An Educational

Computer-Aided Tool for

Heat Exchanger Design
F. L. TAN,1 S. C. FOK2
1
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University,
50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Received 5 November 2004; accepted 18 November 2005

ABSTRACT: This paper presents the development of an educational computer-aided

design tool for the shell and tube heat exchanger. The software integrates the thermo-
hydraulics analysis based on Kern method with the mechanical design based on Tubular
Exchanger Manufacturing Association (TEMA) Class ‘‘C’’ standard. The software allows the
user to experiment with different design specifications and visualize the solutions in the form
of performance data and engineering drawings. Technical drawings on the parts of the heat
exchanger, like the shell, tube, front and rear header, tube sheet and baffle plate, are produced
by the software to assist the user in appreciating issues relating to practical fabrication and
costing. Through the correlation of the thermo-hydraulic performance, configurations and
dimensions with respect to the technical specifications, it is hoped that the user could better
appreciate the fundamentals of heat exchanger design. ß 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl
Eng Educ 14: 77
89, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI
10.1002/cae.20073

INTRODUCTION the most commonly used heat exchangers. A shell and

Heat exchangers are found in a wide variety of
applications in the aeronautical, process, chemical,
power, and electronics industries. They can be
classified based on the flow arrangements and
construction [1]. The parallel flow, center flow, and
cross flow are the three basic flow arrangements.
Figure 1 shows a shell and tube heat exchanger, one of
Correspondence to F. L. Tan (mfltan@ntu.edu.sg)
ß 2006 Wiley Periodicals Inc.
tube heat exchanger consists of two primary parts, the
shell and tube, along with other secondary compo-
nents including the inlet and outlet nozzles, the baffle
plates, tube sheets, tie rods, guiding plates, and sealing
strip.
Due to the wide applications of heat exchangers
in industries, courses in the thermal design and
analysis of these systems can be found in many
engineering schools. The main motivation of
these courses is on the rating and sizing of the
system components [2] to meet the design thermal
specifications. Rating concerns the evaluation of the

