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Applied Energy 87 (2010) 21942202

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Novel predictive tools for design of radiant and convective sections

of direct red heaters
Alireza Bahadori *, Hari B. Vuthaluru
Department of Chemical Engineering, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 14 July 2009
Received in revised form 25 November 2009
Accepted 25 November 2009
Available online 21 December 2009
Keywords:
Correlation
Direct red heater
Heat ux
Radiant section
Convection section

a b s t r a c t
Direct red heaters are used considerably in the energy related industries and petroleum industries for
heating crude oil in the petroleum rening and petrochemical sectors. The aim of the current study is
to formulate simple-to-use correlations to design the radiant and convective sections of direct red heaters. The developed tools are easier than currently available models and involves a fewer number of
parameters, requiring less complicated and shorter computations. Firstly, a simple correlation is developed to provide an accurate and rapid prediction of the absorbed heat in the radiant section of a red
heater, expressed as a fraction of the total net heat liberation, in terms of the average heat ux to the
tubes, the arrangement of the tubes (circumferential), and the air to fuel mass ratio. Secondly, another
simple correlation is developed to approximate external heat transfer coefcients for 75, 100, and
150 mm nominal pipe size (NPS) steel pipes arranged in staggered rows and surrounded by combustion
gases. Finally, a simple correlation is presented to predict the gross thermal efciency as a function of
percent excess air and stack gas temperature. This study shows that the proposed method has a good
agreement with the available reliable data in the literature. The average absolute deviations between
reported data and the proposed correlations are found to be around 1.5% demonstrating the excellent
performance of proposed predictive tool. The proposed simple-to-use method can be of signicant practical value for the engineers and scientists to have a quick check on the design of radiant and convective
sections of direct red heater. In particular, mechanical and process engineers would nd the proposed
approach to be user-friendly involving no complex expressions with transparent and easy to understand
calculations.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Operation strategies of energy intensive plants strongly affect
the production cost [1,2]. The data gathered around the process
are not sufcient to analyze the plant behavior. Mathematical
models supply valuable information on the behavior of the plant
and can be used to search for optimal operating conditions
[1,3,46]. Knowledge of combined convective and radiative energy
transfer in participating media is crucial for the determination of
heat uxes on the walls of systems in numerous engineering applications. Examples include boilers of power generating equipment,
fossil fuel-red industrial furnaces for materials processing, hightemperature heat recovery equipment, combustors and rocket
engines, hypersonic propulsion, entry and re-entry vehicle protection, and numerous others [7]. Gas to wall heat transfer in such
systems results from coupled convection and radiation processes
which cannot, in general, be calculated separately [7].

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 8 9266 1782; fax: +61 8 9266 2681.
E-mail address: alireza.bahadori@postgrad.curtin.edu.au (A. Bahadori).
0306-2619/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.11.028

Direct red heaters are used considerably in the chemical processing industries and oil and gas industries for heating crude oil
in the petroleum rening and petrochemical sectors. In a typical
petroleum renery, there may be 2575 direct red heaters with
different congurations, and each heater may have different types
of burners [8]. Proper care and attention to these heaters can prolong run lengths and increase reliability and safe operation. For a
radiant burner, both the radiant power density and radiant efciency are of practical importance. They are determined not only
by the design of the burner/emitters but also by the combustion
operating conditions [9]. Heaters are usually designed for uniform
heat distribution. The average radiant heat ux specied is dened
as the quotient of total heat absorbed by the radiant tubes divided
by the total outside circumferential tube area inside the rebox,
including any ttings inside the rebox. The rows of convection
tubes exposed to direct radiation shall be considered as being in
the radiant section and the maximum radiant heat absorption rate
shall apply to these tubes, irrespective of whether extended surface elements are used or not [10]. The maximum radiant heat ux
density is dened as the maximum heat rate to any portion of any
radiant tube. Direct red heaters vary in size from 0.15 MW small

