Numerical Comparison of Shell-Side Performance for Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers with Novel, Helical and Segmental Baffles

Shell-and-tube heat exchanger, is one of the most widely used heat exchange apparatus in various industrial process and research fronts. Baffle selection is critical to control and improve the thermo-hydraulic performance of this type of heat exchanger. In this paper, three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, using the ANSYS 17 FLUENT, have been performed to study and compare the shell-side flow distribution, heat transfer coefficient and the pressure drop between the recently developed novel, helical baffles and the conventional segmental baffles. In this numerical comparison, the whole heat exchangers consisting of the shell, tubes, baffles and nozzles are modelled. The model is then used to compute and compare the thermo-hydraulic performance for all the three cases. The results show that the use of helical baffles results in higher thermo-hydraulic performance compare to novel and segmental baffles.