Design and analysis of shell and tube heat exchanger
Project Summary: The heat exchanger is a component that is used to efficiently transfer heat from one medium to another. Heat exchangers are widely used by different types of industries to exchange heat between different fluids for waste heat recovery and to reduce costs for
2025-06-28 16:31:10 - Adil Khan
Design and analysis of shell and tube heat exchanger
Project Area of Specialization Mechanical EngineeringProject SummaryProject Summary:
The heat exchanger is a component that is used to efficiently transfer heat from one medium to another. Heat exchangers are widely used by different types of industries to exchange heat between different fluids for waste heat recovery and to reduce costs for utilities. Improvement of heat transfer is one of the most promising methods for optimizing heat transfer equipment and improving heat recovery in industrial processes.
Since the efficiency of the shell and tube exchanger is still a job of great concern, this work is therefore of great importance as we aim to help a lot of engineers in their efficient future design and production, and we believe that it will enable us to make the most of them in the limited economy. For this purpose, detailed design and analysis will be carried out in accordance with international standards, using various methods, including the addition of nanoparticles to the fluid, the use of internal and external fins on tube bundles, the modification of the design and layout of the tubes, etc.
Project ObjectivesProject Objectives:
- Heat Transfer characteristics of Shell and Tube is arguably one of the most pressing concerns of our time. A lot of work has been done to improve its heat transfer efficiency. However, we still lack effective ways to increase its performance. Keeping in mind what has previously been done we realize the need and significance of this work. Therefore, in this project, our work is on heat transfer enhancement methodologies of shell and tube heat exchanger. Our Objective is to utilize different methods e.g., adding nanoparticles, making use of Fins, changing tube layout, and using different shapes of baffles, etc. in this project. Based on the methods giving the best heat transfer characteristics, the Design, thermal load calculations, and CFD Analysis will be carried out accordingly. The Experimental Results will also be validated by the aid of flow simulation in ANSYS Fluent. A Research Paper will be published based on our analysis which can be used for the production of this modified and efficient shell and tube heat exchanger in the future.
Project Implementation Method Details:
Following are the project's implementationdetails:
- Determination of physical properties of shell and tube type heat exchanger in accordance with international standards such as TEMA, API 660 etc.
- Determination of shell and tube side heat transfer coefficient using different theoretically and experimentally approved research approaches.
- Calculations for thermal load for heat exchanger.
- Calculations for pressure drops in shell and tube side fluids.
- Validation of these research approaches using MATLAB, EES, HTRI or similar software.
- Preparation of 3D CAD models using CATIA, PRO-E, UNIGRAPHICS or similar software.
- Analysis of these designs using ANSYS.
- Conclude by comparing different approaches used for designing.
Benefits of the Project:
Shell and tube heat exchangers are extensively used in a number of industries, particularly in refineries, owing to the various advantages they offer over other heat exchangers:
- Shell and tube heat exchangers have more heat transfer efficiency.
- These heat exchangers are an optimal solution for swimming pool heating, mining machinery, hydraulic power packs, etc.
- These heat exchangers can be easily dismantled. Thus, cleaning and repairing is easy.
- The heat exchangers are compact in size.
- The capacity of these heat exchangers can be increased by adding plates in pairs.
- These exchangers are affordable compared to the plate type coolers.
- As the pressure test is relatively simple, one can easily locate tube leaks and fix them.
- These heat exchangers can be used in systems, which have higher operating temperatures and pressures.
Project Technical Details:
- Helical tubes design would be taken into consideration which produces secondary flow that ultimately improves heat transfer.
- Baffles of various types such as disc and doughnut baffles, segmented baffles or flower baffles will be used in modelling to increase the heat transfer efficiency.
- Fins would be incorporated on the surface of tubes or shell to increase the rate of heat transfer.
- Nanoparticles shall be added to increase the heat tranfer characteristics of primary fluid water.
- Parametric Study will be done to see the effect of different parametres to figure out the best ranges of parametres.
| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 79250 | |||
| i5 4th Generation Processor | Equipment | 1 | 25000 | 25000 |
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 6GB Graphic Card | Equipment | 1 | 19000 | 19000 |
| DDR 4 (32 GB) Ram | Equipment | 1 | 20000 | 20000 |
| 256 GB SSD | Equipment | 1 | 5500 | 5500 |
| Photo Printouts | Miscellaneous | 750 | 10 | 7500 |
| Colour Printouts | Miscellaneous | 100 | 15 | 1500 |
| Binding | Miscellaneous | 5 | 150 | 750 |