77
78 TAN AND FOK
Figure 1 Shell and tube heat exchanger.
thermo-hydraulics performance given the geometrical
dimensions of the heat exchanger. Sizing determines
the exchanger configuration given the specifications
including temperatures, fluid, flow rates, pressure
drop, etc. This focus is critical as an oversized
exchanger can lead to unnecessary and excessive
power consumption, while an undersized system may
not produce the thermal requirements.
The conventional process of rating and sizing the
components in a heat exchanger involves tedious and
lengthy routine calculations that are not only time
consuming but also highly prone to human error.
Furthermore, an iterative procedure would often have
to be adopted to investigate different possible
configurations. To facilitate the development process
and minimize the problems as a result of human
errors, heat exchangers in industries are increasingly
designed and analyzed using computer-aided design
tools [3
5]. Many of these commercially available
programs had included the heat exchanger design
standards from American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME) and Tabular Exchangers Manu-
facturers Association (TEMA).
The industrial trend of using computer-aided
tools has compelled many universities to develop and
introduce computer software in courses for the design
and optimization of heat exchangers [6,7]. The
objective of using software in the education of heat
exchanger designs is not only to reinforce the student
understanding of the underlying principles of exchang-
er design, but also to allow students to bridge the gap
between theoretical consideration and engineering
practice. For example, the heat exchanger simulator
(HES) [6] is developed for the training of chemical
engineers, the emphasis of which is in the analysis of
the real industrial heat exchanger problems. HES
allows students to concentrate on the analysis of the
solutions with respect to the practical problem but this
might not necessarily give students additional insight
into the fundamental theories. On the other hand, the
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Design Software
(STHEDS) [7] is an educational tool that caters for the
thermo-hydraulic design and flow-induced vibration
analysis of the shell and tube heat exchangers.
STHEDS allows students to better understand the
fundamentals in heat exchanger design but lacks the
mechanical design capabilities to enable students to
appreciate practical engineering considerations. In
industries, the thermal and hydraulic analysis of heat
exchangers cannot be viewed as a stand-alone process.
The analysis must be integrated with other develop-
ment activities, including manufacturing, costing,
system life cycle support, etc. Otherwise, there is
the danger that the design is difficult to manufacture,
requires high-production cost, or contains flaws that
production engineers have to correct or send back for
redesign.
This paper describes an educational computer-
aided design tool for heat exchanger that integrates
thermo-hydraulics analysis with mechanical design.
This software focuses on the shell and tube heat
exchanger and aims to complement the theories
behind the thermo-hydraulics design analysis with
practical mechanical design details required for
costing and production. Program Description and
Development Consideration section gives an overall
description of the development consideration. Pro-
gram Implementation section covers the program
implementation. The verification of the program is
discussed in Validation With Benchmark Problem
section. Conclusions and future work can be found in
Conclusion section.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND
DEVELOPMENT CONSIDERATION
The heat exchanger mechanical design software is
developed to educate users in heat exchanger design.
The aim is to allow users not only to better understand
the fundamentals associated with heat exchanger
designs through thermo-hydraulic analysis, but also
to appreciate the fabrication, costing, and mainte-
nance aspects through evaluation of the detailed
 COMPUTER-AIDED TOOL FOR HEAT EXCHANGER DESIGN
mechanical drawings. The program is designed to
cater for both students and novice engineer to heat
exchanger design.
The program is developed in Java [8], a
programming language syntactically based on C and
Cþþ. Java is not a procedural programming lan-
guage. It adopted an object-orientated programming
approach and the code can be reused through
inheritance without sacrificing the functionality of
already implemented systems. This feature would
facilitate future expansion of the software. Figure 2
shows the flowchart of the logic behind the software
development. As in practical situations, the thermo-
hydraulics analysis should be initiated after the user
has input and selected the key parameters of the heat
exchanger requirements. Following the rating, the
results of the analysis and the input requirements
should be displayed for the user evaluation. The user
can modify the parameters until a satisfactory design
that meets the specifications (e.g., pressure drop) is
obtained. This process will allow the users to reinforce
their understanding of the fundamentals by relating
SELECTION, INPUT DATA
& REQUIREMENT
OF
HE DESIGN PARAMETER
RATING OF THE DESIGN
THRU’
THERMAL & HYDRULIC
ANALYSIS
EVALUATE THE DESIGN BY
THERMAL, HYDRAULIC &
DIMENSION CONSTRAINT
ACCEPTABLE UNACCEPTABLE
GENERATING HE
COMPONENT
DRAWINGS
PRINT OUT
Figure 2 Design logic of heat exchanger design software.
79
the outcomes with input parameters. Once a satisfac-
tory design is obtained, the user can generate
the detailed mechanical drawings for the shell, tube
layout, headers, tube-sheets, and baffle plates.
These details will allow the user to further investigate
various issues associated with fabrication, costing and
maintenance.
As an educational tool, the program must be user
friendly. GUI provides the key to making the program
easy to learn and simple to use. Figure 3 shows the
framework of the program structure. The program
structure allows the user the free choice of access to
whichever part of the program through menu bar,
which currently contains five main menus: design,
analysis, drawing, file and help. In the software
development, human-computer interaction has been
considered in the menu development. The number of
keystrokes required for user input has been kept to a
minimum. This will minimize the number of errors
and mistakes.
Figure 4 shows the Design Menu, which is
automatically initiated at the start of program for the
MODIFICATION OF DESIGN
PARAMETER
80 TAN AND FOK

PROGRAM
Main Menu FILE HELP

DESIGN ANALYSIS DRAWINGS

DATA THERMAL DESIGN SHELL

ENTRIES HYDRAULIC DESIGN TUBE/TUBE SHEET
BAFFLE PLATE
FRONT HEADER
REAR HEADER
FULL ASSEMBLY

Figure 3 Program menu of heat exchanger design software.

user to input and select key design parameters. These temperature require user input. If this type of input
include the type of exchanger, tube/shell profile, fluids field is accidentally left blank, an error message will
used, and temperature requirements. Some parameters be generated to prompt the user for input. Other
like mass flow rate and fluid inlet and outlet parameters like exchanger type can be selected by the

Figure 4 Design menu.

