inclination angle. From the computational fluid dynamics simulation
 v

results, the shell side outlet temperature, pressure drop, re-circulation near the baffles, optimal

mass flow rate and the optimum baffle inclination angle for the given heat exchanger geometry

are determined.

Baffle is a shell side component of shell and tube heat exchanger. The segmental baffle forces

the liquid in a Zigzag flow and improving heat transfer and a high pressure drop and

increase the fouling resistance and Helical Baffle have an effective performance of increasing

heat transfer performance. The desirable features of heat exchanger obtained a maximum heat

transfer Coefficient and a lower pressure drop. From the Numerical Experimentation result the

performance of heat exchanger is increased in Helical Baffle instead of Segmental Baffle.

 vi

CONTENTS

Page no.
1 INTRODUCTION 1-11
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS 12-19
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 20-30
4 SUMMARY 31-32
5 REFERENCE 33-34
 vii

LIST OF TABLES

Table No. Title Page no

2.2.4.1 Geometric dimensions of shell and tube heat exchanger 15
3.4.2. Change in Outlet Temperature with respect to baffle 26
inclination angle
3.4.3. Pressure Drop inside Shell with respect to baffle inclination 27
angle
3.4.4. Velocity inside Shell with respect to baffle inclination angle 28
3.5.5. Heat Transfer Rate across Tube side with respect to baffle 29
inclination angle
3.5.6. Overall Calculated value in Shell and Tube heat exchanger in 30
simulation
 viii

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No. Title Page no.
1.2.1. Components of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger 7
1.2. 2. Tube Bundle projected outside the Shell 7
1.2.3. Parts of typical shell and tube heat exchanger 8
1.4.4. Fluid flow simulation for a shell and tube exchanger 11
2.2.4.5 Tube layout and arrangement 14
2.2.4.6. Isometric view of arrangement of baffles and tubes of shell 14
and tube heat exchanger with baffle inclination
2.2.5.7. Complete model of shell and tube heat exchanger 16
2.2.6.8 Meshing diagram of shell and tube heat exchanger 17
2.2.6.9. Surface mesh with Helical Baffle and tube bundle of shell 17
and tube heat exchanger
2.2.6.10. Surface mesh with Helical Baffle 18
3.1.11 Convergence Simulation of 00 Baffle inclination after 160th 20
iteration
3.1.12 Convergence simulation of 100 baffle inclination at 133th 21
iteration
3.1.13. Convergence simulation of 200 baffle inclination at 138th 21
iteration
3.2.14. Temperature Distribution across the tube and shell 22
3.2.15. Temperature Distribution for 100 baffle inclination 22
3.2.16. Temperature Distribution of 200 baffle inclination 23
3.2.17. Temperature Distribution across Tube outlet in 00 baffle 23
inclination
3.3.18. Velocity profile across the shell at 00 baffle inclination 24
3.3.19. Velocity profile across the shell at 100 baffle inclination 24
3.3.20. Velocity profile across the shell at 200 baffle inclination 25
3.4.21. Pressure Distribution across the shell at 00 baffle inclination 25
3.4.22. Pressure Distribution across the shell at 100 baffle inclination 26
3.4.23. Pressure Distribution across the shell at 200 baffle inclination 26
 ix

Figure No. Title Page no.

3.4.24. Plot of Baffle inclination angle vs Outlet Temperature of 27
shell and tube side
3.4.25. Plot of Baffle angle vs Pressure Drop 28
3.4.26. Plot of Velocity profile inside shell 29
3.5.27. Heat Transfer Rate along Tube side 30
 x

LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS

B Central baffle spacing, [mm]

Bc Baffle cut, [per cent]
Di Shell inner diameter, [mm]
do Tube outer diameter, [mm]
k Heat conductivity, [Wm–1K–1]
L Heat exchanger length, [mm]
Nb Number of baffles, [–]
Nt Number of tubes, [–]
Pr Prandtl number, [–]
q Heat flux as a source term, [Wm–2]
Re Reynolds number, [–]
T Temperature, [K]
u, v, w Velocity components, [ms–1]
V Velocity vector, [–]
x, y, z Position co-ordinates, [–]
θ Baffle inclination angle, [deg.]
ρ Density, [Kgm–3]
τ Shear stress, [Nm-2]
ϕ Dissipation function, [–]
μ Dynamic viscosity, [m2s-1]
 1

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. COMPANY PROFILE

1. 1. 1. Overview

Kochi Refinery, a unit of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), embarked on its
journey in 1966 with a capacity of 50,000 barrels per day. Formerly known as Cochin Refineries
Limited and later renamed as Kochi Refineries Limited, the refinery was originally established
as a joint venture in collaboration with Phillips Petroleum Corporation, USA. Today it is a
frontline entity as a unit of the Fortune 500 Company, BPCL.

Kochi Refinery, located at Ambalmugal near the city of Kochi in Kerala, is one of the two
Refineries of BPCL, presently having a crude oil refining capacity of 9.5 Million Metric Tonnes
per Annum (MMTPA) to produce auto-fuels conforming to Euro-III and partly Euro-IV
specifications.

The product portfolio of the 190,000 barrels per day refinery today includes petrochemical
feedstocks and specialty products in addition to its range of quality fuels such as Liquefied
Petroleum Gas, Naphtha, Motor Spirit, Superior Kerosene Oil, Furnace Oil, Light Diesel Oil,
Aviation Turbine Fuel, Low Sulphur Heavy Stock, High Speed Diesel, Fuel Oils and Asphalt.
Specialty products for the domestic markets include Benzene, Toluene, Propylene, Mineral
Turpentine Oil, Special Boiling Point Spirit, Poly isobutene and Sulphur. The exclusive products
include Natural Rubber Modified Bitumen or Rubberised Bitumen, Bitumen emulsion and
Diesel additive. The Fuel Oil has been benchmarked in the Singapore and Dubai Fuel Oil
markets.

