Process Equipment Design

By
Dr Dilip K Rajak
Visiting Faculty
Kathmandu University,
Dhulikhel

1
 PROCESS DESIGN OF SHELL AND TUBE
EXCHANGER FOR SINGLE PHASE HEAT
TRANSFER
• Classification of heat exchangers
– Devices for efficient transfer of heat are generally
called Heat Exchanger. Heat exchangers are
normally classified depending on the transfer
process occurring in them.

– General classification of heat exchangers is shown

in the Figure.
PROCESS DESIGN OF SHELL AND TUBE EXCHANGER FOR SINGLE
PHASE HEAT TRANSFER
• Amongst of all type of exchangers, shell and tube exchangers
are most commonly used heat exchange equipment. The
common types of shell and tube exchangers are:

– Fixed tube-sheet exchanger (non-removable tube bundle): The

simplest and cheapest type of shell and tube exchanger is with fixed
tube sheet design. In this type of exchangers the tube sheet is welded
to the shell and no relative movement between the shell and tube
bundle is possible .
 Fixed tube-sheet exchanger (non-removable tube bundle)

1.Shell 5. Shell nozzle or branch 11. Stationary tube sheet 12. Channel or
stationary head 14. Channel nozzle or branch 15. Tube (straight) 17. Tie rods
and spacers 18. Transverse (or cross) baffles or support 22. Pass partition
25. Instrument connection 26. Expansion bellows 27. Support saddles
 Removable tube bundle:

• Tube bundle may be removed for ease of cleaning and

replacement. Removable tube bundle exchangers further can
be categorized in floating-head and U-tube exchanger.
– Floating-head exchanger:
• It consists of a stationery tube sheet which is clamped
with the shell flange.
• At the opposite end of the bundle, the tubes may
expand into a freely riding floating-head or floating tube
sheet.
• A floating head cover is bolted to the tube sheet and the
entire bundle can be removed for cleaning and
inspection of the interior. This type of exchanger is
shown in Figure
 Floating-head exchanger

1.Shell 2. Shell cover 3. Shell flange (channel end) 4. Shell flange (cover end)
5. Shell nozzle or branch 7. Floating head cover 10. Floating head backing ring
11. Stationary tube sheet 13. Channel cover 14. Channel nozzle or branch 15.
Tube (straight) 19. Longitudinal baffles 22. Pass partition 23. Vent connection
24. Drain connection 25. Instrument connection 27. Support saddles
 U-tube exchanger

• This type of exchangers consists of tubes which are bent in

the form of a „U‟ and rolled back into the tube sheet shown
in the Figure.

• It omit some tubes at the center of the tube bundle depen-

ding on the tube arrangement.

• The tubes can expand freely towards the “U” bend end.
 U-tube exchanger

1.Shell 3. Shell flange (channel end) 5. Shell nozzle or branch 11.

Stationary tube sheet 12. Channel or stationary head 14. Channel
nozzle or branch) 16. Tubes (U-type) 18. Transverse (or cross) baffles
or support 22. Pass partition 25. Instrument connection 27. Support
saddles
BASIC DESIGN PROCEDURE AND THEORY

• The general equation for heat transfer across a

surface is:

• The main objective in the design of an exchanger is to

determine the surface area required for the specified duty
(rate of heat transfer) using the temperature differences
available.
 BASIC DESIGN PROCEDURE AND THEORY
• The overall coefficient is the reciprocal of the overall resistance to
heat transfer, which is the sum of several individual resistances.

• For heat exchange across a typical heat exchanger tube the relationship
between the overall coefficient and the individual coefficients is given by:
 BASIC DESIGN PROCEDURE AND THEORY
• The overall coefficient :
 BASIC DESIGN PROCEDURE AND THEORY
• The steps in a typical design procedure are given below:
 BASIC DESIGN PROCEDURE AND THEORY
• The steps in a typical design procedure are given below:

• Heat exchanger analysis: the effectiveness NTU method

• NTU stands for the Number of Transfer Units, and is

analogous with the use of transfer units in mass transfer

• It has a advantage that it does not require the evaluation of

the mean temperature differences
BASIC DESIGN PROCEDURE AND THEORY
• Heat exchanger analysis: the effectiveness NTU method

• It is used for the rating of an existing exchanger.

