Simulation of Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger

Anujkumar Prafulbhai Thakkar – 300384018 & Anush Kore - 300375288

Term Project 1 for CHG 8116: Advanced Transport Phenomena
November 06, 2023

Abstract

The aim of this numerical study is to simulate 1-1 pass shell and tube heat exchanger using ANSYS Fluent
software. The primary focused were on analysing the impact of baffles cut on pressure drop and evaluation of
temperature profile in shell and tube heat exchanger. To implement said intentions, particularly, continuity
equation, energy equation and k-epsilon model for turbulent case were applied to this steady state analysis of
hex dominant meshed geometry. Particularly, water has been used as shell and tube side fluid as well as steel
has been used for solid parts of shell and tube heat exchamger. Baffles space was varied as 35% cut and 45%
cut. It has been observed from the simulation results that pressure drop for 35% baffle cut was 1454 Pa and
for 45% baffle cut was 1430 Pa.

Introduction
Heat exchangers are integral part of many industries and widely used to transfer energy from one fluid to
another. There are several types of heat exchangers exists such as plate type heat exchanger, double pipe heat
exchanger, and shell and tube heat exchanger. Amongst them shell and tube heat exchanger are extensively
used because of its design simplicity and wide range of characteristics. There is innumerable research has been
done on the design of shell and tube heat exchanger to provide excellent efficiency with lowest cost. In one
study, simulation of shell and tube heat exchanger done using baffles to increase the flow rate of highly viscous
liquid. [1]. Another study was conducted using MATLAB to analyse the effect of baffle spacing on dimensions
of heat exchangers [2]. There is also a study on calculation of overall heat transfer coefficient using COSMOL
software. [3]. One more study was conducted on shell-and-tube heat exchanger with different (staggered grid
and inline) arrangement considering different mass flow rate of shell side (tube flow kept constant). They found
that staggered grid arrangement is less effective than inline arrangement [4].

In this study, effect of baffle cut on pressure drop and temperature profile has been analysed. The model of
shell and tube heat exchanger with baffles was implemented in Design Modeler. The hex dominant meshing
approach has been implemented and set up is created in ANSYS fluent student version. Inlet temperature of
hot and cold fluids was kept at 40 ◦C and 20 ◦C respectively, whereas inlet velocity of hot and cold fluids kept
at 0.7 m/s and 1.2 m/s. The material for heat exchanger body was considered as steel and water was used as
fluid. To evaluate decided objectives, simulation has been conducted and results have been compared to
provide conclusions.

Methodology
Shell and tube heat exchanger with 5 numbers of tubes and 6 numbers of baffles is created in ANSYS Fluent
(student version). After creating a geometry meshing was implemented to the designed model of shell and

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Simulation of Shell and Tube HE Anuj Thakkar(300384018), Anush Kore(300375288)

tube heat exchanger followed by pre-setup. A hex dominant meshing method was applied to create mesh. Due
to the limitations of student version of ANSYS Fluent, less precise methods were utilised to achieve physical
solution as meshing was not very fine. Results and data evaluation has been done based on generated solution
from applied boundary conditions and methods.

Geometry and Mesh

Geometry
A baffled shell and tube heat exchanger created using design modeler. It is very important to specify different
dimensions very precisely while creating thermal model. In this study tube diameter, shell diameter, shell and
tube length, tube arrangement, baffle spacing, tube pitch, and nozzle sizing were finalised to create geometry.
Figure 1 represents the geometry of baffled shell and tube heat exchanger. In this study, cold fluid is intended
to pass through shell and hot fluid through the tubes.

Figure 1.: Geometry with shell and tube heat exchanger with 5 tubes and 6 baffles

Dimensions
Below table shows the dimensions and other details of Shell and tube heat exchangers:

Table 1. Details of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

Details
Shell Length 67.5 cm
Shell Diameter 10 cm

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Simulation of Shell and Tube HE Anuj Thakkar(300384018), Anush Kore(300375288)

Tube Length 67.5 cm

Tube Diameter 1.5 cm
Length of Heat Exchanger 77.5 cm
Numbers of Tubes 5 Nos
Tube Pitch (Pt) 2.5 cm
Numbers of Baffles 6 Nos
Baffles pitch (Bs) 10 cm

Meshing
Meshing is the process of dividing a geometry into small, finite elements to discretize the domain. It involves
breaking whole geometry into small shapes such as triangles, quadrilaterals, tetrahedra, or hexahedra in 2D or
3D space. Appropriate and fine meshing is very important as it plays vital role in numerical solution, accuracy,
boundary conditions and solver convergence.