The refinery has implemented world class technology and systems for operations and enterprise
resource planning. It is an ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and ISO
9001:2000 Quality Management System (QMS) accredited company and has also obtained the
ISO 17025 (Testing Methods in Quality Control) certification from NABL (National
Accreditation Board for testing & Calibration of Laboratories). The refinery has successfully
 2

implemented the Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSAS) 18001:2007
in the year 2009.

With the prestigious Crude Oil receipt facilities consisting of the Single Point Mooring (SPM)
and the associated shore tank farm in place since December 2007, the refinery is equipped to
receive crude oil in Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs). This facility helps Kochi refinery in
reducing the freight charges to a great extent, over and above increasing flexibility in crude oil
selection. This, thereby, is a major infrastructure facility to accelerate the future growth of Kochi
Refinery.

The refinery has facilities to evacuate products to the consuming centres through road, rail, ships
and through pipelines. All the major industries in the area are connected to the refinery for
product receipt. The BPCL installation at Irumpanam, to which the refinery is connected by
pipelines, is the major product distribution centre of the refinery. Petronet CCK, a joint venture
company of BPCL looks after the 300 km long pipeline that connects the refinery to various
consumption points in Tamil Nadu such as Coimbatore and Karur.

1. 1. 2. Technology

The refinery has implemented SPM facility capable of receiving Very Large Crude Carriers
(VLCC), along with allied facilities including shore tank farm and connected pipelines. The
technology was provided by M/s. Blue Water Energy Services, Netherlands. The project helped
the refinery to achieve the benefits by way of cost reduction in crude oil transportation cost and
the latest technological developments in the field of crude oil procurement.

Other major technology absorptions at Kochi Refinery in the last few years are as follows:

 Fluid Catalytic Cracker (FCC) – Feed Injection Technology, Riser Termination Device
and Packed Stripper by Stone & Webster for yield improvement.
 Process technology for blocked out mode operation of VGO and Diesel in DHDS from
M/s. Axens, France.
 3

 Process technology for sweetening (MEROX) of catalytically cracked gasoline from M/s
UOP, USA.
 Colloidal Mill technology for production of Bitumen Emulsion from M/s. ENH
Engineering, Denmark.
 DHDS Reactor catalyst change to new generation HDS catalyst supplied by M/s Axens,
France in Dec 2006 to produce Low Sulfur Diesel for meeting the Euro-III Diesel
demand.
 A new Bitumen Blowing unit using Biturox technology from M/s Poerner
Ingenieurgesellschaft MBH, Austria.

Kochi Refinery has taken up a project for implementation if Manufacturing Execution Systems
(MES) with a view to employ state-of-the-art decision support systems for production planning
and execution. This project has enabled the refinery to streamline its manufacturing business
processes and contribute to corporate objectives in margin improvement, by implementation of
Aspen Tech’s Suite of Solutions for Planning, Scheduling, Blending, Production Management
and Laboratory Information Management.

1. 1. 3. Process

Kochi Refinery has two Crude Distillation units (CDU-1 and CDU-2). The refinery currently
processes about 30 per cent of Indigenous and 70 per cent Imported crude oils. Crude oil is
transported in ships from the point of origin to Kochi and is received through a Single Point
Mooring (SPM) facility. Kochi SPM, located approximately 20 km off the shore of
Puthuvypeen, is capable of handling Very large Crude Carriers (VLCC) with crude oil carrying
capacities upto 3.0 Lakh Tons. Crude oil from SPM is received in offshore tanks in Puthuvypeen
and is then pumped to the refinery.

Apart from the Crude Distillation Units, major processing facilities in the refinery include a
Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit, Diesel Hydro Desulphurization (DHDS) unit,
Kerosene Hydro Desulphurization (KHDS) unit, Sulphur Recovery Unit (SRU) and an
Aromatics Block consisting of a Naphtha Splitter Unit (NSU), Naphtha Hydro Desulphurization
(NDHS), Catalytic Reformer Unit (CRU) and Aromatics Recovery Unit (ARU).
 4

Crude oil is first processed in the Crude Distillation Unit where it is heated up to around 360 to
380oC depending on the type of crude oil after removing impurities such as sodium and
magnesium salts, water and other sediments. Crude oil is then fractionated in a distillation
column where lighter fractions such as LPG, Naphtha, Kerosene and Diesel are separated. The
products are routed to respective storage locations after cooling to atmospheric temperature.

LPG is treated using Di-Ethanol Amine (DEA) to remove the impurities before being stored as
product LPG. Part of the Naphtha is processed in the Aromatics Block to produce Benzene,
Toluene and a solvent SBPS (Special Boiling Point Spirit). Part of the Kerosene is treated either
in a MEROX unit or in KHDS to produce Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and Mineral Turpentine
Oil (MTO). Diesel from the CDU is processed in DHDS unit to produce BS-II/ Euro-III grade
Diesel.

Remaining heavier portion of the crude oil is further distilled under vacuum in a Vacuum
Distillation Unit (VDU) to separate Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO) and Vacuum Residue (VR) as
major fractions. The VGO is processed in FCC unit where the heavier molecules are broken
down to produce LPG, Gasoline (also called Motor Spirit or Petrol) and Diesel. Refinery is
currently capable of producing both BS-II and Euro-III grade Petrol.