A. Bahadori, H.B. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 21942202

2195

Nomenclature
A
B
C
D
A
Eg
F
G
h
H
HHV
LHV
m
Q

coefcient
coefcient
coefcient
coefcient
area, m2
gross thermal efciency percent
absorbed fraction of total heat liberation in the radiant
section of a direct red heater
air to fuel mass ratio, kg/kg
heat transfer coefcient, W/(m2 C)
enthalpy, kJ/kg
higher or gross heating value, kJ/(standard m3)
lower heating value, kJ/(standard m3)
mass velocity, kg/s
the allowable heat ux to the tubes, W/m2

package regeneration gas heaters to 300 MW steam hydrocarbon

reformer heaters. In the gas processing industry, the usual range
is 0.36 MW [11]. There are two basic congurations: cylindrical
and cabin. The simplest design is of vertical-cylindrical conguration with only radiant tubes. The net thermal efciency (NTE) is
about 60% and the stack gas temperature is 650 C or more. The
burner in the oor res upward [11]. A stainless steel bafe slows
the exit ow of the hot gases and reradiates heat back to the top
part of the tubes. There is a short stack that usually has no damper.
The design is low cost and suited for low cost fuel. Adding a convection section improves the NTE to about 80%. The radiant section
may be either cylindrical or cabin, and the coil conguration either
helical or serpentine. These heaters cost more than the all-radiant
type but they use less fuel for any given duty [11]. Fig. 1a and b
shows a simple design of a vertical-cylindrical direct red heater
with radiant tubes and convection section [11]. A red heater
can be considered as an enclosure containing gaseous heat source,
heat sink and a refractory; in which heat is generated by the source
and is transferred to the sink [12]. In comparison to convection and
conduction heat transfer modes, radiation transfer is the dominant
heat transfer mechanism in red heaters. Heat transfer in a furnace
strongly depends on system geometry, nature of surface and gases,
and the relative position of sinks and sources in the systems [12].
In the previous work [12], a mathematical model based on multi-zone method was developed for simulating performance of
industrial furnaces. Emphasis of their work is on the use of
three-dimensional zone method to deal with radiative heat transfer for the furnaces, boilers and other red heaters [13]. According
to the literature [14,15], because of the difculties of direct-exchange area (DEA) calculations and solving the matrices involved
in calculation of total exchange areas [16,17] the zone method
had limited application in three-dimensional complex geometries.
In zone method, the enclosure is subdivided into a nite number of isothermal volumes and surface area zones [15]. Energy balance and other governing equations are then applied to the
radiative exchange between any two zones [14,19] by employing
pre-calculated exchange areas [18]. In the zone method, exchange areas (direct and total) that are more general form of view
factors are used. Finally, a set of simultaneous non-linear equations
are numerically solved to nd unknown temperatures and heat
uxes [12].
The radiant tubes are placed above the bridge wall so that they
are, in effect, double red. The radiant section or rebox should:
 Obtain complete combustion of the fuel with a reasonable
amount of excess air, i.e., 1015%.

P
r
X

nominal pipe size in mm

ratio of ue gases to heat release, kg/(MW h)
excess air percent, X

Subscripts
c
convective
f
lm
g
gas
o
outside
p
pipe
r
radiant
LM
log mean base

 Contain the ame and avoid impingement on the tubes.

 Distribute the radiant heat ux.
 Cool the combustion gases to 8001000 C to protect the convection section.
The proportions of the rebox are the key to good performance
[11].
The total heat liberation consists of the lower heating value of
the fuel and the sensible heat in combustion air, recirculated ue
gas, and fuel and atomizing steam, all heat contents referred to a
datum of 15 C.

Fig. 1. Direct red heater, vertical-cylindrical, helical coil with convection section
(a) and cross section of radiant coil (b)[11].

2196

A. Bahadori, H.B. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 21942202

Lower heating value (LHV) of the fuel is known, or by stoichiometry. In this study the proposed predictive tool is for direct red
heaters with one row of 200 mm NPS pipes, spaced two pipe nominal sizes (NPS). Other designs require correction factors which
needs to be multiplied by air to fuel mass ratio prior to the application of this new proposed predictive tool [11].
Generally the ame length should be 60% of the rebox length
and the clearance between the ame and tubes at least 0.5 m.
For small cylindrical heaters, the tube circle should be equal to
the length of the rebox. For small cabin heaters, the width, height,
and tube length should be equal. For large heaters the height of a
cylindrical heater is twice the tube circle, and for cabins a good ratio of width to height to length is 1:2:4 [9].

