Reviewing baffle arrangements in shell and tube heat exchanger with a CFD approach

The aim of this article was to review different baffle types and configurations made on shell and tube heat exchangers, since baffles affects the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop mostly. Baffles used in shell and tube heat exchanger improve heat transfer and also result in increased pressure drop which in turn increase the pumping power needed. Following the single segmental baffle which is most commonly used in the industry due to abundant research, experimental data, and modeling done to assist designers, there was a need for a new and better approaches to answer new industry needs. New baffles such as double segmental, triple segmental, helical, rod, and orifice baffles were introduced. Among them, helical baffles was most researched and orifice baffles still need attention. In this paper it was attempted to introduce and review some of the researches made on the baffles aforementioned with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. Since every industry needs are different, it’s clear that there is no general preference that fits all, rather an optimum should be tailored and personalized to answer specific requirements.

کلیدواژه ها:

shell and tube ، heat exchanger ، baffle ، CFD ، numerical simulation