With the commissioning of Continuous Catalyst Regeneration (CCR) Reformer and VGO
Hydro Desulphurization Unit (VGO HDS), the refinery will be capable of producing nearly 70
per cent MS (Motor Spirit) and HSD (High Speed Diesel) meeting Euro-III specifications and
30 per cent MS and HSD meeting Euro-IV specifications.

Vacuum Residue (VR) from VDU is routed to a Biturox Unit to produce Bitumen or to a Vis-
Breaker Unit (VBU) to produce Furnace Oil (FO). VR can also be directly routed to LSHS (Low
Sulphur Heavy Stock – fuel used in Boilers, Power Plants, etc.) pool if the crude oil processed
in CDU is of low sulphur content (less than 0.5 wt per cent). A state of the art Sulphur Recovery
Unit (SRU) recovers sulphur from the gases produced within the refinery before it is consumed
as fuel gas.
 5

Kochi Refinery operates a Gas Turbine (GT) with a rated capacity of 22.0 MW, a Steam Turbine
Generator (STG) of 17.8 MW and a Turbo Generator (TG) of 2.5 MW to meet its power
requirements. The steam requirement of the refinery is met from 8 boilers and 2 Waste Heat
Boilers (HRSG), apart from small HRSGs installed in process units. A new GT of 34 MW
capacity has been commissioned to cater to the additional power requirement of CCR and VGO
HDS units and the associated facilities which being installed.

Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP) takes care of the liquid effluent from the process units and
other off site areas. The treated effluent after meeting the MINAS (Minimum National
Standards) is discharged to inland rivers. Other Utilities and Off-site facilities such as tankages,
flare system and connected pipelines are installed in the refinery to match with the requirements
of processing, storage and products dispatch.

1.2. HEAT EXCHANGERS

Heat exchangers are one of the mostly used equipment in the process industries.
Heat exchangers are used to transfer heat between two process streams. One can realize their
usage that any process which involve cooling, heating, condensation, boiling or evaporation
will require a heat exchanger for these purpose. Process fluids, usually are heated or cooled
before the process or undergo a phase change. Different heat exchangers are named according
to their application. For example, heat exchangers being used to condense are known as
condensers, similarly heat exchanger for boiling purposes are called boilers. Performance
and efficiency of heat exchangers are measured through the amount of heat transfer using
least area of heat transfer and pressure drop. A more better presentation of its efficiency
is done by calculating over all heat transfer coefficient. Pressure drop and area required for
a certain amount of heat transfer, provides an insight about the capital cost and
power requirements (Running cost) of a heat exchanger. Usually, there is lots of literature and
theories to design a heat exchanger according to the requirements.

Heat exchangers are of two types:

 Where both media between which heat is exchanged are in direct contact with each other
is direct contact heat exchanger.
 6

 Where both media are separated by a wall through which heat is transferred so that they
never mix, indirect contact heat exchanger.

A typical heat exchanger, usually for higher pressure applications up to 552 bars, is the shell
and tube heat exchanger. Shell and tube type heat exchanger is indirect contact type heat
exchanger. The details are provided in Fig. 1.2.1, 1.2.2 and 1.2. 3. It consists of a series of
tubes, through which one of the fluids runs. The shell is the container for the shell fluid.
Generally, it is cylindrical in shape with a circular cross section, although shells of
different shape are used in specific applications. For this particular study shell is
considered, which is generally a one pass shell. A shell is the most commonly used due
to its low cost and simplicity, and has the highest log-mean temperature-difference
(LMTD) correction factor. Although the tubes may have single or multiple passes, there
is one pass on the shell side, while the other fluid flows within the shell over the tubes
to be heated or cooled. The tube side and shell side fluids are separated by a tube sheet.

Baffles are used to support the tubes for structural rigidity, preventing tube vibration and
sagging and to divert the flow across the bundle to obtain a higher heat transfer
coefficient. Baffle spacing (B) is the center line distance between two adjacent baffles, Baffle
is provided with a cut (Bc) which is expressed as the percentage of the segment height
to shell inside diameter. Baffle cut can vary between 15 per cent and 45 per cent of the
shell inside diameter. In the present study 36 per cent baffle cut (Bc) is considered. In general,
conventional shell and tube heat exchangers result in high shell- side pressure drop and
formation of recirculation zones near the baffles. Most of the researches now a day are
carried on helical baffles, which give better performance than single segmental baffles
but they involve high manufacturing cost, installation cost and maintenance cost.

The effectiveness and cost are two important parameters in heat exchanger design. So, in
order to improve the thermal performance at a reasonable cost of the Shell and tube heat
exchanger, baffles in the present study are provided with some inclination in order to
maintain a reasonable pressure drop across the exchanger .
 7

The complexity with experimental techniques involves quantitative description of flow

phenomena using measurements dealing with one quantity at a time for a limited range
of problem and operating conditions. Computational Fluid Dynamics is now an established
industrial design tool, offering obvious advantages. In this study, a full 360° CFD model

Fig. 1.2.1. Components of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

Fig. 1.2. 2. Tube Bundle projected outside the Shell

 8

Fig. 1.2.3. Parts of typical shell and tube heat exchanger. A: Tubes, B: Tube Sheets, C: Shell,
D: Tube-Side Inlet (Outlet) Nozzle, E: Tube-Side Outlet (Inlet) Nozzle, F: Pass Divider, G:
Baffles, H: Shell-Side Inlet (Outlet) Nozzle, I: Shell-Side Outlet (Inlet) Nozzle.

of shell and tube heat exchanger is considered. By modelling the geometry as accurately
as possible, the flow structure and the temperature distribution inside the shell are
obtained.

