Numerical Investigation of the Concave-Cut Baffles Effect in Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger

• Published in: Журнал інженерних наук
• Main Authors: Petinrin M. O., Dare A. A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sumy State University 2019-06-01
• Subjects: shell-and-tube heat exchanger; pressure drop; weighted performance factor; weighted heat transfer coefficient; concave-cut baffle
• Online Access: http://jes.sumdu.edu.ua/numerical-investigation-of-the-concave-cut-baffles-effect-in-shell-and-tube-heat-exchanger/

In this paper, the performance of shell-and-tube heat exchangers with single-segmental baffle and varying configurations of concave-cut baffles (10, 15 and 20 %) was investigated. The study was carried out for a heat exchanger having either engine oil, water and air as shell-side fluid. For each configuration of the baffles, the results of both the the k-ε and RNG k-ε turbulent models were in very close agreement. The heat exchangers with concave-cut baffles had higher pressure drops and lower performance factors than that of single-segmental baffle at the same range of mass flow rates for all fluid cases. Also, the concave-cut baffle heat exchangers had lower shell-side heat transfer coefficients at the same pressure drop against that of single-segmental baffles. Thus, the use of concave-cut baffles did not exhibit desirable performance in heat exchanger as compared with the segmental baffles.