THERMAL RATING OF SHELL &

TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER:

SINGLE-PHASE HEAT TRANSFER

Author: Vikram Sharma

Date: 20th February 2017
Table of Contents
What is a S&T HEX?
Fluid flow in HEX counter vs. co-current
Fluid allocation in S&T Heat Exchanger
Thermal design principles

Overall duty determination

Initial heat transfer area (Ao)
Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell diam.
Calc. tube-side heat transfer coeff. (hi)
Calc. shell-side heat transfer coeff. (hs)
Calc. overall heat transfer coeff. (Uo)
Calc. tube-side pressure drop (PT)
Calc. shell-side pressure drop (PS)
Summary
What is S&T heat exchanger?
As per Wikipedia, it consist of a shell (a
large pressure vessel) with a bundle of
tubes inside it.
One fluid flows through the tube and the

second fluid flows through the shell.

Heat transfer occurs when the fluid in the

shell flows over the tubes.

Fluid flow in HEX: counter vs.
co-current
Counter-current flow:
Fluids are flowing in the opposite direction
Co-current flow:
Fluids are flowing in the parallel direction
Why counter-current is preferred over co-
current?
Thermal stresses are minimized due to more uniform
T between two fluids;
Cold fluid temp. can approach the inlet temp. of the
hot fluid; and
More uniform of HEX can be achieved uniform T
throughout the HEX
Fluid Allocation Criteria in S&T
HEX
Fouling fluids:
Should be placed in tube-side;
Corrosive fluids:
Should be placed in tube-side as to minimize the purchase of
expensive alloys & cladding material;
High temperature fluid:
Use of expensive alloys
High pressure fluid
Minimize the cost of construction of mechanically strong
shell.
High viscosity fluids:
Shell-side provided it is at turbulent flow (Re>200). Viscous
fluids in tube-side results to high P
Thermal design principles
i) Overall duty determination
Begins with the determination of duty of the

heat exchanger.
Thermal design principles
(contd)
In calculating t2, the Cp of the other fluid taken at
t1.
Once t2 is calculated, a mean temp. of t1 & t2 is
computed.
This mean temp. is used as ref. to obtain the Cp of
the other fluid.
An iterative procedure is carried out to determine
if the Cp of the other fluid is insignificant, the Cp is
taken as the mean temp.
Thermal design principles
(contd)
ii) Initial heat transfer area (Ao)
Calculate the Log Mean Temp. Different (LMTD).

Assumption underlying LMTD are:

No change in specific heats;

Constant Uo
No heat losses
The corrected log mean temp. difference (Tm) is
a f(FT, LMTD).
Thermal design principles
(contd)
ii) Initial heat transfer area (Ao) (contd)
Correction factor (FT) shall not be < 0.75 due to:

Inefficient use of heat transfer area;

Violating the simplifying assumptions used in this
approach
Uncertainties in design data have more significant effect
when the slopes are steep
The initial heat transfer area is calculated by:
Thermal design principles
(contd)
ii) Initial heat transfer area (Ao) (contd)
Uo is selected based on the service of the HEX
Thermal design principles
(contd)
ii) Initial heat transfer area (Ao) (contd)
Calculate the corrected log mean temp. difference

(Tm).
1st, LMTD is calculated using inlet and out temp.

of HEX

The above is for counter-current HEX

For co-current, the terminal temp. difference shall
be
(T1-t1) and (T2-t2)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
ii) Initial heat transfer area (Ao) (contd)
The LMTD equation is based on the following

assumptions:
No change in specific heats;
Constant heat transfer coefficients; and
No heat losses

Once the Tm, Uo and Q are determined, calculate the Ao

(refer to Slide #9)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell diameter
Four (4) tube pitch layout:

Triangular (30)
Rotated Triangular (60)
Square (90)
Rotated Square (45)
Adv. & Disadv. of triangular pitch layout?
Accommodate more tubes than other patterns
Produce high turbulence better heat transfer
Typical pt = 1.25do restricts mech. cleaning of tubes
to restricted access lanes
Preferred when the diff. in OP between 2 fluids are
significant
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
Adv. & Disadv. of Triangular pitch layout? (contd)

Limited to clean shell-side services

Can be used in dirty shell-side services if a suitable &
effective chem. cleaning is available.
Adv. & Disadv. Of Square pitch layout?
Typicallly used for dirty shell-side services & when mech.
Cleaning is required
Not used in the fixed head design as cleaning is unfeasible
Used when the shell-side Re < 2,000 to induce higher
turbulence
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
pt = 1.25do smallest shell dia. for a given

number of tubes
Min. tube pitch for triangular pattern shall be:

pt = 1.25do
TEMA also recommends an additional min. 6mm
of cleaning lane between adjacent tubes for
square pitch
Min. tube pitch for square pitch shall be:
Max (pt = 1.25do ; do + 6mm)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
Tube sizes ranging from (6.350mm) to 2

(50mm)
Smaller tube size more compact & economical

size HEX
Larger tube size heavy fouling & ease via

mech. Cleaning
Preferred length of HEX tubes 6ft (1.83m), 8ft

(2.44m), 12ft (3.66m), 16ft (4.88m), 20ft (6.10m)

& 24ft (7.32m)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell diameter
(contd)
Once the tube size is selected, calculate the area of 1

tube (A1,tube)

Calc. the tube-side velocity. Ensure the fluid velocity

conforms to the requirement (refer next Slide #18)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
Calc. the tube-side velocity. Ensure the fluid

velocity conforms to the requirement (contd)

Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
If Ut is within the limits but at the lower side,

select smaller tube size & repeat the calc. above.