1.3. OBJECTIVE

The main objective of this project is the design and simulation of shell and tube heat exchanger
with helical baffle using Ansys tools to reduce shell-side pressure drop and to improve heat
transfer performance by varying helix angle.
 9

1.4. LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a literature review of past research effort such
as journals or articles related to shell and tube heat exchanger and computational fluid
dynamics (CFD) analysis whether on two dimension and three dimension modelling.
Moreover, review of other relevant research studies are made to provide more
information in order to understand more on this research.

1.4.1. Purpose of Use of Helical Baffle

A new type of baffle, called the helical baffle, provides further improvement. This type
of baffle was first developed by Lutcha and Nemcansky, 1990. They investigated the flow field
patterns produced by such helical baffle geometry with different helix angles. They
found that these flow patterns were very close to the plug flow condition, which was
expected to reduce shell-side pressure drop and to improve heat transfer performance.

Stehlik et al., 1994 compared heat transfer and pressure drop correction factors for a heat
exchanger with an optimized segmental baffle based on the Bell–Delaware method,
with those for a heat exchanger with helical baffles. Kral et al.,1996 discussed the
performance of heat exchangers with helical baffles based on test results of various baffles
geometries. One of the most important Geometric factors of the STHXHB is the helix
angle. Recently a comprehensive comparison between the test data of shell-side heat
transfer coefficient versus shell-side pressure drop was provided for five helical baffles
and one segmental baffle measured for oil-water heat exchanger. It is found that based
on the heat transfer per unit shell-side fluid pumping power or unit shell-side fluid
pressured drop, the case of 400 helix angle behaves the best. The flow pattern in the shell
side of the heat exchanger with continuous helical baffles was forced to be rotational and
helical due to the geometry of the continuous helical baffles, which results in a significant
increase in heat transfer coefficient per unit pressure drop in the heat exchanger.

Properly designed continuous helical baffles can reduce fouling in the shell side and
prevent the flow-induced vibration as well. The performance of the proposed STHXs
 10

was studied experimentally in this work. The use of continuous helical baffles results in
nearly 10 per cent increase in heat transfer coefficient compared with that of
conventional segmental baffles for the same shell-side pressure drop. Based on the
experimental data, the non-dimensional correlations for heat transfer coefficient and
pressure drop were developed for the proposed continuous helical baffle heat
exchangers with different shell configurations, which might be useful for industrial
applications and further study of continuous helical baffle heat exchangers.

1.4.2. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

CFD is a sophisticated computationally-based design and analysis technique. CFD software

gives you the power to simulate flows of gases and liquids, heat and mass transfer,
moving bodies, multiphase physics, chemical reaction, fluid-structure interaction
and acoustics through computer modelling. This software can also build a virtual prototype
of the system or device before can be apply to real-world physics and chemistry to the
model, and the software will provide with images and data, which predict the performance of
that design.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is useful in a wide variety of applications and use in
industry. CFD is one of the branches of fluid mechanics that uses numerical methods
and algorithm can be used to solve and anal y se problems that involve fluid flows and
also simulate the flow over a piping, vehicle or machinery. Computers are used to
perform the millions of calculations required to simulate the interaction of fluids and
gases with the complex surfaces used in engineering. More accurate codes that can accurately
and quickly simulate even complex scenarios such as supersonic and turbulent flows are
ongoing research. Onwards the aerospace industry has integrated CFD techniques into the
design, R & D and manufacture of aircraft and jet engines. More recently the methods have
been applied to the design of internal combustion engine, combustion chambers of
gas turbine and furnaces also fluid flows and heat transfer in heat exchanger (Fig. 1.4.4).
Furthermore, motor vehicle manufactures now routinely predict drag forces, under
bonnet air flows and surrounding car environment with CFD. Increasingly CFD is becoming
a vital component in the design of industrial products and processes.
 11

Fig 1.4.4. Fluid flow simulation for a shell and tube exchanger.

1.4.3. APPLICATION OF CFD

CFD not just spans on chemical industry, but a wide range of industrial and nonindustrial
application areas which is in below:
 Aerodynamics of aircraft and vehicle.
 Combustion in IC engines and gas turbine in power plant.
 Loads on offshore structure in marine engineering.
 Blood flows through arteries and vein in biomedical engineering.
 Weather prediction in meteorology.
 Flow inside rotating passages and diffusers in turbo-machinery.
 External and internal environment of buildings like wind loading and heating or
ventilation system.
 Mixing and separation or polymer moldings in chemical process engineering.
 Distribution of pollutants and effluent in environmental engineering.
 12

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.1. ANSYS

Ansys is the finite element analysis code widely used in computer aided engineering
(CAE) field. ANSYS software help us to construct computer models of structure,
machine, components or system, apply operating loads and other design criteria,
study physical response such as stress level temperature distribution, pressure etc. In Ansys,
following Basic step is followed:
 During preprocessing the geometry of the problem is defined. Volume occupied by fluid
is divided into discrete cells (the mesh). The mesh may be uniform or non-uniform.
The physical modelling is defined. Boundary condition is defined. This
involves specifying the fluid behavior of the problem. For transient problem boundary
condition are also defined.
 The simulation is started and the equation are solved iteratively as steady state
or transient.
 Finally a post procedure is used for the analysis and visualisation of the resulting
problem.

