Comparative Thermal Performance Analysis of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger With and Without Fins by Using CFD

Mechanical Engineering

Heat exchanger is a device that used to transfer thermal energy between two or more fluids, between solid surface and fluid or solid particulates and fluid, at different temperature and in thermal contact. The transfer of heat to and from process fluids is an essential part of most chemical processes. The most commonly used type of heat-transfer equipment is the shell and tube heat exchanger. The present work for study is directed towards the three dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation using commercial software ANSYS FLUENT have been performed to study and compare shell side flow distribution, and temperature variations at low shell side flow rates, velocity variations and heat transfer rate are investigated by numerically modeling small heat exchanger , by inserting meshing, boundary condition, running calculations, inserting surface parameters and flow trajectories to visualize the resulting flow field. Thermal analysis of shell and tube heat exchanger involves rating and sizing of heat exchanger. Rating problem deals with determination of rate of heat transfer, outlet temperature etc. While sizing problem involves selection of tube material, flow arrangement, determining physical size of heat exchanger. In this numerical comparison heat exchanger consisting of shell, tubes, baffles are modeled; numerical model predicts the thermal performance with considerable good accuracy and comparing the flow simulation result with experimental data for single segmental baffles. Also extending the work by doing CFD analysis for shell and tube heat exchanger with fins over the tubes and comparing these results with the simulation results obtained from Ansys for without fins.

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