Performance analysis of baffle configuration effect on thermo-hydraulic behavior of shell and tube heat exchanger

The traditional shell and tube heat exchanger (STHE) is widely utilized in various engineering segments and has found a drawback in limited thermo-hydraulic behavior. This study enriches the STHE thermo-hydraulic performance using different baffle configurations (BC) such as single segment, double segment, single helical, single segment—no tubes in window (NTIW), propeller type and spiral baffle. The influences of BC on thermo-hydraulic behavior are analyzed through heat transfer research Inc. (HTRI) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). During the analysis, the 60LPM flow rate is fixed under the shell/tube inlet temperature of 30 °C and 80 °C, followed by the counter flow. Additionally, fluid parameters on logarithmic mean temperature difference (LMTD), number of transfer units (NTU), overall heat transfer coefficient (U), effectiveness (η) and exergy efficiency (η_ex) of STHE are recorded by both HTRI and CFD analysis. According to the analysis results, the single helical 15° and double segmental BC offered superior LMTD, NTU, U, η and η_ex related to others.