1.1. Convection section

The purpose of the convection section is to transfer as much
heat as possible from the combustion gases leaving the radiant section. As always there is the trade-off between capital cost, i.e., adding more tubes, and operating cost, i.e., improved thermal
efciency. The construction is similar to that for the radiant section, a steel plate shell with internal castable or ceramic ber insulation. The tubes are staggered, and the space between the sidewall
and the tube is lled with corbels to prevent the ue gases from
bypassing the end tubes [11]. The rst two rows of the convection
section are called shock tubes and they see the rebox ame. The
rst row receives the full radiant heat ux and also some convective heat transfer. It has the highest heat transfer ux in the heater
and is always bare tubes. The second shock row receives about one
third of the radiant ux as well as convective heat transfer from the
ue gas. It is also bare tubes. If long radius return bends are used,
the third row will receive radiant heat and it too should be bare
tubes [11].

2. Developing simple equations

The required data to develop the rst predictive tool include the
reliable data [10,11] for various absorbed heat fraction in the radiant section of a red heater (F), air to fuel mass ratio (G) and the
average heat ux to the tubes (Q).
For rst predictive tool, various absorbed heat fractions in the
radiant section of a red heater (F) are predicted rapidly as a function of air to fuel mass ratio (G) and the average heat ux to the
tubes (Q) by proposing simple equations. The following methodology [2024] has been applied to develop rst simple predictive
tool:
1. Correlate the absorbed heat fraction in the radiant section of a
red heater (F) as a function of air to fuel mass ratio (G) for a
average heat ux to the tubes (Q).
2. Repeat step 1 for other values of average heat ux to the tubes
(Q).
3. Correlate corresponding polynomial coefcients, which are
obtained in previous steps versus average heat ux to the tubes
(Q), so we have a = f(Q), b = f(Q), c = f(Q), d = f(Q) (see Eqs. (2)
(5)).
The derived equations are applied to calculate new coefcients
for Eq. (1) to predict absorbed heat fraction in the radiant section of
a red heater (F). Table 1 shows the tuned coefcients for Eqs. (2)
(5) according to the data [10,11].
So, Eq. (1) represents the proposed governing equation in which
four coefcients are used to correlate the absorbed heat fraction in
the radiant section of a red heater (F) as a function of ratio of air

Table 1
Tuned coefcients used in Eqs. (2)(5) for radiant section.
Variable symbol

Coefcients

A1
B1
C1
D1
A2
B2
C2
D2
A3
B3
C3
D3
A4
B4
C4
D4

1.7718493787
1.001917635  104
3.7534689295  109
4.191035072  1014
1.366921187  101
1.531156947  105
5.963858747  1010
6.684546867  1015
6.519753696  103
8.1321392297  107
3.085147199  1011
3.435592722  1016
1.108513055  104
1.383758239  108
5.172400596  1013
5.748038181  1018

to fuel mass ratio (G) for various average heat uxes to the tubes
(Q) where the relevant coefcients have been reported in Table 1.
In brief, Eq. (1) provides a reliable estimate of the absorbed heat
in the radiant section of a red heater as a fraction of the total net
heat liberation, in terms of the average heat ux to the tubes and
the air to fuel mass ratio
3