 COMPUTER-AIDED TOOL FOR HEAT EXCHANGER DESIGN
user. For these selections, default values will be used
if these are not specified by the user. Some parameters
like fluid density and fluid-specific heat are self-
generated when the type of fluid used is selected.
The Analysis menu contains two sub-menus:
thermal design and hydraulic design. Figure 5 shows
the results of a typical thermal design analysis. It gives
both the shell and tube fluid properties as well as the
tube profile. Figure 6 shows the results of a typical
hydraulic design analysis. It gives the calculated result
of fluid-related properties and vital information on
the pressure drop for both the shell-side fluid and the
tube-side fluid. A warning message is generated by the
software to advise the user to resize the heat
exchanger if the calculated pressure drop exceeded
that of the specified allowable pressure drop.
The Drawing Menu contains sub-menus to
generate the drawings and dimension details for the
shell, tube/tube sheet, baffle plate, front header, rear
header, and the fully assemble heat exchanger. When
a sub-menu is selected, the drawing of the selected
component will be displayed together with a pop-up
screen showing the dimensions (Fig. 7). Dimension
pop-up can be hidden by clicking ‘‘X’’ and be recalled
by clicking on the show button as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 5 Thermal Analysis menu.
81
The File Menu contains sub-menus for New,
Open, Save, and Exit: these are standard administra-
tion facilities in Widows based software. These allow
designs to be saved in ‘‘.he’’ format for later recall
using the ‘‘OPEN’’ sub-menu. The Help Menu
contains standard tutorial facilities to guide the user
not only on the use of the software but also on the
design of the shell and tube heat exchanger. This
facility will further aid the user understanding on the
fundamentals and practice of heat exchanger design.
PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION
Many methods of designing heat exchanger have been
developed in the past 50 years. The Kern method is
used in this work for the thermo-hydraulic design
analysis. The following sub-sections give the details
of the thermal analysis, hydraulic analysis, and the
fundamentals relationships in the mechanical design.
Thermal Analysis
Heat exchangers enable exchanges of thermal energy
among two or more fluids at different temperatures.
82 TAN AND FOK

Figure 6 Hydraulic Analysis menu.

Figure 7 Drawing with dimension pop-up screen.

 COMPUTER-AIDED TOOL FOR HEAT EXCHANGER DESIGN 83

Figure 8 Drawing without dimension pop-up screen.

Thermal analysis of a heat exchanger is based on the
conservation of energy. Ideally, q the heat released by
the hot fluid should equal the heat gain by the cold
fluid:
m_ c ðCpc ÞðTci
Tco Þ ¼ UAFDTm ð1Þ
The LMTD correction factor F, which varies with the
type of shell, the number of shell pass and the number
of tube pass, can be obtained from charts in the TEMA
standard handbook. The heat transfer coefficient for
inside flow is given by

m_ h ðCph ÞðThi
Tho Þ ¼ UAFDTm ð2Þ Nu

hi ¼ k ð5Þ
di
where the subscripts ‘‘c’’ refers to cold, ‘‘h’’ refers to
hot, ‘‘i’’ refers to inlet, and ‘‘o’’ refers to outlet
conditions. Let DT1 be the temperature difference of The Nusselt number Nu is determined using empirical
the two fluids at one end of the heat exchanger and correlation based on the flow conditions governed by
DT2 be the temperature difference of the two fluids at the Reynolds number.
the other end of the heat exchanger. Using the log The heat transfer coefficient for outside flow, ho
mean temperature difference (LMTD) approximation can be calculated using

0:14
DT1
DT2 0:36k

DTm ¼ ð3Þ ho ¼ ðRes Þ0:55 ðPrÞ1=3 b ð6Þ
lnðDT1 =DT2 Þ De
w

the average overall heat transfer coefficient and the where

heat transfer area that governs the size of the heat Gs De
exchanger can be determined as Res ¼ ð7Þ