• It can be used to determine the performance of the exchanger

when the heat transfer area and construction details are known.

• An unknown stream outlet temperature can be determined

directly, without the need for iterative calculations.

• The effectiveness is the ratio of the actual rate of heat transfer, to

the maximum possible rate.

• It makes use of plots of the exchanger effectiveness versus NTU.

 OVERALL HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

• Typical values of the overall heat-transfer coefficient for various types of

heat exchanger are given in Table.
 OVERALL HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT

• Typical values of the overall heat-transfer coefficient for various types of

heat exchanger are given in Table.
OVERALL HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT
 FOULING FACTORS (DIRT FACTORS)
• Most process and service fluids will foul the heat-transfer
surfaces in an exchanger to a greater or lesser extent.

• The deposited material will normally have a relatively low

thermal conductivity and will reduce the overall coefficient.

• Fouling factors are usually quoted as heat-transfer resistances,

rather than coefficients.
Typical values for the fouling coefficients and factors for common process and
service
fluids are given in Table 12.2.
 FOULING FACTORS (DIRT FACTORS)
• Most process and service fluids will foul the heat-transfer
surfaces in an exchanger to a greater or lesser extent.

• The deposited material will normally have a relatively low

thermal conductivity and will reduce the overall coefficient.

• Fouling factors are usually quoted as heat-transfer resistances,

rather than coefficients.
 FOULING FACTORS (DIRT FACTORS)
• The optimum design will be obtained by balancing the extra capital
cost of a larger exchanger against the savings in operating cost
obtained from the longer operating time between cleaning that the
larger area will give.

• Heat-exchanger standards and codes

• The mechanical design features, fabrication, materials of construction,
and testing of shell and tube exchangers is covered by British
Standard, BS 3274.

• The standards of the American Tubular Heat Exchanger Manufacturers

Association, the TEMA standards, are also universally used.
 Heat-exchanger standards and codes

• The TEMA standards cover three classes of exchanger:

• class R covers exchangers for the generally severe duties of the
petroleum and related industries;
• class C covers exchangers for moderate duties in commercial and
general process applications;
• class B covers exchangers for use in the chemical process industries.
• The standards give;
– The preferred shell and tube dimensions
– The design and manufacturing tolerances
– Corrosion allowances; and
– The recommended design stresses for materials of construction.
– In both the American and British standards dimensions are given in
feet and inches,
 Tubes
•  Dimensions
– Tube diameters in the range in. (16 mm) to 2 in.
(50 mm) are used.
– The smaller diameters to 1 in. (16 to 25 mm) are
preferred for most duties, as they will give more
compact, and therefore cheaper, exchangers.
– Larger tubes are easier to clean by mechanical
methods and would be selected for heavily fouling
fluids.
 Tubes
• Dimensions
– The tube thickness (gauge) is selected to
withstand the internal pressure and give an
adequate corrosion allowance.
– Steel tubes for heat exchangers are covered by BS
3606 (metric sizes)
– The standards applicable to other materials are
given in BS 3274.
 Tubes
• Dimensions
 Tubes
• Dimensions
– The preferred lengths of tubes for heat exchangers are: 6 ft. (1.83 m), 8
ft (2.44 m), 12 ft (3.66 m), 16 ft (4.88 m), 20 ft (6.10 m), 24 ft (7.32 m).
– For a given surface area, the use of longer tubes will reduce the shell
diameter; which will generally result in a lower cost exchanger,
particularly for high shell pressures.

• The optimum tube length to shell diameter will usually fall within the range
of 5 to 10.

• As a guide, ¾ in. (19 mm) is a good trial diameter with which to start design
calculations.
 Tubes
• Tube arrangements
– The tubes in an exchanger are usually arranged in
an equilateral triangular, square, or rotated square
pattern;
 Tubes
• Tube arrangements
– The triangular and rotated square patterns give higher heat-
transfer rates, but at the expense of a higher pressure drop than
the square pattern.