F a bG cG2 dG

where

a A1 B1 Q C 1 Q 2 D1 Q 3
2

c A3 B3 Q C 3 Q 2 D3 Q 3

b A2 B2 Q C 2 Q D2 Q
2

d A4 B4 Q C 4 Q D4 Q

In the above equations, F and G are the absorbed heat fraction in

the radiant section of a red heater and the air to fuel mass ratio,
respectively. Q is the average heat ux to the tubes. The tuned
coefcients in Eqs. (2)(5) are given in Table 1.
Eq. (1) is for red heaters with one row of 200 mm NPS pipes,
spaced two pipe nominal sizes (NPS). Correction factor for other
designs, to be multiplied by C from Eq. (6) prior to applying Eq.
(1).
The coefcients in Eqs. (2)(5) are correlated as a function of
allowable heat ux to the tubes (Q) in (W/m2). The tuned coefcients used in these equations are given in Table 1. These tuned
coefcients help to cover reported data in the air to fuel mass ratio
(G) variation from 5 to 40 kg/kg. In order to consider the effect of
pipe size on absorbed fraction of total heat liberation in the radiant
section of a direct red heater the following coefcient (C) (Eq. (6))
is proposed as a function of pipe nominal size in meter:

C a bP cP 2 hP3

Table 2 shows the coefcients for Eq. (6). Tables 3 and 4 show
correction factors to correct air to fuel mass ratio (G) as a function
of pipe spacing and number of pipes rows and pipe diameters and
correction factors for ratio of air to fuel (see Tables 510).
Table 2
Tuned coefcients used in Eq. (6).
Variable symbol

Coefcient

1.09266468
.995014836
0.995014836
4.17804154

c
h

2197

A. Bahadori, H.B. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 21942202

Table 3
Factors to correct air to fuel mass ratio (G) as a function of pipe spacing and number of
pipe rows.
Pipe spacing
Rows of pipes

2  NPS
Multiply G by

3  NPS

1
2

1
1.34

0.9
1.14

Table 4
Correction factors for ratio of air to fuel.

Table 7
Coefcients for Eq. (17).
Fuel type
Natural gas
Natural gas
Fuel oils
Fuel oils

Coefcient

Value

1280
12
1320
12

a
b

Table 8
Coefcients for Eq. (18).

Nominal pipe size (mm)

Multiply fuel mass ratio (G) by

Flue gas type

Coefcient

Value

50
75
100
150
200
250

1.05
1.04
1.02
1.01
1
0.998

Flue
Flue
Flue
Flue

30.7302785
1.19090080
205.192307
1.19465034

Table 5
Tuned coefcients used in Eqs. (8)(11) for gross thermal efciency percent.
Symbol

Temperature less than 400 C

Temperature more than 400 C

Aa
Ba
Ca
Da
Ab
Bb
Cb
Db
Ac
Bc
Cc
Dc
Ad
Bd
Cd
Dd

3.5867271007
5.97137044  104
1.041459411  104
2.706436001  107
8.0707270036  102
3.800851813
1.3006679819  101
3.538013277  104
2.5316310679  105
2.1062599069  103
5.1739316869  101
1.46145027479  101
2.73393876175  107
3.078059945  105
6.622921581  103
1.927246931  101

1.80332283009
1.199075376  101
2.116704420  103
1.940342135  105
4.6693314389  103
2.440655075  102
4.6657851398
4.444289104  102
3.063354486  106
1.690959337  105
3.40089217929  103
3.3787223665  101
7.128880427  108
3.935986933  107
8.2133524884  105
8.5237594268  103

So, Eq. (7) represents the proposed governing equation in which

four coefcients are used to correlate gross thermal efciency percent (Eg) for a gas as a function of stack gas temperature (T) and excess air percent (X). This second predictive tool (Eqs. (7)(11))
determines the gross thermal efciency from the excess air and

gas
gas
gas
gas

LHV
LHV
HHV
HHV

a
b

stack gas temperature. Especially for insulated heaters or furnaces,

the combustion efciency is close to the gross thermal efciency.
The difference is the heat lost through the walls to the
surroundings.