Adequacy is determined frm. the tube-side

pressure drop!
Next, calc. tube bundle dia. (Db) (mm)

BS 3274: HEX dia. Frm 6 (150mm) 42

(1,067mm)
TEMA: shell dia. 60 (1,520mm)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
TEMA: shell dia. 60 (1,520mm) (contd):

Parameter K1 & n1 tube pitch & no. of tube passes

Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
K1 & n1 tube pitch type & no. of tube passes

(contd)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
Shell inner dia. (Ds) find out the shell-bundle

clearance
Shell bundle clearance type of HEX rear head

Pull through floating heads (Type T)

Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
Shell bundle clearance type of HEX rear head

(contd)
Split-Ring floating heads (Type S)

Outside packed floating heads (Type P)

Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
Shell bundle clearance type of HEX rear head

(contd)
Fixed tube sheet (Type L, M & N)

U-tube (Type U)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iii) Tube pitch, tube size, tube length & shell
diameter (contd)
Shell bundle clearance type of HEX rear head

(contd)
Externally sealed tube sheets (Type W)

Ds = Db + Shell-bundle clearance
Convert Db & Shell-bundle clearance frm. mm m
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iv) Calc. tube-side heat transfer coeff. (hi)
First, calc. the tube-side Reynolds number
Re < 2,100 Laminar
Re > 10,000 Turbulent
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iv) Calc. tube-side heat transfer coeff. (hi)
If 100 < Re < 2,100, use Sieder-Tates eq.

Nu 3.5, if Nu < 3.5 Nu = 3.5

Thermal design principles
(contd)
iv) Calc. tube-side heat transfer coeff. (hi)
If Re > 10,000, use Sieder-Tates eq.

With 0.7 < Pr < 700 & L/Ds > 60

If 40,000 < Re < 100,000, use ESDU eq.

With 0.7 < Pr < 160 & L/Ds > 60
Thermal design principles
(contd)
iv) Calc. tube-side heat transfer coeff. (hi)
Transitional regime shall be avoided for

design, if cannot:
Min. (Nu from Slide #28, Nu from Slide #29)
Nu from Slide #28 & #29 are Sieder-Tates eq.
v) Calc. shell-side heat transfer coeff. (hs)
Calc. baffle spacing (B). Why have baffles?

Tube support
Maintain suitable shell-side fluid velocity
Prevent tube failure due to flow induced vibration
Thermal design principles
(contd)
v) Calc. shell-side heat transfer coeff. (hs)
(contd)
Baffle spacing (B): Max. (Ds/5; 2 in.) ensure

same units
Max baffle spacing (B) is:

Max baffle spacing is expressed in inches

Baffle cut of 25% is used, can vary from 15%
45%
Why? Kerns shell-side P is based on 25%
Thermal design principles
(contd)
v) Calc. shell-side heat transfer coeff. (hs)
(contd)
Calc. shell-side cross flow area (As):

Calc. linear velocity (Us) (0.3m/s<Us<1.0m/s)

Thermal design principles
(contd)
v) Calc. shell-side heat transfer coeff. (hs)
(contd)
Calc. shell-side equiv. dia. (de) based on

type of tube pitch

Calc. shell-side Re to obtain the Shell-side

heat transfer factor (jh) (Refer Slide #34)

Thermal design principles
(contd)
v) Calc. shell-side heat transfer coeff. (hs)
(contd)
Calc. hs: (units same as tube-side)

Jhobtained from the graph below (refer to

Slide #35)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
v) Calc. shell-side heat transfer coeff. (hs)
(contd)
Jh obtained from the graph below (refer to

Slide #35) (contd)

Thermal design principles
(contd)
vi) Calc. overall heat transfer coeff. (Uo)
Uo reciprocal of the overall resistance to

heat transfer & its a sum of several heat

transfer resistances
Each resistance depend on several factors:

Physical properties of fluids

Heat transfer process (conduction, convection,
condensation, boiling or radiation)
Physical arrangement of the heat transfer surface
Thermal design principles
(contd)
vi) Calc. overall heat transfer coeff. (Uo)
Each resistance depend on several factors:

Physical arrangement of the heat transfer surface

(contd)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
vi) Calc. overall heat transfer coeff. (Uo)
The Uo calc. shall not be taken as the final

answer
Compare it with the assumed Uo frm. Slide

#10
Uo from Slide #37 should be 30% of Uo,ass

from Slide #10

If not, repeat calc. starting from Slide #9

Thermal design principles
(contd)
vii) Calc. tube-side pressure drop (PT)
PT calc. from:

Index m is a f(fluid flow regime)

Laminar flow (Re < 2,100), m = 0.25
Turbulent flow (Re > 2,100) m = 0.14
Tube-side friction factor is dependent on
tube-side Re (refer Slide #40)
Thermal design principles
(contd)
vii) Calc. tube-side pressure drop (PT)
Tube-side friction factor is dependent on

tube-side Re (refer Slide #40) (contd)

Thermal design principles
(contd)
vii) Calc. tube-side pressure drop (PT)
PT shall be within the specifications
If lower than specs, select diff. tube dimensions &
layout, repeat the calcs. frm. Slide #18.
viii) Calc. shell-side pressure drop (PS)
PS shall be within the specifications
Similar approach as (vi), obtain jf from Slide #42.
Thermal design principles
(contd)
viii) Calc. shell-side pressure drop (PS)
Thank you!