– A square, or rotated square arrangement, is used for heavily

fouling fluids, where it is necessary to mechanically clean the
outside of the tubes.

– The recommended tube pitch (distance between tube centres)

is 1.25 times the tube outside diameter; and this will normally
be used unless process requirements dictate otherwise.
 Tubes
• Tube arrangements
– Where a square pattern is used for ease of cleaning, the
recommended minimum clearance between the tubes is 0.25 in.
(6.4 mm).
• Tube-side passes
– The fluid in the tube is usually directed to flow back and forth in
a number of “passes” through groups of tubes arranged in
parallel, to increase the length of the flow path.

– Thenumber of passes is selected to give the required tube-side

design velocity.
 Tubes
• Tube-side passes
– Exchangers are built with from one to up to about sixteen tube
passes.

– The tubes are arranged into the number of passes required by

dividing up the exchanger headers (channels) with partition
plates (pass partitions).

– The arrangement of the pass partitions for 2, 4 and 6 tube

passes are shown in Figure.
Tube-side passes
 Shells
• The British standard BS 3274 covers exchangers from 6 in.
(150 mm) to 42 in. (1067 mm) diameter; and the TEMA
standards, exchangers up to 60 in. (1520 mm).
 Shells
• The shell diameter must be selected to give as close a fit to
the tube bundle as is practical; to reduce bypassing round the
outside of the bundle.

• The clearance required between the outermost tubes in the

bundle and the shell inside diameter will depend on the type
of exchanger and the manufacturing tolerances; typical values
are given in Figure.
Shells
 Tube-sheet layout (tube count)
• The bundle diameter will depend not only on the number of tubes
but also on the number of tube passes, as spaces must be left in the
pattern of tubes on the tube sheet to accommodate the pass
partition plates.
 Tube-sheet layout (tube count)
• If U-tubes are used the number of tubes will be slightly less
than that given by equation, as the spacing between the two
center rows will be determined by the minimum allowable
radius for the U-bend.

• The minimum bend radius will depend on the tube diameter

and wall thickness. It will range from 1.5 to 3.0 times the tube
outside diameter.

• The tighter bend radius will lead to some thinning of the tube
wall.
 Tube-sheet layout (tube count)
• The number of tubes in the center row, the row at the shell
equator, is given by:
Shell types (passes)
Shell types (passes)
Shell types (passes)
 Baffles
• Baffles are used in the shell to direct:
– The fluid stream across the tubes
– To increase the fluid velocity
– Improve the rate of transfer

(a) Segmental
 Baffles

(b) Segmental and strip

 Baffles

(c) Disc and doughnut

 Baffles

(d) Orifice
 Baffles
• If the arrangement shown in Figure 12.13a were used with a
horizontal condenser the baffles would restrict the
condensate flow. This problem can be overcome either by
rotating the baffle arrangement through 90 °, or by trimming
the base of the baffle.
 Baffles
• Baffle cut: The baffle cut is the height of the segment
removed to form the baffle, expressed as a percentage of the
baffle disc diameter.

– Baffle cuts from 15 to 45 per cent are used.

– A baffle cut of 20 to 25 per cent will be the optimum, giving good
heat-transfer rates, without excessive drop.
– There will be some leakage of fluid round the baffle as a clearance
must be allowed for assembly.
 Baffles
• The clearance needed will depend on the shell diameter;
typical values, and tolerances, are given in Table
 Baffles
• Another leakage path occurs through the clearance between
the tube holes in the baffle and the tubes. The maximum
design clearance will normally be 1/32 in. (0.8 mm).

• Baffle Spacing:

– The baffle spacings used range from 0.2 to 1.0 shell diameters.
– A close baffle spacing will give higher heat transfer coefficients but at
the expense of higher pressure drop
– The optimum spacing will usually be between 0.3 to 0.5 times the
shell diameter.
 Support plates and tie rods
• Where segmental baffles are used some will be fabricated with closer
tolerances, 1/64 in. (0.4 mm), to act as support plates.