Eg a

b
c
d

T T2 T3

where

a Aa Ba X C a X 2 Da X 3
2

b Ab B b X C b X D b X

c Ac Bc X C c X 2 Dc X 3

10

d Ad Bd X C d X 2 Dd X 3

11

So, Eq. (12) predicts approximate external heat transfer coefcients

for 75, 100, and 150 mm nominal pipe size (NPS) steel pipes arranged in staggered rows and surrounded by combustion gases as
a function of mass velocity and gas temperature. This third predictive tool (Eqs. (12)(16)) determines ue gas convection-coefcients for ow across staggered banks of bare tubes.

ln h a

b
c
d

m m2 m3

12

where

Table 6
Tuned coefcients used in Eqs. (13)(16) for prediction of convection coefcient.
Symbol

Pipe diameter, 89 mm

Pipe diameter, 114 mm

Pipe diameter, 168 mm

A1
B1
C1
D1
A2
B2
C2
D2
A3
B3
C3
D3
A4
B4
C4
D4

4.918737132
9.08329572  102
3.75751009  105
5.814371094  107
1.72287207
3.87317314  101
1.257490884  105
3.864705344  107
5.7447120608  101
1.84636037  102
3.703569982  104
2.146592072  107
3.742830645  102
9.504240999  101
8.9541624502  103
2.8005463579  106

4.955004725
8.475657696  102
2.42256423  105
2.731986387  107
2.626696297
4.065789429  102
2.747044931  104
1.704080417  107
1.367664112
2.472637134  102
6.031842028  104
1.9544314875  107
2.426865939  101
1.662288813  101
3.181288441  104
7.15701890  106

4.597974856
6.62358437  102
1.95364904  105
1.99840303  107
1.856362745
4.454201835  102
2.64223037  105
5.249216789  107
9.5280937416  101
1.465756727  102
7.406550924  104
1.82637445  107
2.243710488  101
3.6490362918  101
2.4517973416  104
2.77569628819  106

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A. Bahadori, H.B. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 21942202

Table 9
The accuracy of proposed predictive tool for predicting approximate external heat
transfer coefcients.
Mass
velocity,
kg/m2 s

0.5
2
3
0.5
2
3
0.5
2
3
0.5
1
3
2
3
.5
2.4
2
3
1
0.5

Temperature,
C

100
100
100
300
300
300
600
600
600
100
100
300
200
600
400
100
200
300
600
600

Nominal
pipe
size
(NPS),
mm

Reported
external
heat
transfer
coefcient
[11]

Calculated
external
heat
transfer
coefcient

Average
absolute
deviation
percent

75
75
75
75
75
75
75
75
75
100
100
100
100
100
150
150
150
150
150
150

11
26
33
12.6
29.2
37
15
34
43
10
16
34.2
26
39
10.2
23
21
28.82
17
11

10.904
26.571
33.051
12.496
29.626
36.836
14.912
34.164
42.248
9.9215
15.965
33.669
26.0108
38.551
10.09
22.748
21.601
28.221
16.564
10.884

0.9
2.2
0.2
0.8
1.5
0.44
5.9
0.5
1.8
0.8
2.2
1.55
0.04
1.2
1.1
1.1
2.9
2.1
2.6
1.06

Average absolute deviation percent

Table 10
The accuracy of proposed predictive tool for predicting gross thermal efciency
percent of gas with HHV = 37.3 kJ/m3.
Excess
air
percent

Temperature,
C

Reported gross
thermal efciency
percent [11]

Calculated gross
thermal
efciency
percent

Absolute
deviation
percent

0
20
40
60
80
100
150
200
0
20
40
60
80
100
150
200

20
50
100
200
300
400
20
50
400
500
600
700
800
900
400
600

88
87.5
85
79
72
63
87.8
85
75
68
59
48.5
38
23
57
28.5

88.16
87.13
85
79.055
71.496
63.18
87.68
85.306
74.932
67.978
59.187
48.787
37.386
24.361
57.434
31.866

0.2
0.42
0
0.07
0.7
0.3
0.14
0.36
0.1
0.03
0.32
0.6
1.62
5.92
0.76
11.8

Average absolute deviation percent

1.6%

B1 C 1 D1

T T2 T3
B2 C 2 D2
b A2 2 3
T T
T
B3 C 3 D3
c A3 2 3
T T
T
B4 C 4 D4
d A4 2 3
T T
T

a A1

13
14
15
16

Eq. (17) calculates ratio of ue gases to heat release as a function of

excess air percent. Eq. (18) predicts the enthalpy of the exit gas
from radiant section as a function of temperature.