1
U¼
d o 1 do do lnðdo =di Þ 1 ð4Þ Cp

þ Rfi þ þ Rfo þ Pr ¼ ð8Þ
di hi di 2km ho k
84 TAN AND FOK

The shell-side mass velocity Gs is given by Equation (16) has taken into the account the sudden
expansion and contraction the tube fluid experiences.
m_
Gs ¼ ð9Þ For the laminar flow, Re ¼ Ummdi t < 4; 000
As
16
where As , the bundle cross flow area at the center of f ¼ ð17Þ
Re
the shell, is given as
For the turbulent flow, Re ¼ 4000 < Um
di t < 100; 000
Ds CB
As ¼ ð10Þ
PT f ¼ 0:079Re
0:25 ð18Þ
and C, the clearance between adjacent tubes, is
defined as Mechanical Design
C ¼ P T
do ð11Þ The design of mechanical components of shell and
The equivalent diameter of the shell, De, is tube heat exchanger is based on TEMA standard [9].
dependent on the layout of the tube sheet. Generally The main components considered here are tubes,
for any pitch layout, De can be assumed to be four shells, the front and rear headers, the tube sheets and
times the net flow area (as layout on the tube sheet) the baffle plates. The design and assembly of the heat
divided by the wetted area. The tube layout is exchanger involving all these components is impor-
characterized by the included angle between tubes, tant for cost and energy reasons.
such as 308, 458, 608, and 908. For a square pitch The shell basically houses the tubes and allows
layout, the equivalent diameter is given by the fluids to flow over the tubes for heat exchanging.
 The shell types have been standardized by TEMA and
ððP2T
pdo2 4Þ types E, F, and X are considered in the software. The
De ¼ 4 ð12Þ
pdo categorizing of shell type is very much dependent of
the position of the inlet and outlet shell nozzle.
For a triangular pitch layout, the equivalent diameter In this development the shell length L is set up as a
is given by constraint for determining the number of tubes and the
h pffiffiffi   i
shell outer diameter Do, which is expressed as
4 P2T 3=4
pðdo Þ2 =8
De ¼ ð13Þ Do ¼ Ds þ 2Ts ð19Þ
ðpdo =2Þ
The value of Ts can be obtained from TEMA standards
and Ds can be found using
Hydraulic Analysis rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi" #1=2
CL Ao ðPRÞ2 do
The hydraulic analysis consists of the determination Ds ¼ 0:637 ð20Þ
of shell side and tube side pressure drop. The pressure CTP L
drop on the shell side is calculated using the following
The tube layout constant CL changes accordingly to
expression:
the tube pitch layout. For square pitch layout (458 and
908), CL ¼ 1.0 and for triangular pitch layout (308 and
Ds ðNB þ 1ÞG2s
Dps ¼ f ð14Þ 608), CL ¼ 8.7. The tube count constant CTP depends
2rs De Fs on the number of tube passes. For one tube pass,
 0:14
where Fs ¼
b =
w . The number of baffles NB CTP ¼ 0.93 and for two tube passes, CTP ¼ 0.9. The
can be calculated by NB ¼ L=B. Note that (NB þ 1) is tube pitch ratio PR can be found from
the number of times the shell fluid passes the PR ¼ PT =do ð21Þ
tube bundle. The friction factor f can be determined
The shell side fluid is discharged into the tube
from
bundle through a nozzle. If the flow velocity
f ¼ expð0:576
0:19 ln Res Þ ð15Þ through the nozzle exceeds a certain limit, the tubes
can vibrate. The minimum inside shell nozzle
for 400 < Res ¼ G
s De  1  106.
s diameter Dns (mm) [10] to avoid this phenomenon is
The pressure drop Dpi at tube side can be
given by
calculated using
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi


LNp  U2 m_ s
Dpt ¼ 4f þ 4Np t m ð16Þ Dns ¼ ð22Þ
di 2 ðp=4Þs Vns
 COMPUTER-AIDED TOOL FOR HEAT EXCHANGER DESIGN
where Vns max, the maximum nozzle shell velocity, is
calculated by
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2; 250
Vns max ¼ ð23Þ
s
The assembly of the heat exchanger is made possible
by bolting the shell flanges to the headers’ flanges.
The flange width shown in Figure 9 is dependent on
the size of bolting used.
The flange width fw is approximately expressed as
three times the bolting edge distance [9]:
fw ¼ 3ð1:5dB Þ ð24Þ
The flange outer diameter can be calculated by
DF ¼ Do þ 2fw þ 0:004 ð25Þ
In Equation (25), a clearance of 4 mm (0.004 m) is
added to allow for the flange to slip over the shell.
The tube contains the tube fluid, which enters
from the front header and exit via the rear header. The
tubes are laid out according to TEMA standard as
discussed in the thermal analysis. The software allows
the user to choose between one-tube pass and two-
tube passes. This selection will not only affect the
LMTD correction factor used in the calculation of
heat transfer rate but also the physical construction of
the heat exchanger. The physical construction of the
heat exchanger also changes with different selection
of tube passes, which can be described based on the
location of inlet and outlet nozzle on the front and rear
header.
The tube sheets are used to hold the tubes at the
ends. A tube sheet is generally a round plate which has
grooves for gaskets; bolt holes for flanging to the shell
and the channel; as well as holes for the desired tube
layout pattern and tie rods. A fixed tube sheet is
Figure 9 Flanges.
85
normally welded to the shell as shown in Figure 10.
The floating tube sheet is designed to cater for thermal
expansion.
Figure 10 shows the tube length definitions. Lto is
the nominal tube length for all bundle types except the
U tubes. Lti is the length of summation of all baffles
spacing. To determine Lti the tube sheet thickness Lts
must be known. Lts can be estimated as
Lts ¼ 0:1  Ds ð26Þ
Lti can be calculated as
Lti ¼ Lto
2Lts ð27Þ
Figure 11 shows the tube sheet definition. The upper
tube limit, Dot1 is defined as
Dot1 ¼ Ds
Lbb ð28Þ
where Lbb is the inside shell diameter-to-tube bundle
bypass clearance (diametral), which is related to shell
inner diameter Ds [11]. The lower limit Dct1 is defined as
Dct1 ¼ Dot1
do ð29Þ
Baffles are plates designed to support the tubes
for structural rigidity, preventing tube vibration and
sagging. It also helps to divert the flow across the
bundle to obtain a higher heat transfer coefficient.
They may be classified as transverse and longitudinal
types. Figure 12 shows single segmental transverse
type baffles. The number of baffle plate, NB can be
calculated as
NB ¼ IntegerðLti =Lbc
1Þ ð30Þ
where NB must be an integer value.
Front and rear headers are used respectively as
the entrance and exit for the tube fluid. The front
header is usually stationary while the rear header
86 TAN AND FOK

Tube sheet Region of Central

Baffle, Lbc Lbo
Spacing, Lbc
Shell

Lts Lti=Lta Lts

Lbi Lbmax A Lbmax

Lto

B1 B2
Figure 10 Shell and tube sheet.

Figure 12 Baffles.

could be either stationary or floating depending on the VALIDATION WITH

thermal stresses between the tube and shell. In some BENCHMARK PROBLEM
rear header a provision has been made to take care of
the tube thermal expansion. In this development, front Benchmark problems serve to ensure that the values
header can be of types A, B, and C; and rear header obtained from the developed software are correct and
can be of types L, M, P, S, and W. The header outer accurate. The following is one such benchmark
diameter is similar to the shell outer diameter. Header problem used to valid the software:
wall thickness is taken to be similar to the shell Water enters the copper tubes at mass flow rate of
thickness. The cover thickness, Tc, as recommended 2.5 kg/s. The water inlet and outlet temperature is
by TEMA is 158C and 858C, respectively. Water is used to cool
" !4 shell side fluid ethylene glycol and its inlet tempera-
G ture is 1608C. Ethylene glycol is delivered at a mass
Tc ¼ 5:7P  5:706  10
3
100 flow rate of 5.19 kg/s. The shell shall be limited to 2 m
!#13 ð31Þ in length. The tube outer diameter is 0.012 7 m with
2hG  0:198  AB G tube thickness of 0.001651 m. The tubes layout pitch
þ pffiffiffiffiffi  10
3 and angle are 0.024 m and 608C, respectively.
dB 100
This benchmark problem was obtained from the
where the gasket mean diameter G is given by heat transfer textbook by Incropera and deWitt [1].
The thermal and hydraulic analyses of the benchmark
G ¼ DF
4hG ð32Þ
problem together with the standard results are
tabulated in Tables 1 and 2, respectively. The software
has also been tested using other benchmark problems
and the results obtained show good correlations with
the benchmark solutions.
otl The current version of the software is not able to
automatically generate an optimized solution to the
design of the shell-and-tube heat exchanger based on
ctl the given technical specifications of the heat exchan-
ger. The user has to modify the input values to achieve
a suitable design. That will require a sound under-
standing of the theory of heat exchanger. Thus, the
s
software is more suitable for the educational use as a
computer-aided tool to design the heat exchanger.
do
The software provides suitable technical drawings
for the practical understanding of the heat exchanger
design. The software can be further expanded
to handle TEMA Class ‘‘B’’ and Class ‘‘R’’ type
Figure 11 Tube sheet definition. heat exchangers, and other TEMA heat exchanger
 COMPUTER-AIDED TOOL FOR HEAT EXCHANGER DESIGN 87