• For condensers and vaporisers, where baffles are not needed for heat-transfer
purposes, a few will be installed to support the tubes.

• The minimum spacings to be used for support plates are from around 1 m for
16 mm tubes to 2 m for 25 mm tubes.

• The baffles and support plate are held together with tie rods and spacers.

• The number of rods required will depend on the shell diameter, and will range
from 4- 16 mm diameter rods, for exchangers under 380 mm diameter; to 8-
12.5 mm rods, for exchangers of 1 m diameter.
 Tube sheets (plates)
• In operation the tube sheets are subjected to the
differential pressure between shell and tube sides.

• BS 5500 specifies the requirements for the design,

construction, inspection and testing and artification of
unfired fusion welded pressure vessels made from the
materials (carbon, alloy and austenitic steels and
aluminium).
• The principle has been adopted in BS 5500 of making
reference to the requirements in other British Standards
(e.g. welding procedures).
 Tube sheets (plates)
• In operation the tube sheets are subjected to the differential
pressure between shell and tube sides.

• The design of tube sheets as pressure-vessel components is

covered by BS 5500

• Design formulae for calculating tube sheet thicknesses are

also given in the TEMA standards.

• The joint between the tubes and tube sheet is normally made
by expanding the tube by rolling with special tools,
Tube sheets (plates)
 Tube sheets (plates)
• The tube must be expanded sufficiently to ensure a sound leaf-proof joint,
but not over thinned, weakening the tube.

• The tube holes are normally grooved to lock the tubes more firmly in
position and to prevent the joint from being loosened by the differential
expansion of the shell and tubes.

• When it is essential to guarantee a leak-proof joint the tubes can be

welded to the sheet, Figure 12.16b.

• The tube sheet forms the barrier between the shell and tube fluids, and
where it is essential for safety or process reasons to prevent any possibility
of intermixing due to leakage at the tube sheet joint, double tube-sheets
can be used, with the space between the sheets vented; Figure 12.16c.
 Tube sheets (plates)
• To allow sufficient thickness to seal the tubes the tube sheet
thickness should not be less than the tube outside diameter,
up to about 25 mm diameter.

• The thickness of the tube sheet will reduce the effective

length of the tube slightly, and this should be allowed for
when calculating the area available for heat transfer.
Tube sheets (plates)
 Shell and header nozzles (branches)
• Standard pipe sizes will be used for the inlet and outlet nozzles.

• It is important to avoid flow restrictions at the inlet and outlet nozzles to

prevent excessive pressure drop and flow induced vibration of the tubes.

• To omitte some tube, the baffle spacing is usually increased in the nozzle
zone, to increase the flow area.

• For vapours and gases, where the inlet velocities will be high, the nozzle
may be flared, or special designs used, to reduce the inlet velocities
Shell and header nozzles (branches)
 Shell and header nozzles (branches)
• The extended shell design shown in Figure 12.17b
also serves as an impingement plate.

• Impingement plates are used where the shell-side

fluid contains liquid drops, or for high velocity fluids
containing abrasive particles.
 Flow-induced tube vibrations
• Premature failure of exchanger tubes can occur through
vibrations induced by the shell side fluid flow.

• Care must be taken in the mechanical design of large exchangers

where the shell-side velocity is high, say greater than 3 m/s, to
ensure that tubes are adequately supported.

• The vibration induced by the fluid flowing over the tube bundle
is caused principally by vortex shedding and turbulent
buffeting.

• Turbulent buffeting of tubes occurs at high flow-rates due to

• the intense turbulence at high Reynolds numbers.
• For most exchanger designs, following the recommendations
on support sheet spacing given in the standards will be
sufficient to protect against premature tube failure from
vibration.

• For large exchangers with high velocities on the shell-side the

design should be analysed to check for possible vibration
problems.
MEAN TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE
(TEMPERATURE DRIVING FORCE)
• To determine the heat transfer area required for a given duty,
an estimate of the mean temperature difference ∆Tm must be
made.