2.2. COMPUTATIONAL MODEL FOR HEAT EXCHANGER

2.2.1. Problem Description:

Design of shell and tube heat exchanger with helical baffle using CFD. To study the temperature
and pressure inside the tube with different mass flow rate.

2.2.2. Computational Model:

The computational model of an experimental tested Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
(STHX) with 10 helix angle is shown in Fig. 2.2.4.6., and the geometry parameters are
listed in Table 2.2.4.1. As can be seen from Fig. 2.2.4.6., the simulated STHX has six cycles of
baffles in the shell side direction with total number of tube 7 .The whole computation domain
 13

is bounded by the inner side of the shell and everything in the shell contained in the domain.
The inlet and out let of the domain are connected with the corresponding tubes.

To simplify numerical simulation, some basic characteristics of the process following

assumption are made :
1. The shell side fluid is constant thermal properties
2. The fluid flow and heat transfer processes are turbulent and in steady state
3. The leak flows between tube and baffle and that between baffles and shell are neglected
4. The natural convection induced by the fluid density variation is neglected
5. The tube wall temperature kept constant in the whole shell side
6. The heat exchanger is well insulated hence the heat loss to the environment is totally
neglected.

2.2.3. Navier-Stokes Equation:

It is named after Claude-Louis Navier and Gabriel Stokes (Temam, 1977), He described the
motion of fluid substances. It’s also a fundamental equation being used by ANSYS and
even in the present project work. These equation arise from applying second law of
newton to fluid motion, together with the assumption that the fluid stress is sum of a
diffusing viscous term, plus a pressure term. The derivation of the Navier Stokes equation
begins with an application of second law of newton i.e conservation of momentum. In
an inertial frame of reference, the general form of the equations of fluid motion is:

∂x u+∂y v=0, (2.2.3.1)

1
∂t u+u∂x u+v∂y u=-∂x p+ [∂x (μ∂x u)+∂y (μ∂y u)+∂x μ∂x u+∂y μ∂x v] (2.2.3.2)
Re
1
∂t v+u∂x v+v∂y v=-∂y p+ Re [∂x (μ∂x v)+∂y (μ∂y v)+∂y μ∂y v+∂x μ∂y u] (2.2.3.3)
1
∂t T+u∂x T+v∂y T=- RePr [∂x (K∂x T)+∂y (K∂y T)] (2.2.3.4)

This Navier Stokes Equation solved in every mess shell and the simulation shows the result.
 14

2.2.4. Geometry and Mesh:

The model is designed according to TEMA (Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association)

Standards, Gaddis (2007) and the tube layout is provided in Fig. 2.2.4.5.

Fig. 2.2.4.5. Tube layout and arrangement. The definition of tube pitch and tube pitches parallel
and normal to flow (Pt, Pp and Pn) is typically shown for equilateral triangular arrangement.

Fig. 2.2.4.6. Isometric view of arrangement of baffles and tubes of shell and tube heat
exchanger with baffle inclination.
 15

Table 2.2.4.1 Geometric dimensions of shell and tube heat exchanger

Heat exchanger length, L 600 mm
Shell inner diameter, Di 90 mm
Tube outer diameter, do 20 mm
Tube bundle geometry and pitch Triangular 30 mm
Number of tubes, Nt 7
Number of baffles, Nb 6
Central baffle spacing, B 86 mm
Baffle inclination angle, θ 0 to 40

2.2.5. Grid Generation

The three-dimensional model is then discretized in ICEM CFD. In order to capture both the
thermal and velocity boundary layers the entire model is discretized using hexahedral
mesh elements which are accurate and involve less computation effort. Fine control
on the hexahedral mesh near the wall surface allows capturing the boundary layer
gradient accurately. The entire geometry is divided into three fluid domains Fluid_Inlet,
Fluid_Shell and Fluid Outlet and six solid domains namely Solid_Baffle1 to Solid_Baffle6 for
six baffles respectively.

The heat exchanger is discretized into solid and fluid domains in order to have better
control over the number of nodes. The fluid mesh is made finer then solid
mesh for simulating conjugate heat transfer phenomenon. The three fluid domains are as
shown in Fig.2.2.5.7. The first cell height in the fluid domain from the tube surface is
maintained at 100 microns to capture the velocity and thermal boundary layers. The
discretized model is checked for quality and is found to have a minimum angle of 18°
and min determinant of 4.12. Once the meshes are checked for free of errors and
minimum required quality it is exported to ANSYS CFX pre-processor.
 16

Fig. 2.2.5.7. Complete model of shell and tube heat exchanger

2.2.6. Meshing:

Initially a relatively coarser mesh is generated with 1.8 Million cells. This mesh contains
mixed cells (Tetra and Hexahedral cells) having both triangular and quadrilateral faces
at the boundaries. Care is taken to use structured cells (Hexahedral) as much as possible,
for this reason the geometry is divided into several parts for using automatic methods
available in the ANSYS meshing client. It is meant to reduce numerical diffusion as
much as possible by structuring the mesh in a well manner, particularly near the wall
region. Later on, for the mesh independent model, a fine mesh is generated with 5.65 Million
cells. For this fine mesh, the edges and regions of high temperature and pressure gradients are
finely meshed. The details are provided in Fig. 2.2.6.8, Fig. 2.2.6.9 and Fig. 2.2.6.10.
 17

Fig. 2.2.6.8. Meshing diagram of shell and tube heat exchanger

Fig. 2.2.6.9. Surface mesh with Helical Baffle and tube bundle of shell and tube heat
exchanger
 18

Fig. 2.2.6.10. Surface mesh with Helical Baffle

2.2.7. Problem Setup

Simulation was carried out in ANSYS® FLUENT® v13. In the Fluent solver Pressure Based
type was selected , absolute velocity formation and steady time was selected for the
simulation . In the model option energy calculation was on and the viscous was set as standard
k-e, standard wall function (k-epsilon 2 eqn.). In cell zone fluid water-liquid was selected.
Water-liquid and copper, aluminum was selected as materials for simulation. Boundary
condition was selected for inlet, outlet. In inlet and outlet 1Kg/s velocity and temperature
was set at 353K. Across each tube 0.05Kg/s velocity and 300K temperature was set. Mass
flow was selected in each inlet. In reference Value Area set as 1m2, Density 998 Kg/m3,
enthalpy 229485 J/Kg, length 1m, temperature 353K, Velocity 1.44085 m/s, Ration of specific
heat 1.4 was considered.

2.2.8. Solution Initialization:

Pressure Velocity coupling selected as SIMPLEC. Skewness correction was set at zero. In
Spatial Discretization zone Gradient was set as Least square cell based, Pressure was standard,
Momentum was First order Upwind, Turbulent Kinetic energy was set as First order Upwind,
 19

Energy was also set as First order Upwind. In Solution control, Pressure was 0.7, Density 1 ,
Body force 1, Momentum 0.2 , turbulent kinetic and turbulent dissipation rate was set
at 1, energy and turbulent Viscosity was 1. Solution initialization was standard method and
solution was initialize from inlet with 300K temperature.
 20

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIN

Under the Above boundary condition and solution initialize condition simulation was set for
1000 iteration.

3.1. Convergence of Simulation:

The convergence of Simulation is required to get the parameters of the shell and tube
heat exchanger in outlet. It also gives accurate value of parameters for the requirement
of heat transfer rate. Continuity, X-velocity, Y-velocity, Z-velocity, energy, k, epsilion are the
part of scaled residual which have to converge in a specific region. For the continuity, X-
velocity, Y velocity, Z-velocity, k, epsilion should be less than 10-4 and the energy should be
less than 10-7. If these all values in same manner then solution will be converged.

00 Baffle inclination

For Zero degree baffle inclination solution was converged at 160th iteration. The following
figure 3.1.11 shows the residual plot for the above iterations:

Fig. 3.1.11 Convergence Simulation of 00 Baffle inclination after 160th iteration

 21

100 Baffle inclination

Simulation of 100 Baffle inclination is converged at 133th iteration. The following figure 3.1.12
shows the residual plot:

Fig. 3.1.12 Convergence simulation of 100 baffle inclination at 133th iteration.

200 Baffle inclination

Simulation of 200 baffle inclination is converged at 138th iteration. Similar results are reprted by
Khairun et al., 2009. The following figure 3.1.13 shows the residual plot:

Fig. 3.1.13. Convergence simulation of 200 baffle inclination at 138th iteration

 22

3.2. Variation of Temperature:

The temperature Contours plots across the cross section at different inclination of baffle along
the length of heat exchanger will give an idea of the flow in detail. Three different plots of
temperature profile are taken in comparison with the baffle inclination at 00, 100, 200 and
temperature distribution across tube outlet at 00 are given in Fig. 3.2.14, 3.2.15, 3.2.16 and
3.2.17.

Fig. 3.2.14. Temperature Distribution across the tube and shell.

Fig. 3.2.15. Temperature Distribution for 100 baffle inclination

 23

Fig. 3.2.16. Temperature Distribution of 200 baffle inclination

Temperature of the hot water in shell and tube heat exchanger at inlet was 353K and in outlet it
became 347K. In case of cold water inlet temperature was 300K and the outlet became 313K.
Similar results were reported by Usman and Goteberg, 2011. Tube outlet Temperature
Distribution was given below in exchanger.

Fig. 3.2.17. Temperature Distribution across Tube outlet in 00 baffle inclination

 24

3.3 Variation of Velocity

Velocity profile is examined to understand the flow distribution across the cross section at
different positions in heat exchanger. Below in Figure (3.3.18), (3.3.19) and (3.3.20) is the
velocity profile of Shell and Tube Heat exchanger at different Baffle inclination. The heat
exchanger is modeled considering the plane symmetry. The velocity profile at inlet is same for
all three inclination of baffle angle i.e 1.44086 m/s. Outlet velocity vary tube to helical baffle
and turbulence occur in the shell region as reported earlier (Haseler et al., 1992).

Fig. 3.3.18. Velocity profile across the shell at 00 baffle inclination.

Fig. 3.3.19. Velocity profile across the shell at 100 baffle inclination.
 25

Fig. 3.3.20. Velocity profile across the shell at 200 baffle inclination.

3.4 Variation of Pressure

Pressure Distribution across the shell and tube heat exchanger is given below in Fig. (3.4.21),
(3.4.22) and (3.4.23) .With the increase in Baffle inclination angle pressure drop inside the shell
is decreased. Pressure vary largely from inlet to outlet. The contours of static pressure is shown
in all the figure to give a detailed idea.

Fig. 3.4.21. Pressure Distribution across the shell at 00 baffle inclination.

 26

Fig. 3.4.22. Pressure Distribution across the shell at 100 baffle inclination

Fig. 3.4.23. Pressure Distribution across the shell at 200 baffle inclination.

Changes in outlet temperatures are shown in Table 3.4.2 and in Fig. 3.4.24.