1.46%

r a bX

17

H a bT

18

2.1. Proposed methodology to design radiant and convection sections

After developing the relevant simple predictive tools, the following step-by-step methodology is recommended to design radiant and convection sections in direct red heaters.
1. Estimate the ratio of ue gases to heat release using new proposed Eq. (17).
2. Calculate density of ue gas and ratio of air to fuel, kg/kg.
3. Determine fraction of total heat liberation absorbed in radiant
section from new proposed simple correlation in this work
(using Eqs. (1)(5)).

Fraction of Total Heat Liberation that is

Absorbed in Radiant Section

0.75
Q/A=18000
Data
Q/A=24000
Data
Q/A=30000
Data
Q/A=36000
Data
Q/A=42000
Data
Q/A=48000
Data

0.7
0.65
0.6
0.55
0.5
0.45
0.4
0.35

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

28

30

32

Ratio of Air to Fuel (kg/kg)

Fig. 2. Prediction of absorbed fraction of total heat liberation in the radiant section of a direct red heater as a function of air to fuel mass ratio, kg/kg and the allowable heat
ux to the tubes (W/m2) from Eqs. (1)(5) and comparison with some typical data [11].

2199

A. Bahadori, H.B. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 21942202

4. Calculate heat transfer (rates) and radiant heat transfer area.

5. Determine the heat content rate of the combustion gases leaving radiant section.
6. Calculate heat transfer coefcient by new proposed simple correlation for convection section (Eqs. (12)(16)).
7. Predict the required surface area.
8. Calculate the length of heat transfer surface.

3. Results
Fig. 2 illustrates the results of proposed predictive tool for predicting the absorbed fraction of total heat liberation in the radiant
section of a direct red heater as a function of air to fuel mass ratio,
kg/kg and the allowable heat ux to the tubes (W/m2), comparing
with some typical data [10,11]. As can be seen, the results of the
new proposed predictive tool are accurate and acceptable. It also
shows the emissivity of combustion gases decreases at higher air
to fuel mass ratio, and increases for lower allowable heat ux to
the tubes.

Fig. 3 shows the results of the proposed Eq. (6) to calculate the
correcting coefcient C of the allowable heat ux to the tubes as a
function pipes nominal size in meter. Figs. 4 and 5 show the accuracy of proposed predictive tool to estimate the percent gross thermal efciency as a function of stack gas temperature and excess air
percent in comparison with the reported data [10,11]. These
graphs show excellent agreement between proposed predictive
tool and reliable data in the literature. Figs. 6 and 7 show external
heat transfer coefcients for 75, 100 mm nominal pipe sizes (NPS)
for steel pipes arranged in staggered rows and surrounded by combustion gases as a function of mass velocity and gas temperature.
These graphs also demonstrate the excellent performance of the
proposed predictive tool.

4. Case study
Given below is an example [11] to demonstrate the application
of the proposed predictive tool showing the easiness of handling
these predictive tools for design purposes.

1.07
1.06

Coefficient

1.05
1.04
1.03
1.02
1.01
1
0.99

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

Nominal Pipe Size, m

Fig. 3. Results of the proposed Eq. (6) to calculate the correcting coefcient C of the allowable heat ux to the tubes as a function pipes nominal size (Eq. (6)).

Gross Thermal Efficiency, Percent

90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
250

Excess Air=0 Percent

Data
Excess Air=20 Percent
Data
Excess Air=40 Percent
Data
Excess Air=60 Percent
Data
Excess Air=80 Percent
Data
Excess Air=100 Percent
Data
Excess Air=150 Percent
Data
Excess Air=200 Percent
Data

300

350

400

450

500

550

600

650

700

Stack Gas Temperature, K

Fig. 4. Gross thermal efciency percent as a function of stack gas temperature and excess air percent for temperature less than 400 C.