• Logarithmic mean temperature difference is only applicable

to sensible heat transfer in true co-current or counter-current
flow (linear temperature enthalpy curves).
MEAN TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE
(TEMPERATURE DRIVING FORCE)
MEAN TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE
(TEMPERATURE DRIVING FORCE)
• The equation is the same for co-current flow, but the terminal
temperature differences will be (T1 - t1) and (T2 - t2).

• Limitations:
– when there is no change in the specific heats
– The overall heat-transfer coefficient is constant
– There are no heat losses.
MEAN TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE
(TEMPERATURE DRIVING FORCE)
MEAN TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE
(TEMPERATURE DRIVING FORCE)
MEAN TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE
(TEMPERATURE DRIVING FORCE)
MEAN TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE
(TEMPERATURE DRIVING FORCE)

• R is equal to the shell-side fluid flow-rate

times the fluid mean specific heat; divided by
the tube-side fluid flow-rate times the tube-
side fluid specific heat.
MEAN TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE
(TEMPERATURE DRIVING FORCE)

• S is a measure of the temperature efficiency of

the exchanger.
 CORRECTION FACTOR F t

• The following assumptions are made in the derivation of the

temperature correction factor Ft, in addition to those made
for the calculation of the log mean
– 1. Equal heat transfer areas in each pass.
– 2. A constant overall heat-transfer coefficient in each pass.
– 3. The temperature of the shell-side fluid in any pass is constant across
any cross section.
– 4. There is no leakage of fluid between shell passes

• An economic exchanger design cannot

normally be achieved if the correction factor F t

falls below about 0.75.

SHELL AND TUBE EXCHANGERS: GENERAL
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
• Fluid allocation: shell or tubes
– Where no phase change occurs, the following factors will
determine the allocation of the fluid streams to the shell or
tubes.
• Corrosion. The more corrosive fluid should be allocated to
the tube-side. This will reduce the cost of expensive alloy.
• Fouling. The fluid that has the greatest tendency to foul
the heat-transfer surfaces should be placed in the tubes.
This will give better control over the design fluid velocity,
and the higher allowable velocity in the tubes will reduce
fouling. Also, the tubes will be easier to clean.
SHELL AND TUBE EXCHANGERS: GENERAL
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
• Fluid allocation: shell or tubes
– Fluid temperatures. If the temperatures are high
enough to require the use of special alloys placing
the higher temperature fluid in the tubes will
reduce the overall cost.
• At moderate temperatures, placing the hotter fluid in
the tubes will reduce the shell surface temperatures,
and hence the need for lagging to reduce heat loss, or
for safety reasons.
SHELL AND TUBE EXCHANGERS: GENERAL
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
• Fluid allocation: shell or tubes
– Operating pressures. The higher pressure stream
should be allocated to the tube-side. High-pressure
tubes will be cheaper than a high-pressure shell.
– Pressure drop. For the same pressure drop, higher
heat-transfer coefficients will be obtained on the
tube-side than the shell-side, and fluid with the
lowest allowable pressure drop should be allocated
to the tube-side.
SHELL AND TUBE EXCHANGERS: GENERAL
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
• Fluid allocation: shell or tubes
– Viscosity. A higher heat-transfer coefficient will be
obtained by allocating the more viscous material
to the shell-side, providing the flow is turbulent.
The critical Reynolds number for turbulent flow in
the shell is in the region of 200. If turbulent flow
cannot be achieved in the shell it is better to place
the fluid in the tubes, as the tube-side heat-
transfer coefficient can be predicted with more
certainty.
SHELL AND TUBE EXCHANGERS: GENERAL
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
• Fluid allocation: shell or tubes
– Stream flow-rates. Allocating the fluids with the
lowest flow-rate to the shell-side will normally
give the most economical design.
 Shell and tube fluid velocities
• High velocities will give high heat-transfer
coefficients but also a high-pressure drop.
• The velocity must be high enough to prevent
any suspended solids settling, but not so high
as to cause erosion.
• High velocities will reduce fouling. Plastic
inserts are sometimes used to reduce erosion
at the tube inlet.
 Shell and tube fluid velocities
• Typical design velocities are given below:
– Liquids: Tube-side, process fluids: 1 to 2 m/s, maximum 4
m/s if required to reduce fouling; water: 1.5 to 2.5 m/s.
Shell-side: 0.3 to 1 m/s.
– Vapours: For vapours, the velocity used will depend on the
operating pressure and fluid density; the lower values in
the ranges given below will apply to high molecular weight
materials.
– Vacuum 50 to 70 m/s
– Atmospheric pressure 10 to 30 m/s
– High pressure 5 to 10 m/s
 Stream temperatures
• Temperature approach: The difference between the outlet
temperature of one stream and the inlet temperature of the other stream

