Chapter 4

Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers

Dr. Rajan

Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

Most commonly used type of heat transfer
equipment in the chemical and allied industries.
Advantages:
The configuration gives a large surface area in a small
volume.
Good mechanical layout: a good shape for pressure
operation.
Uses well-established fabrication techniques.
Can be constructed from a wide range of materials.
Easily cleaned.
Well established design procedures.

Types of Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers

Fixed tube design

Simplest and cheapest type.

Tube bundle cannot be removed for cleaning.
No provision for differential expansion of shell and tubes.
Use of this type limited to temperature difference upto
800C.

Floating head design

More versatile than fixed head exchangers.
Suitable for higher temperature differentials.
Bundles can be removed and cleaned (fouling liquids)

Design of Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers

Kern method:
Does not take into account bypass and leakage streams.
Simple to apply and accurate enough for preliminary design
calculations.
Restricted to a fixed baffle cut (25%).

Bell-Delaware method
Most widely used.
Takes into account:
Leakage through the gaps between tubes and baffles and the baffles and
shell.
Bypassing of flow around the gap between tube bundle and shell.

Stream Analysis method (by Tinker)

More rigorous and generic.
Best suited for computer calculations; basis for most commercial
computer codes.

Construction Details Tube Dimensions

Tube diameters in the range 5/8 inch (16 mm) to 2
inch (50 mm).
Smaller diameters (5/8 to 1 inch) preferred since this
gives compact and cheap heat exchangers.
Larger tubes for heavily fouling fluids.
Steel tubes BS 3606; Other tubes BS 3274.
Preferred tube lengths are 6 ft, 8 ft, 12 ft, 16 ft, 20 ft
and 24 ft; optimum tube length to shell diameter
ratio ~ 5 10.
in (19 mm) is a good starting trial tube diameter.

Construction Details Tube Arrangements

Tubes usually arranged in equilateral
triangular, square or rotated square patterns.

Tube pitch, Pt, is 1.25 times OD.

Construction Details - Shells

Shell should be a close fit to the tube bundle
to reduce bypassing.
Shell-bundle clearance will depend on type of
heat exchanger.

Construction Details - Shell-Bundle

Clearance

Construction Details Tube Count

Bundle diameter depends not only on number of tubes but also number
of tube passes.

N
Db d 0 t
K1
Nt is the number of tubes
Db is the bundle diameter (mm)
D0 is tube outside diameter (mm)

n1 and K1 are constants

1 / n1

Construction Details - Baffles

Baffles are used:
To direct the fluid stream across the tubes
To increase the fluid velocity
To improve the rate of transfer

Most commonly used baffle is the single segmental baffle.

Optimal baffle cut ~ 20-25%

Basic Design Procedure

General equation for heat transfer is:

Q UATm
where Q is the rate of heat transfer (duty),
U is the overall heat transfer coefficient,
A is the area for heat transfer
Tm is the mean temperature difference
We are not doing a mechanical design, only a
thermal design.

Tube Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

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Shell Side Heat Transfer Coefficient

14

Figure

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Decision
The decision as to whether or not the exchanger
is thermally suitable for a given service is based
on a comparison of calculated versus required
overall heat-transfer coefficients.
The exchanger is suitable if the calculated value
of the design coefficient, UD, is greater than or
equal to the value, Ureq, that is needed to
provide the required rate of heat transfer. If the
converse is true, the exchanger is "not suitable".
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Engineering Judgment?
The quotation marks are to indicate that the final decision to reject
the exchanger should be tempered by engineering judgment.
For example, it may be more economical to utilize an existing
exchanger that is slightly undersized, and therefore may require
more frequent cleaning, than to purchase a larger exchanger.
In principle, the rating decision can be based on a comparison of
heat transfer areas, heat-transfer rates, or mean temperature
differences as well as heat-transfer coefficients.
In fact, all of these parameters are used as decision criteria in
various applications.

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Tube Side Pressure Drop

18

Pressure Drop due to Minor loss and

Nozzle

19

Friction Factor

20

U Shell and Tube HE

U-tubes provide a less expensive alternative to a
floating head. In common with type P and W floating
heads (and all stationary heads), U-tube bundles have
no internal gaskets where leakage and fluid mixing can
occur.
The main disadvantages are:
Cleaning interior tube surfaces is more difficult due
to U-bends.
Except for outermost tubes in bundle, individual
tube replacement is not practical.
Cannot be used if a single tube pass is required.
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Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient

Overall coefficient given by:
d
d 0 ln 0
di d0 1 d0 1
1
1
1

U 0 h0 hod
2k w
d i hid d i hi

h0 (hi) is outside (inside) film coefficient

hod (hid) is outside (inside) dirt coefficient
kw is the tube wall conductivity
do (di) is outside (inside) tube diameters

Individual Film Coefficients

Magnitude of individual coefficients will depend on:
Nature of transfer processes (conduction, convection,
radiation, etc.)
Physical properties of fluids
Fluid flow rates
Physical layout of heat transfer surface

Physical layout cannot be determined until area is

known; hence design is a trial-and-error procedure.

Typical Overall Coefficients

Typical Overall Coefficients

Fouling Factors (Dirt Coeffs)

Difficult to predict and usually based on past
experience

Fluid Allocation: Shell or Tubes?

Corrosion
Fouling
Fluid temperatures
Operating pressures
Pressure drop
Viscosity
Stream flow rates

Shell and Tube Fluid Velocities

High velocities give high heat-transfer coefficients
but also high pressure drop.
Velocity must be high enough to prevent settling of
solids, but not so high as to cause erosion.
High velocities will reduce fouling
For liquids, the velocities should be as follows:
Tube side: Process liquid 1-2m/s
Maximum 4m/s if required to reduce fouling
Water 1.5 2.5 m/s
Shell side: 0.3 1 m/s

Shell Side Friction Factor

Tube Side Friction Factor