2200

A. Bahadori, H.B. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 21942202

Gross Thermal Efficiency, Percent

80
70
60
Excesa Air=0 Percent
Data
Excesa Air=20 Percent
Data
Excesa Air=40 Percent
Data
Excesa Air=60 Percent
Data
Excesa Air=80 Percent
Data
Excesa Air=100 Percent
Data
Excesa Air=150 Percent
Data

50
40
30
20
10
0
600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

Stack Gas Temperature, K

Fig. 5. Percent gross thermal efciency as a function of stack gas temperature and excess air percent for temperatures more than 673 K.

45

Convection Coefficient

40
35
30
25

T=100C
Data
T=200C
Data
T=300C
Data
T=400C
Data
T=500C
Data
T=600C
Data

20
15
10
0.5

1.5

2.5

Mass Velocity
Fig. 6. Prediction of convection heat transfer coefcient

W
m2  C

as a function of mass velocity

kg
m2 S

and temperature for 89 mm OD steel pipe.

40

Convection Coefficient

35
30
T=100C
Data
T=200C
Data
T=300C
Data
T=400C
Data
T=500C
Data
T=600C
Data

25
20
15
10
5
0.5

1.5

2.5

Mass Velocity
Fig. 7. Prediction of convection heat transfer coefcient

W
m2  C

as a function of mass velocity

kg
m2 s

and temperature for 114 mm OD (outside diameter).

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A. Bahadori, H.B. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 21942202

Problem statement: Estimate the radiant tube area for a

3000 kW regeneration gas heater. To avoid overheating the tubes,
a radiant ux of 30,000 W/m2 is specied. The design calls for
100 mm NPS Sch 80 tubes on a 2400 mm tube circle. The fuel is
0.61 relative density gas with LHV of 37 260 kJ/m3. Use 20% excess
air. Fuel gas and combustion air are supplied at 15 C. The heater
NTE is 80%. The tubes are arranged in one row at 200 mm spacing.
Design the convection section for the above 3000 kW regeneration gas heater. The heat loss is assumed to be 2% of the heat release. Use six 100 mm NPS Sch 80 tubes on 200 mm centre-tocentre spacing with 2400 mm effective length in each row. After
two rows of bare shock tubes use nned pipe, 118 ns/m, 32 mm
high, 2.7 mm thick. Assume pipe wall temperatures of 90240 C
across the nned part of the convection section and average values
of 250 and 260 C for the two shock row.

H 6073:2  103 =5625

1080 kJ=kg
T g 918  C flue gas-LHV from Eq: 18
Area of gas flow Number of tubesLSpacing-D
62:40:2  0:114 1:24 m2
Gg 5625=1:24  3600 1:23 kg=s m2
First shock row: assume the average gas temperature is 885 C
and tube wall temperature is 260 C.

260 885
573  C
2


W
ho 21:6
2

m C
T gmean

A = 0.359 m2 per linear meter and 14.4 is linear meter per row.

4.1. Solution

Atube 14:40:359 5:17 m2

6

r 1520 kg flue gas=MW h 417 kg flue gas=10 kJ

from Eq: 17

Flux Q=A 30; 000 W=m2

kg flue gas
r  LHV 417  37;260 15:537 3
m fuel gas
1  0:61  29
0:747 kg
Mass of 1 m3 fuel gas
23:68
Mass of combustion air 15:537  0:747 14:79 kg
G

Q C ho ADT 21:65:17885  260 69; 795 W

14:79
kg air
19:8
0:747
kg fuel

Correction factor for 100 mm tube is 1.02 (from Eq. (6)).

Q r Q =AA 30; 0005:17 155:1 kW

Q c Q r 69:795 155:1 224:9 kW
Q exitgases 1687  224:9 1462:1 kW
Hexitgases 5263:6  103 =5625 935:7 kJ=kg
T gexit 820  C Flue gas-LHV from Eq: 18
Second shock row is analogous except that the radiant heat ux
is one third of that for the rst row, i.e., 10,000 W/m2.