• The closer the temperature approach used the larger will be the heat-
transfer area required for a given duty.

• The optimum value can only be determined by making an economic

analysis of alternative designs.

• As a general guide the greater temperature difference should be at least

20 °C, and the least temperature difference 5 to 7 °C for coolers using
cooling water, and 3 to 5 °C using refrigerated brines.
 Stream temperatures
• The maximum temperature rise in re-
circulated cooling water is limited to around
30 °C.

• The heat exchange is between process fluids for heat recovery

the optimum approach temperatures will normally not be
lower than 20 °C.
 Pressure drop
• In many applications the pressure drop
available to drive the fluids through the
exchanger will be set by the process
conditions, and the available pressure drop
will vary from a few milli bars in vacuum
service to several bars in pressure systems.
 Pressure drop
• Liquids
• Viscosity <1 mN s/m2 35 kN/m2
• 1 to 10 mN s/m2 50 -70 kN/m2
• Gas and vapours
• High vacuum 0.4- 0.8 kN/m2
• Medium vacuum 0.1 X absolute pressure
• 1 to 2 bar 0.5 X system gauge pressure
• Above 10 bar 0.1 X system gauge pressure
 Pressure drop
• When a high-pressure drop is utilised, care must be
taken to ensure that the resulting high fluid velocity
does not cause erosion or flow-induced tube vibration.

• Fluid physical properties

– The fluid physical properties required for heat-exchanger
design are:
• Density
• Viscosity,
• Thermal conductivity and temperature-enthalpy correlations
(specific and latent heats).
Fluid physical properties
Fluid physical properties
• In the correlations used to predict heat-
transfer coefficients, the physical properties
are usually evaluated at the mean stream
temperature.

• This is satisfactory when the temperature

change is small, but can cause a significant
error when the change in temperature is large.
Fluid physical properties
• In these circumstances, a simple, and safe, procedure is to
evaluate the heat-transfer coefficients at the stream inlet and
outlet temperatures and use the lowest of the two values.

• where U1 and U2 are evaluated at the ends of the exchanger.

Fluid physical properties
• If the variation in the physical properties is too
large for these simple methods to be used

• It will be necessary to divide the temperature-

enthalpy profile into sections

• Evaluate the heat-transfer coefficients and

area required for each section.
 TUBE-SIDE HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT AND
PRESSURE DROP (SINGLE PHASE)
• Heat transfer
– Turbulent flow
• Heat-transfer data for turbulent flow inside conduits of
uniform cross-section are usually correlated by an
equation of the form:
 TUBE-SIDE HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT AND
PRESSURE DROP (SINGLE PHASE)
• Heat transfer
– Turbulent flow
 TUBE-SIDE HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT AND
PRESSURE DROP (SINGLE PHASE)
• Heat transfer
– Turbulent flow
• The index for the Reynolds number is generally taken as
0.8.
• The index for the Prandtl number can range from 0.3
for cooling to 0.4 for heating.
• The index for the viscosity factor is normally taken as
0.14 for flow in tubes

• …….(2)
 TUBE-SIDE HEAT-TRANSFER COEFFICIENT AND
PRESSURE DROP (SINGLE PHASE)
• Heat transfer
– Turbulent flow
• Engineering Science Data Unit reports are
recommended: ESDU 92003 and 93018 (1998).

