Effect of Number of Baffles on Flow and Pressure Drop in a Shell Side of a Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers

A. Sadikin; N. Y. Khian; Y. P. Hwey; H. Y. Al-Mahdi; I. Taib; A. N. Sadikin; S. Md Salleh; S. S. Ayop

Authors

A. Sadikin Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
N. Y. Khian Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
Y. P. Hwey Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
H. Y. Al-Mahdi Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
I. Taib Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
A. N. Sadikin Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Malaysia
S. Md Salleh Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia
S. S. Ayop Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia

Keywords:

Heat exchangers , shell-and-tub , baffle spacing, CFD

Abstract

The effect of number of baffles on flow and pressure drop on a shell side of shell-and-tube heat exchangers was studied. In the present study, a set of CFD simulations using FLUENT version 17.0 from ANSYS were used to analyze the flow in the single shell and single tube pass heat exchangers consists of 20 mm diameter of tubes in staggered configuration with a variable number of baffles. The simulations were undertaken to inform on how the fluid flowed within the shell side of shell-and-tube heat exchangers. The results show that the variable number of baffles and baffle spacing in a heat exchanger strongly affect the flow pattern and pressure drop. This is consistent with other published data.