CFD analysis on helical baffles on shell and tube type heat exchanger

Abstract

In present day, shell and tube heat exchanger is the most common type heat exchanger widely used in oil refinery and other large chemical process, because it suits high pressure application. The aim of this work is to design shell and tube type heat exchanger with a continuous helical baffle and comparing with segmental baffle with CFD analysis using ANSYS FLUENT software tools. The model contains 7 copper tubes each having 20mm external diameter and 17mm internal diameter, length 600mm and inner diameter of steel shell is 90 mm and outer diameter 110mm. 7 tubes are held by a continuous helical aluminium baffle. All the models are design by using AUTODESK INVENTOR software tools. In this research how the pressure drop and overall heat transfer coefficient varies due to change in the inlet velocity of the shell side has been studied. The flow pattern in the shell side of the shell and tube type heat exchanger with continuous helical baffles are 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. Keywords: Continuous helical baffles, Shell and tube heat exchanger, Overall heat transfer Coefficient, Pressure drop, CFD.