Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Design

Evan A. Kontras
University of Missouri
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
May 8, 2008
Abstract:
Heat exchangers are constructed in order to transfer heat between two mediums. The
objective of this was project was to design and optimize a shell and tube heat exchanger. This
report will include the design, manufacturing methods, cost, and final attributes of the shell and
tube heat exchanger. The optimal design for the heat exchanger was found by applying the NTU
method to MATLAB. The design created has an efficiency of 69.56%, 0.8204 m in length, and
has a power output of 260.766 W.







Introduction:
Heat exchangers are devices constructed to efficiently transfer heat in between mediums.
Heat exchangers have a wide variety of uses from space heating, air conditioning, power plants,
and energy plants. There are also large variances in the types of heat exchangers that exist,
which include: shell and tube, plate, regenerative, adiabatic, and fluid heat exchanges to name a
few. This report will outline the complete design of a shell and plate heat exchanger given
certain parameters.
The shell and plate exchanger consists of a number of tubes that has a fluid flowing
through the tubes and another fluid running over the tubes in order to exchange heat between the
two. These heat exchangers can range greatly in size from hand-held and portable to covering
over a hundred thousand square feet. The tube diameter, tube thickness, tube material, shell
material, fluids involved, fluid temperatures, and fluid flow rates all have an effect on the heat
transfer, performance, efficiency, and cost.
Nomenclature:
The given values are found from Tables in Appendices in the text and from the problem
statement.
Q = heat transfer rate (22 kW)
C
p,w
= specific heat of water (4.179 K
kg
kJ
)
C
p,s
= specific heat of steam (4.219 K
kg
kJ
)
w
m = mass flow rate of water (
s
kg
)
s
m = mass flow rate of steam (0.1
s
kg
)
V = velocity of the water (m/s)
S
T
= distance between the tubes (m)
U = thermal resistance ( K
m
W

2
)
l
= density of water at 100 deg Celsius (957.8544
3
m
kg
)
s
= density of steam at 100 deg Celsius (0.59559
3
m
kg
)
D
o
= outer diameter of tubes (0.0889 m or 0.35 in)
D
i
= inner diameter of tubes (.0635 m or 0.25 in)
L = length of tubes (m)
k
W
= thermal conductivity of water(0.613 K
m
W
)
k
copper
= thermal conductivity of copper tubes (401 K
m
W
)
g = gravitational constant (9.81
s
m
)
h
fg
= heat of vaporization (2257
kg
kJ
)
N D
h
,
= average convection coefficient due to condensation ( K
m
W

2
)
conv
h = average convection coefficient ( K
m
W

2
)
T
sat
= saturation temperature (K)
T
s
= surface temperature (K)
T
c,o
= outlet temperature of the water (K)
T
c,i
= inlet temperature of the water (298 K)
T
h,i
= inlet temperature of the steam (373 K)
T
h,o
= outlet temperature of the condensated steam (K)
= viscosity (
2
m
s
N )
c = effectiveness of the heat exchanger
NTU = process used to design heat exchangers
f = friction factor
N = number of tubes
L = length of tubes for one pass (m)
P = power (W)

Procedure:
The mass flow rate of the pump was chosen to be 15
min
gallons
which converts to a mass
flow rate of .94635
s
kg
. This value is then used in the equation,
) (
, , i c o c p l
T T c m Q = (1)
to solve for T
c,o
. The velocity of the water is found by converting the mass flow rate to m/s,
then that value is used to calculate the max velocity in the equation,
V
D S
S
V
o T
T

=
max
(2)
where S
T
is twice the outer diameter of the tubes. Max velocity is then used to calculate the
Reynolds number using the equation,

o
D
D V
max
max ,
Re = (3)
Table 7.7 from the text was then used to calculate the Nusselt number since this value shows
turbulent flow and is greater than forty thousand. This table shows values for C and m which
equal 0.021 and 0.84 respectively. The Nusselt number is then found using the equation,
4 / 1
36 . 0
max ,
Pr
Pr
Pr Re
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
s
w m
D UD
C N (4)
The next step is to calculate the convection coefficients which are shown in the equations,

( )
( )
4 / 1
3
,
729 . 0
(
(

=
o s sat l
fg l v l l
N D
D T T N
h k g
h

(5)
o
UD w
conv
D
N k
h = (6)
The sum of the thermal resistances are then calculated using,
N D copper conv
h k
Di
Do
h
U
,
1
log
1
+
|
.
|

\
|
+ = (7)
and this value will be used later to find the length of the tubing. The heat capacity rates for
steam and water are then calculated using the two equations,

s p s
C m C
, min
= (8)
w p w
C m C
, max
= (9)
and their ratio is given by the value,
max
min
C
C
C
r
= (10)
Before finding the length of the tubing, the effectiveness and NTU number must be found using
the equations from Table 11.4 in the text for one shell pass with 2 tube passes. These equations
include,
( )
i c i s
T T C
q
, , min

= c (11)
n
r
C
F
/ 1
1
1
|
.
|

\
|

=
c
c
(12)
r
C F
F

=
1
1
c (13)
2 / 1 2
1
) 1 (
) 1 ( / 2
r
r
C
C
E
+
+
=
c
(14)
|
.
|

\
|
+

+ =

1
1
ln ) 1 ( ) (
2 / 1 2
1
E
E
C NTU
r
(15)
where F and E are parameters used in the NTU method and n is the number of shell passes. The
length of the tubing for one pass is then found with the equation,
) 2 (
min
o
D N U
C NTU
L
t

= (16)
The total length of tubing for 2 passes 16 tubes can then be calculated by multiplying L by 2 and
N. The last steps of the design process include finding the friction factor, pressure change and
power requirement. These values are calculated using the equations,
2
0
4
D
m
u
m
t

= (17)
L
D
u
f P
m
2
2

= A (18)

m P
P
A
= (19)

Results of Calculations:
In order to design the shell and tube heat exchanger, a MATLAB m-file was written to
perform calculations using the parameters outlined in the NTU method. The optimized design
created for the heat exchanger yielded an efficiency of 69.56%. The design calls for an overall
length of 0.8204 m. The heat exchanger has 16 tubes and was designed for two passes. The total
length of the tubes is 26.253 m. The calculations showed that the change in pressure of the heat
exchanger would be 39 psi and the power would be 260.766 W. All of these values are within
the constraints given in the problem statement.