• Reynolds numbers greater than 10,000 the staton

number will be
 Hydraulic mean diameter
• The equivalent (hydraulic mean) diameter is the perimeter
through which the heat is being transferred is used in place
of the total wetted perimeter.

• The film coefficient is only, roughly, proportional to de0.2 .

• de determined using the full wetted perimeter will be used

for both pressure drop and heat transfer calculations

• The actual area through which the heat is transferred

should, of course, be used to determine the rate of heat
transfer
 Laminar flow
• Below a Reynolds number of about 2000 the flow in pipes will be laminar.

• Providing the natural convection effects are small

• For forced convection, the following equation can be used to estimate the film heat-
transfer coefficient:

• ………(1)

• Where L is the length of the tube in metres.

• If the Nusselt number given by above equation is less than 3.5, it should be
taken as 3.5

• In laminar flow the length of the tube can have a marked effect on
the heat-transfer rate for length to diameter ratios less than 500
 Transition region
• In the flow region between laminar and fully developed
turbulent flow heat-transfer coefficients cannot be predicted
with certainty,

• Because the flow in this region is unstable,

• The transition region should be avoided in exchanger design.

• If this is not practicable the coefficient should be evaluated

using both equations for turbulent and laminar i.e., eq. (1) and
(2), respectively and the least value taken.
 Heat-transfer factor,
• It is often convenient to correlate heat-transfer data in terms of a heat
transfer “j” factor, which is similar to the friction factor used for pressure
drop

• The heat-transfer factor is defined by:

• The use of the factor enables data for laminar and turbulent flow to be
represented on the same graph

• The coefficient estimated for pipes will normally be conservative (on the
high side) as pipes are rougher than the tubes used for heat exchangers
 Heat-transfer factor,
• Previous equation can be rearranged to a more convenient
form:

• Kern (1950), and other workers, define the heat transfer factor
as:
Heat-transfer factor,
Heat-transfer factor,
 Viscosity correction factor
• The viscosity correction factor will normally only be significant
for viscous liquids.

• To apply the correction an estimate of the wall temperature is

needed.

• This can be made by first calculating the coefficient without

the correction.

• Then use the following relationship to estimate the wall

temperature:
 Viscosity correction factor

• where t =tube-side bulk temperature (mean),

• t = D estimated wall temperature,
• T = shell-side bulk temperature (mean).

• Usually an approximate estimate of the wall

temperature is sufficient, but trial-and-error
calculations can be made to obtain a better estimate
if the correction is large.
 Coefficients for water
• Eqs. In slide no. 96, 101 and figure in slide no.103 may be
used for water to determine the heat transfer coefficient hi

• A more accurate correlation is given by the data given by

Eagle and Ferguson (1930):
 Tube-side pressure drop
• There are two major sources of pressure loss on the tube-side
of a shell and tube exchanger:
– The friction loss in the tubes
– The losses due to the sudden contraction and expansion and flow
reversals that the fluid experiences in flow through the tube
arrangement.

• The basic equation for isothermal flow in pipes is:

 Tube-side pressure drop
• The flow in a heat exchanger will clearly not be isothermal

• This is allowed for by including an empirical correction factor

to account for the change in physical properties wit
temperature.

• Normally only the change in viscosity is considered:

 Tube-side pressure drop
• Values of jf for heat exchanger tubes can be obtained from
Figure;
 Tube-side pressure drop

• The loss in terms of velocity heads can be estimated by

counting the number of flow contractions, expansions and
reversals, and using the factors for pipe fittings to estimate the
number of velocity heads lost.
• For two tube passes, there will be two contractions, two
expansions and one flow reversal.
• The head loss for each of these effects (see Volume 1, Chapter
3) is: contraction 0.5, expansion 1.0, 180° bend 1.5
 Tube-side pressure drop
• Combining this factor with equation