Sheet No.

2
Pressure Drop and Pumping Power

1. Consider a shell-and-tube heat exchanger. Air with a flow rate of 1.5 kg/s at
500°C and at atmospheric pressure flows through 200 parallel tubes. Each
tube has an internal diameter of 2 cm and length of 4 m. Assume that the D/D0
= 0.5 data can be used for the contraction and enlargement. The outlet
temperature of the cooled air is 100°C. Calculate the pressure drop for
a) The abrupt contraction
b) Friction
c) Acceleration
d) Enlargement
and compare the total pressure drop with the frictional pressure drop.

2. The core of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger contains 60 tubes (single-tube

pass) with an inside diameter of 2.5 cm and length side diameter is 35 cm.
The air, which flows through the tubes at a flow rate of 1.5 kg/s, is to be
heated from 100°C to 300°C.
a- Calculate the total pressure drop as the sum of the frictional pressure
drop in the tube and the pressure drop due to acceleration, abrupt
contraction (Kc = 0.25), and abrupt enlargement (Ke = 0.27). Is the total
pressure drop smaller than the frictional pressure drop in the tube?
Why?
b- Calculate the fan power needed.
3. Consider a tube bundle arrangement in a crossflow heat exchanger. Tubes are
staggered bare tubes with a longitudinal pitch of 20 mm, transverse pitch of
24.5 mm and are 1/2 in. in diameter. The length of the heat exchanger is 0.80
m. The frontal area seen by the air stream is a 0.6 m × 0.6 m square. The air
flows at 2 atm pressure with a mass flow rate of 1,500 kg/h. Assume that the
mean air temperature is 200°C. Calculate the air frictional pressure drop
across the core of the heat exchanger.
4. In a crossflow heat exchanger with inline tubes, air flows across a bundle of
tubes at 5°C and is heated to 32°C. The inlet velocity of air is 15 m/s.
Dimensions of tubes are: do = 25 mm and Xt = Xl = 50 mm. There are 20 rows
in the flow direction and 20 columns counted in the heat exchanger. Air
properties may be evaluated at 20°C and 1 atm. Calculate the frictional
pressure drop and the pumping power.

5. In a heat exchanger for two different fluids, power expenditure per heating

1
 surface area is to be calculated. Fluids flow through the channels of the heat
exchanger. The hydraulic diameter of the channel is 0.0241 m. For
i. Air at an average temperature of 30°C and 2 atm pressure, the heat
transfer coefficient is 55 W/m2⋅K;
ii. Water at an average temperature of 30°C, the heat transfer coefficient
is 3,850 W/m2⋅K.
Comparing the results of these two fluids, outline your conclusions.
6. City water will be cooled in a heat exchanger by sea water entering at 15°C. The
outlet temperature of the sea water is 20°C. City water will be recirculated to
reduce water consumption. The suction line of the pump has an inner diameter of
154 mm, is 22 m 0° bends and a hinged check valve. The pipe from the pump to
the heat exchanger has an inner diameter of 127 mm, is 140 m long, and has six
90° bends. The 90° bends are all made of steel with a radius equal to the inner
diameter of the pipe, R/d = 1.0. The heat exchanger has 62 tubes in parallel, each
tube 6 m long. The inner diameter of the tubes is 18 mm. All pipes are made of
drawn mild steel (e = 0.0445 mm). The sea water flow rate is 120 m3/h. Assume
that there is one velocity head loss at the inlet and 0.5 velocity head loss at the
outlet of the heat exchanger. The elevation difference is 10.5 m. Calculate
a- The total pressure drop in the system (kPa and m liquid head = H m)
b- The power of the sea water pump (pump efficiency η = 60%).

7. A shell-and-tube heat exchanger is used to cool 25.3 kg/s of water from 38°C to
32°C. The exchanger has one shell-side pass and two tube-side passes. The hot
water flows through the tubes, and the cooling water flows through the shell. The
cooling water enters at 24°C and leaves at 30°C. The shell-side (outside) heat
transfer coefficient is estimated to be 5,678 W/m2⋅K. Design specifications
require that the pressure drop through the tubes be as close to 13.8 kPa as
possible, that the tubes be 18 BWG copper tubing (1.24 mm wall thickness), and
that each pass be 4.9 m long. Assume that the pressure losses at the inlet and
outlet are equal to one and one half of a velocity head (u2 /2), respectively. For
these specifications, what tube diameter and how many tubes are needed?

8. Water is to be heated from 10°C to 30°C at a rate of 300 kg/s by atmospheric

pressure steam in a single-pass shell-and-tube heat exchanger consisting of 1-in.
schedule 40 steel pipe. The surface coefficient on the steam side is estimated to
be 11,350 W/m2 ⋅ K. An available pump can deliver the desired quantity of water
provided that the pressure drop through the pipes does not exceed 15 psi.
Calculate the number of tubes in parallel and the length of each tube necessary to
operate the heat exchanger with the available pump.