Manufacturing Process and Cost:
The shell and tube heat exchanger consists of the shell, head, tubes, tube sheet, gasket,
separator, nuts, and bolts (see Fig. 1). The shell, tube sheet, separator, nuts, and bolts are to be
manufactured from carbon steel, while the tubes are made of copper, and the head is made of
cast iron. These materials were selected based on thermal properties, cost and availability.
Copper is one of the best thermal conductors with a thermal conductivity of 401 W/m^2 K, and
is also the most widely used in heat exchangers. The price of carbon steel is approximately 815
US$/ton and copper is approximately 7825 US$/ton [7].








Fig. 1. Shell and Tube heat exchanger with dimensions [6].

Copper is one of the best conductors of heat, while stainless steel is a mediocre conductor. Using
copper would increase the rate at which heat was transferred from water to the steam [2] .
Although copper costs more there information from copper manufacturers claim that
manufacturing costs of copper are less than that of steel due to its ease of machining [1]. The
copper tubes would most likely be casted, pierced, and extruded in line with the industry
standard [4].
Steel was chosen for the outer shell because of its small contribution to heat exchange
and its high strength and wear resistance to avoid failure in any possibly harsh surroundings.
The shell would be seam welded due to ease, durability, and strength. The tubes would then be
attached to the shell with a brazing procedure. Brazing is a joining process whereby a non-
ferrous filler metal or alloy is heated to melting temperature above and distributed between two
or more connecting parts [3]. Although brazing may cost a good deal for one part, in high
production brazing becomes more and more cost effective [4]. The head and tube sheet will be
connected via nuts and bolts with a gasket regulating and facilitating the closure.
Due to the inability to obtain precise cost for all manufacturing processes these values
were not estimated. Cost of copper tubing per foot based on an average of prices from
manufacturers is about $2.00/ foot. Our total length was found to be 86.122 ft. therefore our cost
for copper would be about $172.24 [5].

Conclusion:
Heat exchangers are devices constructed to efficiently transfer heat in between mediums
and are used in variety of places from space heating, air conditioning, power plants, and energy
plants. The proposed design fits all of the criteria in the problem statement. The efficiency, size,
cost, and output exceeded preliminary expectations.

References:
1. http://www.copper.org/applications/rodbar/alloy360/cu_steel.html
2. http://hypertextbook.com/physics/thermal/conduction/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazing
4. http://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/how/howdo_tube.html
5. http://www.mahonyfittings.com/docs/curwat.pdf
6. http://www.secshellandtube.com
7. http://www.meps.co.uk/index.htm









Appendix: MATLAB m-file and results
function exchanger(vdotc)

%pipe specs

do=0.00889;

di=.00635;

mdotc=vdotc*(1/60)*(3.785411/1)
q=22e3;

%number of tubes
N = 16;


%cold water
k=.613;
Tic=25;
rhoc=997;
cpc=4179;
muc=855*10^-6;
kc=0.613;
Prc=5.83;

%steam
Tis=100;
Tos=100;
mdots=.1;

cps=4217;
mus=279*10^-6;
ks=.680;
Prs=1.76;

%calulations

%temp out

Toc=Tic+(q/(mdotc+cpc));

%h for water
st=2*do; sr=2*do;
v=mdotc/(997*((pi/4)*di^2))
Vmax=(st/(st-do))*v

Red=(rhoc*Vmax*do)/muc

C=.021; m=.84;

Nud=C*Red^m*Prc^0.36*(Prc/Prs)^.25

hconv=k*Nud/do;

%h for condensation
g=9.81;
rhol=957.8544; %rho of liquid at 100 C
rhovap=.59559; %rho of vapor at 100 C
kliq=680e-3; %thermal conductivity of liquid at 100 C
hfg=2257; %heat of vaporization
Tsat=100;
Ts=25;
muliq=279e-6; %mu of liquid at 100 C

Hfg=q/mdotc;



hcond=0.729*((9.81*rhol*(rhol-rhovap)*kliq^3*Hfg)/(muliq*(Tsat-Ts)*do))^(1/4);

kcopper=401;

u=1/((1/hconv)+(log(do/di)/kcopper)+(1/hcond));


% calculation of ntu number
Cmin=mdots*cps;
Cmax=mdotc*cpc;
Cr=Cmin/Cmax;

eff = q/(Cmin*(Tis - Tic))


F=((eff*Cr)-1)/(eff-1);
eff1=(F-1)/(F-Cr);
E=((2/eff1)-(1+Cr))/((1+Cr^2)^1/2);

NTU=1.5; %from Fig 11.12
A=NTU*Cmin/u;

L = (NTU*Cmin)/(u*N*2*pi*do)
Ltotal=N*L*2

f=0.184*Red^(-1/5);
um=4*mdotc/(rhoc*pi*do^2);

%1 pound/square inch = 6894.75728 newton/square meter
deltap=f*rhoc*um^2*L*2/(2*do)

P=deltap*mdotc/rhoc






>> exchanger(15)
Red =
6.2141e+005
Nud =
3.9295e+003
eff =
0.6956
L =
0.8204
Ltotal =
26.2530
deltap =
2.7472e+005
P =
260.7660