Table 3.4.2. Change in Outlet Temperature with respect to baffle inclination angle
Baffle Inclination Outlet Temperature Outlet Temperature
Angle of of
(Degree) Shell side (Kelvin) Tube side (Kelvin)
0 346 317
10 347.5 319
20 349 320

Similar heat transfers are reported by Emerson, 1963 and Li and Kottek, 1998.
 27

Fig. 3.4.24. Plot of Baffle inclination angle vs Outlet Temperature of shell and tube side

It has been found that there is much effect of outlet temperature of shell side with increasing the
baffle inclination angle from 00 to 200. Pressure Drop inside Shell with respect to baffle
inclination angle is provided in Table 3.4.3.

Table 3.4.3. Pressure Drop inside Shell with respect to baffle inclination angle
Baffle Inclination Angle Pressure Drop Inside Shell
(Degree) (kPA)
0 230.992
10 229.015
20 228.943

Similar results were reported by Diaper and Hesler, 1990, Sunil and Pancha, 2012 and Zhang et
al., 2008 using Computational Fluid Dynamics software. Pressure Drop inside Shell with respect
to baffle inclination angle is provided in Figure 3.4.25. Velocity inside the shell with respect to
baffle inclination angle from 00 to 200 is detailed in Table 3.4.4 and 3.4.26.
 28

Fig. 3.4.25. Plot of Baffle angle vs Pressure Drop

The shell-side pressure drop is decreased with increase in baffle inclination angle i.e., as the
inclination angle is increased from 0° to 20°. The pressure drop is decreased by 4 per cent, for
heat exchanger with 10° baffle inclination angle and by 16 per cent for heat exchanger
with 20° baffle inclination compared to 0° baffle inclination heat exchanger as shown in Fig.
3.4.25. Hence it can be observed with increasing baffle inclination pressure drop decreases,
so that it affect in heat transfer rate which is increased.

Table 3.4.4. Velocity inside Shell with respect to baffle inclination angle
Baffle Inclination Angle Velocity inside shell
(Degree) (m/sec)
0 4.2
10 5.8
20 6.2

Similar performance resulting from baffle inclinations in heat exchangers are reported by
Thirumarimurugan et al., 2008.
 29

Fig. 3.4.26. Plot of Velocity profile inside shell

The outlet velocity is increasing with increase in baffle inclination. So that more will be heat
transfer rate with increasing velocity.

3.5 Heat Transfer Rate

Q = m * Cp * ∆T (3.5.5)
m = mass flow rate, Cp = Speific Heat of Water, ∆T = Temperature difference between tube
side
For better heat transfer rate, helical baffle is used and results is shown in Fig. 3.5.27 and Table
3.5.5. The overall values obtained in simulation are given in Table 3.5.6.

Table 3.5.5. Heat Transfer Rate across Tube side with respect to baffle inclination angle
Baffle Inclination Angle Heat Transfer Rate Across Tube side
(Degree) (W/m2)
0 3557.7
10 3972.9
20 4182
 30

Fig. 3.5.27. Heat Transfer Rate along Tube side

The heat transfer rate is calculated from above formulae from which heat transfer rate
is calculated across shell side. The Plot showing that with increasing baffle inclination, heat
transfer rate increase. For better heat transfer rate, helical baffle is used and results is shown in
Fig. 3.5.27 and Table 3.5.5. The overall values obtained in simulation are given in Table 3.5.6.

Table 3.5.6. Overall Calculated value in Shell and Tube heat exchanger in simulation
Baffle Shell Outlet Tube Outlet Pressure Heat Transfer Outlet
inclination Temperature Temperature Drop Rate(Q) (in Velocity(m/s)
(in Degree) (Kelvin) (Kelvin) W/m2)
00 346 317 230.992 3554.7 4.2
100 347.5 319 229.015 3972.9 5.8
200 349 320 228.943 4182 6.2

 The shell side of a small shell-and-tube heat exchanger is modeled with sufficient detail
to resolve the flow and temperature fields.
 The pressure drop decreases with increase in baffle inclination.
 The heat transfer rate is very slow in this model so that it affect the outlet temperature
of the shell and tube side.
 31

4. SUMMARY

The simulation results for various shell and tube heat exchangers, one with segmental baffles
perpendicular to fluid flow and two with segmental baffles inclined to the direction of fluid flow
are compared for their performance. The shell side design has been investigated numerically by
modeling a small shell--and-tube heat exchanger. The study is concerned with a single shell and
single side pass parallel flow heat exchanger. The flow and temperature fields inside the shell
are studied using non-commercial computational fluid dynamics software tool ANSYS 13.0.

The following are the salient points emerged from this study. For Zero degree baffle
inclination solution was converged at 160th iteration. Simulation of 100 Baffle inclination is
converged at 133th iteration. Simulation of 200 baffle inclination is converged at 138th iteration.
Temperature of the hot water in shell and tube heat exchanger at inlet was 353K and in outlet it
became 347K. In case of cold water inlet temperature was 300K and the outlet became 313K.
The velocity profile at inlet is same for all three inclination of baffle angle i.e 1.44086 m/s.
Outlet velocity vary tube to helical baffle and turbulence occur in the shell region. With the
increase in Baffle inclination angle pressure drop inside the shell is decreased. Pressure vary
largely from inlet to outlet. It has been found that there is much effect of outlet temperature of
shell side with increasing the baffle inclination angle from 00 to 200. The shell-side pressure
drop is decreased with increase in baffle inclination angle i.e., as the inclination angle is
increased from 0° to 20°. The pressure drop is decreased by 4 per cent, for heat exchanger with
10° baffle inclination angle and by 16 per cent for heat exchanger with 20° baffle
inclination compared to 0° baffle inclination heat exchanger. Hence it can be observed with
increasing baffle inclination pressure drop decreases, this results in increased heat transfer
rate. The outlet velocity also increases with increase in baffle inclination and this will lead to
further increase in the heat transfer rate. This shows that with the increase of baffle inclination
heat transfer rate increase. The heat transfer rate is comparatively high in this model so it
significantly affects the outlet temperature of the shell and tube side.