Table 1 Comparison of Computed Thermal Design Results With Benchmark Solution

Item Symbol Description Software solution Benchmark solution Error (%)
Thermal design
1 Tho Shell outlet temperature (8C) 99.79 99.79 0
2 q Heat transfer rate (W) 742,872.7 731,850 1.5
3 LMTD Log mean temperature difference (8C) 79.9 79.9 0
4 U Overall heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K) 447.22 445.73 0.3
5 At Total tube surface area (m2) 20.51 20.57 0
6 Ntt Total number of tubes 257 257 0
7 Lt Total length of tubes (m) 514 514 0

Table 2 Comparison of Computed Hydraulic Design Results With Benchmark Solution

Item Symbol Description Software solution Benchmark solution Error (%)
Shell side
1 Tmh Shell fluid mean temperature (8C) 129.9 129.9 0
2
Shell fluid absolute viscosity (Ns/m2) 0.00105 0.00105 0
3  Shell fluid density (kg/m3) 990 990 0
4 De Equivalent shell diameter (m) 0.0373 0.0373 0
5 Ds Inner shell diameter (m) 0.42 0.42 0
6 Re Reynolds number 3,728.95 3,729.3 0
7 f Friction factor 0.37287 0.3728 0
8 Dps Calculated pressure drop (N/m2) 262.76 257.0 2.2
Tube side
1 Tmc Tube fluid mean temperature (8C) 50 50 0
2
Tube fluid absolute viscosity (Ns/m2) 0.000653 0.000653 0
3  Tube fluid density (kg/m3) 1,000 1,000 0
4 Um Mean velocity (m/s) 0.59997 0.59997 0
5 f Friction factor 0.0082 0.0082 0
6 Re Reynolds number 8,632.81 8.634.8 0.03
7 Dpt Calculated pressure drop (N/m2) 1,975.59 1,974.7 0.05

configuration. Cost estimation of the heat exchanger
[12] and the generation of the bill of materials (BOM)
will be included in future work.
CONCLUSION
student could use these mechanical drawings for
costing and production planning. This would help the
student to better appreciate the practical aspects of
heat exchanger design and development. Future work
would involve further development of the software to
include costing of the heat exchanger.

A software has been developed and validated for the

thermo-hydraulic and mechanical design of the shell ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
and tube heat exchangers. The development is based
on the Kern method for the thermal and hydraulic The authors acknowledge the work of Nanyang
design analyses. The mechanical design is based on Technological University undergraduate student, P. K.
the TEMA standards. The implementation has also Lim, for his contribution in the software development.
taken basic human-computer interaction issues into
consideration. The friendly GUI allows the user to
input parameters and select exchanger configurations NOMENCLATURE
with ease. By allowing the user to experiment and
correlate the solutions to different design require- A heat transfer surface area (m2)
ments, the software could assist the user to better AB bolt cross-sectional area (m2)
understand the fundamentals of the thermo-hydraulic As crossflow area at or near shell centerline,
design analysis. Furthermore, the program can auto- (m2)
matically generate technical drawings showing the Ao outside heat transfer surface area (m2)
dimensions of the designed heat exchanger. The Bc baffle cut (%)
88 TAN AND FOK