In this study, we have applied “Hex dominant” meshing method. Figure 2 illustrates details regarding meshing
approach and name creation. The total number of elements were 278611.

Figure 2.: Meshing approach and name selection

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Simulation of Shell and Tube HE Anuj Thakkar(300384018), Anush Kore(300375288)

Governing Equations
There were set of equations that governed the simulations. Following governing equations were considered
for this study:

Conservation of Mass
𝝏𝝆 (1)
+ 𝛁. (𝝆𝝊) = 𝟎
𝝏𝒕

Momentum Equations
X-Component:

𝑫𝒖 𝝏𝒑 𝝏𝝉𝒙𝒙 𝝏𝝉𝒚𝒙 𝝏𝝉𝒛𝒙 (2)

𝝆 = − + + + + 𝝆𝒇𝒙
𝑫𝒕 𝝏𝒙 𝝏𝒙 𝝏𝒚 𝝏𝒛

Y-Component:

𝑫𝒖 𝝏𝒑 𝝏𝝉𝒙𝒚 𝝏𝝉𝒚𝒚 𝝏𝝉𝒙𝒛

𝝆 = − + + + + 𝝆𝒇𝒚 (3)
𝑫𝒕 𝝏𝒚 𝝏𝒙 𝝏𝒚 𝝏𝒛

Z-Component:

𝑫𝒖 𝝏𝒑 𝝏𝝉𝒙𝒛 𝝏𝝉𝒚𝒛 𝝏𝝉𝒛𝒛

𝝆 = − + + + + 𝝆𝒇𝒛 (4)
𝑫𝒕 𝝏𝒛 𝝏𝒙 𝝏𝒚 𝝏𝒛

Energy Equation

̇ 𝑻 = 𝐦𝐂𝐩𝚫̇T
−𝐤𝚫 (5)

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Simulation of Shell and Tube HE Anuj Thakkar(300384018), Anush Kore(300375288)

Numerical Settings
Numerical settings are the most important part of any simulations to receive accurate and stable solutions. In
this study, several assumptions were considered, and boundary conditions were applied to physical model
while creating numerical solution.

Assumptions
• Steady state analysis and incompressible flow considered.
• Turbulent flow condition is considered.

Boundary Conditions
Table 2 illustrates the boundary conditions which were applied to this study:

Table 2. Applied Boundary Conditions

Physical Location Boundary Condition

Shell Wall Adiabatic Wall (q=0)
Shell Outlet Pressure Outlet (P=Patm, T=Tatm)
Tube Outlet Pressure Outlet (P=Patm, T=Tatm)
Pipe Wall Conjugate Heat Transfer
Shell Inlet Velocity Inet (Velocity=1.2 m/s & Temperature=40 ◦C)
Tube Inlet Velocity Inet (Velocity=0.7 m/s & Temperature=20 ◦C)

Solution Methods and Controls

Below table is showing applied methods, and controls for the simulation.

Table 3. Numerical Setup

Solution Method Under Relaxation Factors

Pressure-Velocity Scheme SIMPLE
Gradient Green Gauss Node Based
Pressure Standard 0.3
Momentum First Order Upwind 0.7
Turbulent Kinetic Energy First Order Upwind 0.8
Turbulent Dissipation Rate First Order Upwind 0.7
Energy First Order Upwind 0.7
Turbulent Viscosity - 1
Density - 1
Body Face - 1

Residuals
• Continuity: 1e-5,
• Momentum (X, Y, and Z Componentes): 1e-6
• Energy (X, Y, and Z Componentes): 1e-6

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Simulation of Shell and Tube HE Anuj Thakkar(300384018), Anush Kore(300375288)

Post-processing and Data Analysis

After successful simulation of 45% cut baffles case and 35% cut baffles case, data has been generated. To
evaluate results several approaches has been considered. Contour of shell and tube side flow, graphical
representation of vectors and streamline data were generated. Flow trend have been seen correctly as per
input data in generated graphics. Apart from this, streamlines of temperature, pressure and velocity were in
order. Following figures reflects the generated results.

Figure 3.: Pressure streamlines of 35% baffle cut Figure 4.: Temperature streamlines of 35% baffle cut

Figure 3.: Pressure streamlines of 45% baffle cut Figure 4.: Temperature streamlines of 45% baffle cut

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Simulation of Shell and Tube HE Anuj Thakkar(300384018), Anush Kore(300375288)

Case Studies
In this study, 2 cases were considered to compare the results. Firstly, baffles with 35% cut were added to
geometry and simulation were performed. Secondly, baffles with 45% cut were added to geometry and
simulation were performed with similar meshing approach, boundary conditions and numerical settings.

In this study, water is considered as both shell and tube side fluid and steel are considered for solid bodies.
Fluid (water) and solid (steel) properties in this study was used from ANSYS databank. Shell side Reynold
number in this study was 36906.

Verification and Validation

Generated trend and data were analysed and compared for verification and validation purpose. Shell side
pressure drop generated by numerical solution is compared with analytical solution generated by theoretical
calculations. Below are the results generated from numerical solution.

Table 4. Numerical Results

35% Baffle cut 45% Baffle cut

Shell Side Pressure Drop 1454 Pa 1430 Pa
Shell Side Outlet Temperature 14 ◦C 14 ◦C
Tube Side Outlet Temperature 34 ◦C 31 ◦C

The pressure drop obtained from analytical solution was around 963 Pa whereas, the pressure drop obtained
from numerical solution was around 1454 Pa and 1430 Pa for 35% baffle cut and 45% baffle cut respectively.
The analytical calculation for shell side pressure drop is as following Shell side Pressure Drop Calculation.

Results and Discussion

It has been observed from the study that different design of baffles significantly impacts the pressure drop in
shell and tube heat exchanger. Generated data in simulation indicates that increase in baffle cut is significantly
decrease the pressure drop. However, in this study temperature gradient for shell side fluid was found same.
On the other hand, 3 degrees Celsius temperature gradient difference was noted between the tube side fluid
with baffle cuts of 35% and 45%. Moreover, more stable residuals have been observed in 35% baffle cut rather
than 45%.

Conclusion
In this study, shell and tube heat exchanger was simulated using ANSYS Fluent for two different percent of
baffle cut cases. Due to the limitations of student version of ANSYS Fluent there were not very fine meshing
achieved. However, trends and results produced from simulation are reliable. Observed trends of temperature,
pressure and velocity were in order of streamline charts. All the discussed results indicates that if high
resolution meshing was done then promising data could be generated with similar study.

Nomenclature

Bs Baffle Spacing [cm]

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Simulation of Shell and Tube HE Anuj Thakkar(300384018), Anush Kore(300375288)

Pt Tube Pitch [cm]

v Velocity in Eq. (1) [m s-1]
P Pressure [Pa]
𝜌 Density [kg m3]
u Velocity in Eq. (2), (3) & (4) [m s-1]
k Thermal Conductivity [W m-1 C-1]
Cp Specific Heat Capacity [J kg-1 C-1]
t Time [s]
T Temperature [K]

References:

• Heat Transfer – A practical approach (second edition) by Yunus A Cengel

• Shubham Sharma, Shalab Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Parampreet Singh, Rasmeet Singh, Sthitapragyan
Maharana, Nima Khalipoor, Alibek Issakhov, “ Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis of Flow Patterns,
Pressure Drop, and Heat Transfer Coefficient in Staggered and Inline Shell-Tube Heat Exchangers,
2021, Hindawi - Mathematical Problems in Engineering Volume 2021, Article ID 6645128, doi:
https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/6645128

• Trung Kim Nguyen et al 2021 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 947 012008, “Simulation of shell and
tube heat exchanger using COMSOL software”, doi: https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-
1315/947/1/012008

• S. K. Katarki and A. S. Malipatil, “CFD Analysis of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger for Heat Transfer
Capabilities Abstract:”, vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 102–106, 2017

• M. Irshad, M. Kaushar, and G. Rajmohan, “Design and CFD Analysis of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger,”
vol. 7, no. 4, 2017

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