Corrected G 1:02  19:8 20 kg air=kg fuel

Q r 10; 000  5:17 51:7 kW

a 1:012639040591 from Eq: 2

With ho 21 W=m2 C

b 0:033609556267 from Eq: 3

Q c 215:17885  260 67 kW

c 6:13560449361  104

from Eq: 4

Q c Q r 67 51:7 111 kW

d 6:0428565753  106

from Eq: 5

Q exitgases 1462:1  119 1343 kW

F 0:53 from Eq: 1

UHT  R 3000  0:53

1988 kW
Q
NTE
0:8
Q
1988  1000
66:9
Radiant heat transfer area r
30; 000
I
The surface area of 100 mm NPS pipe is 0.359 square meter per
meter.

Total tube length 66:9=0:359 186:4 m

There are 37 vertical tubes in a cylindrical heater with a
2400 mm diameter tube circle when the tubes are 200 mm centre-to-centre:

Tube length 186:4=37 5:04 m

Then Qtotal is calculated:

Q total Duty=GTE 3000=0:80 3750 kW

r 1500 kg flue gas=MW h
Flow rate of ue gases = 3.75 (1500) = 5625 kg/h.
Assuming the setting loss of 2% or 75 kW occurs in the radiant
section, the heat content rate of the combustion gases leaving radiant section can be estimated to be:

Qradiant exit 3750  1988  75 1687 kW

6073:2  103 kJ=h
The enthalpy of the exit gas from radiant section:

Hexitgases 4864  103 =5625 864:7 kJ=kg

T gexitgases 762  C from Eq: 18
Finned rows : the combustion gas mass velocity increases because of the increased cross sectional area of nned pipe.

Acs 114=1000 1182:7178  144=106 0:134 m2 =

Linear meter
562
1:64 kg=s m2
Gg
14:40:2  0:1343600
Q f 3000  1988  224:9  111 676:1 kW
Q exit 3750  3000  75 675 kW
2:43  106
432 kJ=kg
5625

T g exit 395 C from Eq: 18
Hgexit

Assuming that HHV is 10% more than LHV, the gross heater efciency is calculated by Eqs. (7)(11):

a 3:559176613 from Eq: 8

b 7:8025197  102
c 2:3056447  10

from Eq: 9
5

from Eq: 10

d 2:3678256  10 from Eq: 11

Eg 73:161% from Eq: 7
Pipe and gas temperatures are:

2202

A. Bahadori, H.B. Vuthaluru / Applied Energy 87 (2010) 21942202

T P1 90  C; T P2 240  C; T pav 165  C

T g1 762  C; T g2 395  C; T gav 578:5  C

DT LM 762  240  395  90=ln 522=305 405  C

165 578:5
T film
372  C
2
W
ho 25 2 
m C
Q f ho Ao DT LM
Ao

676:1  103
66:78 m2
25  405

This is the theoretically required surface area. The n efciency

is 87% and the external surface area of the nned pipe is 3.676 m2/
linear m.

Lpipe

66:78
20:88 m
0:87  3:676

5. Conclusions
In this work, simple-to-use predictive tools, which are simpler
than current available models involving a large number of parameters, requiring more complicated and longer computations, is formulated to design radiant and convective sections of direct red
heaters. Over the past decades, several methods have been developed to design radiant and convective sections of direct red heaters However, in practice, these approaches are not easy to use,
since they require a detailed understanding of complex mathematical formulations. According to the authors knowledge, there is no
simple-to-use predictive tool in the literature to design radiant and
convective sections of direct red heaters. In view of this status,
our efforts have been directed at formulating simple-to-use predictive tool that can help engineers to design radiant and convective
sections of direct red heaters. The predictive tool proposed in
the present work is simple and unique expression which is nonexistent in the literature. In addition, the proposed predictive tools
are smooth and well-behaved (i.e. smooth and non-oscillatory)
equations which should allow for more accurate predictions.
Acknowledgements
The lead author acknowledges the Australian Department of
Education, Science and Training for Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (EIPRS), the Ofce of Research &
Development at Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western
Australia for providing Curtin University Postgraduate Research
Scholarship and the State Government of Western Australia for
providing top-up scholarship through Western Australian Energy

Research Alliance (WA:ERA). Useful comments from three anonymous reviewers and the editor are also acknowledged which led
to improvements in the original version of the paper.
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