Kern Method of

SHELL-AND-TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER Analysis

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
I I T Delhi

Simplified Procedures using Semi-

Empirical Correlations.….
Properties Crude Oil Heavy gas oil
Density, kg/m3 915 890
Specific heat, kJ/kg K 2.62 3.08
Viscosity, cPoise 0.664/0.563 0.32/0.389
Thermal conductivity, 0.124 0.14
W/m.K
Thermal Analysis for Tube-Side
 Number of Tubes
• The flow rate inside the tube is a function of the density of the
fluid, the velocity of the fluid, cross-sectional flow area of the
tube, and the number of tubes.

m tube  t ut Ac N t
By using above Eq. and replacing Ac by pdi2/4, number of tubes
can be calculated as
m tube
Nt 
t utpd i2

where di is the tube inside diameter.

 Tubes in Shell and Tube Hx
• The number and size of tubes in an exchanger depends on the
• Fluid flow rates
• Available pressure drop.
• The number and size of tubes is selected such that the
• Tube side velocity for water and similar liquids ranges from
0.9 to 2.4 m/s.
• Shell-side velocity from 0.6 to 1.5 m/s.
• The lower velocity limit corresponds to limiting the fouling,
and the
• upper velocity limit corresponds to limiting the rate of
erosion.
• When sand and silt are present, the velocity is kept high
enough to prevent settling.
Number of Tubes Vs Reynolds Number
Number of Tubes Vs Heat Transfer Coefficient
 Tube-Side Nusselt Number

For turbulent flow, the following equation developed by Petukhov-

Kirillov is used:
f
Re t Prt
Nutube  2

 
1
 f  2 23
1.07  12.7  Prt  1
2
Where f  1.58 ln Re t   3.28
2

Properties are evaluated at mean bulk temperature and constants

are adjusted to fit experimental data.
Validity range: 104 < Ret < 5 x 106 and 0.5 < Prt < 2000 with
10% error.
 For laminar flow, the Sieder and Tate correlation is be used.

1
 Re t Prt di  3
Nutube  1.86 
 L 

is applicable for 0.48 < Prt < 16700 and (Ret Prt di/L)1/3 > 2.

The heat transfer coefficient for the tube-side is expressed as

follows:
kt
ht  Nut
di
Thermal Analysis for Shell-Side
 Tube Layout

• Triangular pitch (30o layout) is better for heat transfer and

surface area per unit length (greatest tube density.)
• Square pitch (45 & 90 layouts) is needed for mechanical
cleaning.
• Note that the 30°,45° and 60° are staggered, and 90° is in line.
• For the identical tube pitch and flow rates, the tube layouts in
decreasing order of shell-side heat transfer coefficient and
pressure drop are: 30°,45°,60°, 90°.
• The 90° layout will have the lowest heat transfer coefficient
and the lowest pressure drop.
• The square pitch (90° or 45°) is used when jet or mechanical
cleaning is necessary on the shell side.
 Tube Layout & Flow Scales

A Real Use of Wetted Perimeter !

 Tube Pitch

• Tube pitch Pt is chosen so that the pitch ratio is 1.25 < PT/do <
1.5.
• When the tubes are to close to each other (PT/do less than
1.25), the header plate (tube sheet) becomes to weak for
proper rolling of the tubes and cause leaky joints.
• Tube layout and tube locations are standardized for industrial
heat exchangers.
• However, these are general rules of thumb and can be
“violated” for custom heat exchanger designs.
Equivalent Counter Flow : Hydraulic or Equivalent
Diameter
• The equivalent diameter is calculated along (instead of
across) the long axes of the shell and therefore is taken
as four times the net flow area as layout on the tube
sheet (for any pitch layout) divided by the wetted
perimeter.

Net Free - flow area

De  4
heattransferperimeter
 Equivalent diameter for square layout:
 2 p 2
4 PT  d O 
 
4 A flow 4 
De square 
Pe pd O

Equivalent diameter for Triangular layout:

 3P 2 p 2 
4 T
 dO 
4 A flow  4 8 
De triangular  
Pe pd O
2
 Shell-Side Reynolds Number

Reynolds number for the shell-side is based on the

equivalent diameter and the velocity on the cross flow
area at the diameter of the shell:

 sU s De Gs De Re s 
m s De

Re s  
s s As  s
 Shell-Side Flow Area

The shell-side mass velocity is found with

Ds
As  N tc .C.B  C.B C  PT  d o
PT
N t Aprotube p
Ashell   DS2
CTP 4

Aprotube  CL  PT2
Shell-Side Flow
 Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient for the Heat
Exchanger
The overall heat transfer coefficient for clean surface (Uc) is
given by

Considering the total fouling resistance, the heat transfer

coefficient for fouled surface (Uf) can be calculated from the
following expression:
 Outlet Temperature Calculation and Length of
the Heat Exchanger

The outlet temperature for the fluid flowing through the tube
is

The surface area of the heat exchanger for the fouled condition is
 and for the clean condition

where the LMTD is always for the counter flow.

The over surface design (OS) can be calculated from :

The length of the heat exchanger is calculated by
 Hydraulic Analysis for Tube-Side

• The pressure drop encountered by the fluid making Np

passes through the heat exchanger is a multiple of the
kinetic energy of the flow.

• Therefore, the tube-side pressure drop is calculated by

ftube  1.58 ln Re t   3.28

2

Properties are evaluated at mean bulk temperature and constants

are adjusted to fit experimental data.
Validity range: 104 < Ret < 5 x 106
 Shell side Hydraulic Analysis

Where,
Gs : Shell side mass velocity
Nb : Number of baffles
0.14
 b 
 s    : Variable property correction .
 w 
f s : Shell side friction factor
 μb is the viscosity of the shell-side fluid at bulk
temperature, and μw is the viscosity of the tube-side fluid
at wall temperature.

The wall temperature can be calculated as follows:

Pumping Power

m hotoil  ptube
Ptube 
 p   hotoil

m crudeoil  pshell
Pshell 
 p  crudeoil
 Roadmap To Increase Heat Transfer
• Increase heat transfer coefficent
• Tube Side
– Increase number of tubes
– Decrease tube outside diameter
• Shell Side
– Decrease the baffle spacing
– Decrease baffle cut
• Increase surface area
– Increase tube length
– Increase shell diameter à increased number of tubes
– Employ multiple shells in series or parallel
• Increase LMTD correction factor and heat exchanger
effectiveness
– Use counterflow configuration
– Use multiple shell configuration
 Roadmap To Reduce Pressure Drop

• Tube side
– Decrease number of tube passes
– Increase tube diameter
– Decrease tube length and increase shell diameter and number of
tubes
• Shell side
– Increase the baffle cut
– Increase the baffle spacing
– Increase tube pitch
– Use double or triple segmental baffles
• Study the effect of baffle spacing on size of heat
exchanger.
• Study the effect of baffle spacing on total pumping
power.