C clearance PR tube pitch ratio

Cpc tube side specific heat (J/kg  K) Pr Prandtl number
Cph shell side specific heat (J/kg  K) PTtube layout pitch
CL tube layout constant q heat transfer rate (W)
CTP tube count calculation constant Re Reynolds number
Dc cover diameter (m) Res shell fluid Reynolds number
Dctl diameter through center of tube (m) Rfi inside tube surface fouling resistance
De shell Equivalent diameter (m) Rfo outside tube surface fouling resistance
DF flange diameter (m) Tb baffle plate thickness (m)
Ds inside diameter (m) Tc cover thickness (m)
Dns nozzle diameter (m) Tci tube fluid inlet temperature (8C)
Dotl outer tube limit (m) Tco tube fluid outlet temperature (8C)
Dts tubesheet outside diameter (m) Thi shell fluid inlet temperature (8C)
dB bolt diameter (m) Tho shell fluid outlet temperature (8C)
do tube outside diameter (m) Ts shell thickness (m)
di tube inside diameter (m) U overall heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)
F LMTD correction factor Um mean velocity (m/s)
f Fanning friction factor Vns nozzle velocity (m/s)
fw flange width (m) Dps shell side pressure drop (Pa)
G gasket mean diameter (m) Dpt tube side pressure drop (Pa)
Gs shell side mass flow rate (kg/sm2) DTm log mean temperature difference (K)
hG radial distance between mean gasket DT1 temperature difference of inflow fluid (K)
diameter and bolt circle (m) DT2 temperature difference of inflow fluid (K)
hi inside tube heat transfer coefficient mb dynamic viscosity at bulk temperature (Ns/
(W/m2K) m 2)
ho outside tube heat transfer coefficient mw dynamic viscosity at wall temperature (Ns/
(W/m2K) m 2)
km thermal conductivity of tube material (W/ m dynamic viscosity (Ns/m2)
mK) rs shell fluid density (kg/m3)
ks shell fluid thermal conductivity (W/mK) rt tube fluid density (kg/m3)
kt tube fluid thermal conductivity (W/mK)
L shell length or maximum tube length per
pass (m)
Lbmax maximum unsupported tube span (m) REFERENCES
Lbb diametral shell to tube bypass clearance
(m) [1] F. P. Incropera and D. P. DeWitt, Fundamental of heat
and mass transfer, 4th ed., Wiley, New York, 1996.
Lbc central baffle spacing (m)
[2] S. Kakac and H. Liu, Heat exchangers—Selection,
Lbc,total total unsupported tube span (m) rating, and thermal design, CRC Press, Boca Rato, FL,
Lbi inlet baffle spacing (m) 1999.
Lbo outlet baffle spacing (m) [3] D. N. Paliwal, A. Rakheja, A. Malik, and M. Chouhan,
Lta effective tube length for heat transfer area A program for the design of a heat exchanger as per
(m2) TEMA standards, Int J Press Vessels Piping 57 (1994),
Lti baffled tube length (m) 111
129.
Lto overall nominal tube length (m) [4] R. Mukherjee, Effectively design shell-and-tube heat
Lts tubesheet thickness (m) exchangers, Chem Eng Prog 94 (1998), 21
37.
tube fluid mass flow rate (kg/s) [5] T. A. Kara and O. Guraras, A computer program for
c
shell fluid mass flow rate (kg/s) designing of shell-and-tube heat exchangers, Appl
h
Therm Eng 24 (2004), 1797
1805.
NB number of baffle
[6] L. M. F. Lona, F. A. N. Fernandes, M. C. Roque, and S.
Np number of tube pass Rodrigues, Developing an educational software for
Nt number of tube per pass heat exchangers and heat exchanger networks projects,
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 COMPUTER-AIDED TOOL FOR HEAT EXCHANGER DESIGN
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BIOGRAPHIES
Fock-Lai Tan was born in Singapore in
1959. He received his BEng degree in
mechanical engineering from the National
University of Singapore in 1984 and his
MSME degree in mechanical engineering
from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Troy, New York, in 1992. He is currently
an associate professor at the School of
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
in Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore. His primary research interest is in the area of thermal
management using phase change material. He has been actively
involved in the development of multimedia courseware for
university teaching and mobile learning.
89
[11] J. Taborek, Shell and tube heat exchangers: Single-phase
flow, hemisphere handbook of heat exchanger design,
Vol. 3, Hemisphere, New York, 1990.
[12] M. C. Roque and L. M. F. Lona, The economics of the
detailed design of heat exchanger networks using the
Bell Delaware method, Comput Chem Eng 24 (2000),
1349
1353.
Sai-Cheong Fok received the BASc degree
in engineering from University of Ottawa,
Canada, in 1985 and his PhD in mechanical
engineering from Monash University,
Australia, in 1990. He has worked as an
engineer in the aircraft industry. He is
currently an associate professor in the
Department of Mechanical Engineering at
The Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi. His
current research interests are in virtual
prototyping, machine learning, and computer-aided learning.