The heat transfer and flow distribution is discussed in detail and proposed model is compared
with increasing baffle inclination angle. The model predicts the heat transfer and pressure drop
 32

with an average error of 20 per cent. Thus the model can be improved. The assumption worked
well in this geometry and meshing except the outlet and inlet region where rapid mixing and
change in flow direction takes place. Thus improvement is expected if the helical baffle used in
the model should have complete contact with the surface of the shell, which will help in
more turbulence across shell side and the heat transfer rate will increase. If different flow
rate is taken, it might be help to get better heat transfer and to get better temperature
difference between inlet and outlet. Moreover the model has provided the reliable results by
considering the standard k-e and standard wall function model, but this model over predicts the
turbulence in regions with large normal strain. Thus this model can also be improved by using
Nusselt number and Reynolds stress model, but with higher computational theory.

Furthermore enhance wall functions are not used in this project, but they can be very useful.
The heat transfer rate is comparatively lower than what can be obtained because most of the
fluid passes without the interaction with baffles. Thus the design can be modified for
better heat transfer in two ways either by decreasing shell diameter, so that there will be a
proper contact with helical baffle or by increasing the baffle size so that baffles will be in
proper contact with the shell. This is necessary because the heat transfer area is not utilized
efficiently. Thus the design can be improved further by creating cross-flow regions in such a
way that flow doesn’t remain parallel to the tubes. It will allow the outer shell fluid to have
increased contact area for heat transfer with the inner shell fluid, thus heat transfer rate will
increase.

For the given geometry the mass flow rate must be below 2 kg/s, if it is increased beyond 2 kg/s
the pressure drop increases rapidly with little variation in outlet temperature. The pressure drop
is decreased by 4per cent, for heat exchanger with 10° baffle inclination angle and by 16 per
cent, for heat exchanger with 20° baffle inclination angle. The maximum baffle inclination angle
can be 20°, if the angle is beyond 20°, the center row of tubes becomes unsupported. Hence the
baffle cannot be used effectively. Hence it can be concluded that shell and tube heat exchanger
with 20° baffle inclination angle results in better performance compared to 10° and 0°
inclination angles.
 33

5. REFERENCES
Diaper, A.D. and Hesler, L.E. Cross flow Pressure Drop and Flow Distributions within a Tube
Bundle Using Computational Fluid Dynamic, Proc. Heat Transfer Conf., Israel, (1990), pp. 235-
240.

Emerson, W.H. Shell-side pressure drop and heat transfer with turbulent flow in
segmentally baffled shell-tube heat exchangers, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 6 (1963), pp.
649–66.

Gaddis, D. Standards of the Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association, TEMA Inc, 9th ed.,
Tarrytown, N. Y., USA, (2007).

Haseler, L.E., Wadeker, V.V. and Clarke, R.H. Flow Distribution Effect in a Plate and Frame
Heat Exchanger, IChemE Symposium Series, No. 129, (1992), pp. 361-367.

Khairun, H. O. CFD simulation of heat transfer in shell and tube heat exchanger, Bachelor in
chemical Engineering (Gas Technology) Thesis, (2009).

Kral, D., Stehlik, P., Ploeg V.D.H.J. and Master, B.I. Helical baffles shell-and tube heat
exchangers, 1: Experimental verification, Heat Transfer Engg. 17(1), (1996) pp. 93–101.

Li, H. and Kottek .V. Effect of baffle spacing on pressure drop and local heat transfer in
shell and tube heat exchangers for staggered tube arrangement, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer,
41:10, (1998), pp. 1303–1311.

Lutcha, J. and Nemcansky, J. Performance improvement of tubular heat exchangers by helical

baffles, Chemical Engineering Research and Design, 68, (1990) pp.263-270.

Stehlík, P., Nemcansky, J., Kral, D. and Swanson, L.W. Comparison of correction factors for
shell-and-tube heat exchangers with segmental or helical baffles, Heat Transfer Engineering,
15(1), (1994) pp. 55-65.

Sunil K.S. and Pancha, M.H. Comparative thermal performance of shell and tube heat
Exchanger with continuous helical baffle using different angles, International Journal of
Engineering Research and Applications, 2:4, (2012).

Temam, R. (Ed.) Claude-Louis Navier and Gabriel Stokes Navier-Stokes Equations: Theory
and Numerical Analysis, Institut for Scientific Computing and Applied Mathematics, Indiana
University, USA (1977)

Thirumarimurugan, M., Kannadasan, T. and Ramasamy, E. Performance Analysis of Shell

and Tube Heat Exchanger Using Miscible System, American Journal of Applied Sciences,
5, (2008), pp. 548-552.
 34

Usman, U. E. and Goteborg. Heat Transfer Optimization of Shell-and-Tube & Heat

Exchanger through CFD, Master’s Thesis, Sweden, 09 (2011).

Zhang, J.F., He, Y.L. and Tao, W.Q. 3 D numerical simulation of shell and tube heat exchanger
with middle-overlapped helical baffle, Journal of School of energy and power engineering,
China, (2008).

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