Mech 410 Final Project:

Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

By:

Mike Cummings Chris Lundy

Ben Partridge

Project Description

• Model a shell and tube heat exchanger and perform an in depth flow and thermal analysis

Engineering Approach

1.  Preliminary model: concentric tubes

2.  CAD model generation: shell and tube heat exchanger

3.  Flow analysis: parallel and counter flow comparison

Preliminary Models

• Simple concentric tube setup • Verified flow analysis results with

simple heat transfer hand calculations

Model Generation

• Used Solidworks to generate CAD model of a shell and tube heat exchanger

• Tubes cut from solid cylinder and shelled.

• 32 Tubes each 1m long, 9mm dia.

Analysis

•  Solidworks Flow Simulation was used to perform the analysis

•  Parallel and counter-flow simulations were run and then compared for performance using the same input parameters

•  The material used was copper with k=400 W/(m*K) and the fluid was water. Water Flow Comparison Flow [L/s]

Tube 4.1 Shell 2.4

Boundary Conditions

• The boundary conditions were comprised of inlet temperatures and outlet pressures for the shell and tube.

Parameter Value Shell Inlet temperature 283.2K

Tube inlet temperature 383.2K

Inlet pressures 121.325KPa

Outlet pressures 101.325KPa (1 atm)

Cross Flow

Cross flow video

Parallel flow

Parallel flow video

Analysis Results

•  The temperature exiting the tubes did not significantly change, but the temperature leaving the shell changed by 15°C between cross and parallel flow.

•  The flow rates and temperature difference are very high, so both configurations show small fluid temperature changes.

Temperatures Shell Inlet [K]

Shell Outlet [K]

Tube Inlet [K]

Tube Outlet [K]

Cross Flow 283.2 K 312 K 383.2 K 366 K

Parallel Flow 283.2 K 314 K 383.2 K 364 K

Problems Encountered

• Tried to use Comsol but found Flow Simulation more convenient

• Creating lids for the inlets and outlets • Time constraints while running flow

analysis, ~50mins per analysis • Unable to load old results without

crashing.

Further Analysis

• Use lower flow rates to obtain larger temperature changes.

• Try different tube configurations for more even shell flow.

Questions???