Parametric study of gross flow maldistribution in a single-pass shell and tube heat exchanger in turbulent regime

International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow, Available online 24 May 2013, In Press, Corrected Proof
Parametric study of gross flow maldistribution in a single-pass shell and tube heat exchanger in turbulent regime
K. Mohammadi (a), M.R. Malayeri (a, b)
a Institute of Thermodynamics and Thermal Engineering (ITW), University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 6, D-70550 Stuttgart, Germany
b Department of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Eng., Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Abstract
Conventional heat exchanger design arbitrarily assumes uniform distribution of flow in tube bundle of shell and tube heat exchangers. In practice, however, flow maldistribution may be an inevitable occurrence which can severely impact thermal and mechanical performance of heat exchangers.
Current models for flow maldistribution in the tube-side deal only with the maximum possible velocity deviation. Other flow maldistribution models recommend the use of a probability distribution, as in Gaussian distribution. None of these methods produces a quantitative estimate of the number of tubes that suffer from flow maldistribution. Authors propose a mathematical model for the prediction of gross flow maldistribution in the tube-side of a single-pass shell and tube heat exchanger. The model can quantitatively estimate the magnitude of flow maldistribution and the number of tubes which have been affected.
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