Department of Mechanical Engineering

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology

ME 310
Thermo-Fluid System Design
1.5 Credit Hours
SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER DESIGN
(PART-2)
SHELL AND TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER
 DESIGN PARAMETERS OF STHX

1. Heat exchanger type (e.g., fixed tubesheet, U tubes, floating heads, etc.)
2. Diameter and array of tubes (e.g., square, triangular, rotated square and
tube pitch)
3. Fluid allocation (which will be the tube fluid and which will be the shell fluid)
4. Number of shells in series, number of shell passes
5. Number of tubes, number of tube passes and shell diameter
6. Tubes length
7. Baffles type and baffles spacing
8. Nozzle size and connections
Heat Exchanger
Specifications
 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

1. Heat exchanger should be as small as possible.

2. The more seriously fouling fluid flows through the tube, since the tube side is
easier to clean.
3. If both fluids are equally fouling, the higher-pressure fluid flows through the
tubes.
4. The stream with the lower heat transfer coefficient flows on the shell side since
it is easy to design outside finned tubes.
5. The heat exchanger when fouled should still deliver the required energy
exchange, therefore the clean overall coefficient will be greater than design
value.
6. Pressure drop on each side of HX should be less than 70 kPa.
 Shell Side HX Design

Two Methods are common in STHX design for the shell side design:

1. Kern Method (Easy and recommended to use as the primary design tool)
2. Bell Method
 Kern Method
𝑚ሶ 𝐷𝑠 𝑐𝐵
𝐺𝑠 = 𝑎𝑠 =
𝑎𝑠 𝑃𝑡

𝜋𝐷𝑜2 3𝑃𝑡2 𝜋𝐷𝑜2

4 × (𝑃𝑡2− ) 4×(
4
−
8
)
𝐷𝑒 = 4 𝐷𝑒 =
𝜋𝐷𝑜 𝜋𝐷𝑜
2
𝐷𝑒 𝐺𝑠
𝑅𝑒𝑠 =
𝜇
Kern Method
 Correlation

The correlation suggested by Kern for a shell with 25 percent cut segmental baffles is:
 Fundamentals of the Bell/Delware Method
The method is based on heat transfer and pressure-drop experimental data
corresponding to an ideal tube bank (a tube bank with infinite width). The ideal tube
bank is materialized with a rectangular heat exchanger in pure cross-flow. Half-tubes
are installed at the borders to simulate continuity. The data corresponding to the ideal
bank are later corrected with coefficients that take into account the characteristics of a
particular exchanger (such as leakage areas, baffle cut, bypass streams, etc.).
STHX Rating
 WORKOUT-1 (STHX Rating)
A Shell and tube heat exchanger has 200 3/4-in BWG 18 tubes arranged in a
triangular layout with a pitch of 25.4 mm. The length of each tube is 4.88 m,
arranged in two passes. It is used to cool 20 kg/s of raw water with a
temperature of 50°C using water available at 25°C.

Shell diameter of the STHX is 438.2 mm with 304.8 mm baffle spacing.

Find the exit temperatures of the working fluids and the heat duty for the given heat
exchanger. Assume that the oil circulates into the tubes.
 Problem Statement STHX Design

Selection of a basic heat

exchanger type

Can be performed using

Selection of a tentative set of computer program
design parameters

Rating of the design

• Calculating U
• Calculating Pressure drop, ∆𝑷 Modification of the
design parameters

Evaluation of the design: Unacceptable

Q, ∆𝑷 acceptable?

Acceptable
Mechanical design and economic
consideration
 WORKOUT-2 (STHX Design)
It is desired to cool down 33.33 kg/s of methanol from 65°C to 30°C
using cooling water at 25°C. The cooling water outlet temperature must
not be higher than 40°C because of cooling system restrictions. Pressure
drops of 1.50×105 N/m2 for the process stream and 1×105 N/m2 for the
cooling water are allowed. The total fouling resistance must be 5×10−4 (s ·
m2 · K)/J. The physical properties of methanol are: