Numerical Study of the Performance of Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers with Longitudinal Finned Tubes

In this study, the thermal performance of shell and tube heat exchangers with three various configurations, including finless tube configuration (FLH), finned tube configuration (FTH), and optimized finned tube configuration (OFTH), has been investigated. A portion of the space between adjacent baffles inside the heat exchanger was simulated in ۳D using ANSYS Fluent commercial software. Subsequently, a numerical algorithm was developed to calculate thermal parameters for the entire heat exchanger based on the simulation results. The findings indicate that the presence of fins on the tubes within the heat exchanger can impede the flow of fluid across the tubes, thereby diminishing the heat exchanger's efficiency. Furthermore, heat exchangers equipped with finned tubes exhibit a higher pressure drop compared to the other two configurations. To enhance the heat exchanger's efficiency, the OFTH configuration was introduced. This design incorporates a protrusion on the inner shell wall, effectively directing all fluid flow across the finned tubes. The results demonstrate that this configuration achieves a pressure drop comparable to the FLH configuration while exhibiting the highest thermal efficiency among the three designs.

کلیدواژه ها:

Heat exchanger ، Thermal performance ، Numerical analysis ، Finned tubes ، Heat transfer enhancement