Kern Method of

SHELL-AND-TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER Analysis

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
I I T Delhi

Simplified Procedures using SemiEmpirical Correlations..

Properties
Density, kg/m3
Specific heat, kJ/kg K
Viscosity, cPoise
Thermal
conductivity,
W/m.K

Crude Oil
915
2.62
0.664/0.563
0.124

Heavy gas oil

890
3.08
0.32/0.389
0.14

Thermal Analysis for Tube-Side

Number of Tubes
The flow rate inside the tube is a function of the density of the
fluid, the velocity of the fluid, cross-sectional flow area of the
tube, and the number of tubes.

m tube t ut Ac N t
By using above Eq. and replacing Ac by di2/4, number of tubes
can be calculated as

m tube
Nt
2
t utd i

where di is the tube inside diameter.

Tubes in Shell and Tube Hx

The number and size of tubes in an exchanger depends on the
Fluid flow rates
Available pressure drop.
The number and size of tubes is selected such that the
Tube side velocity for water and similar liquids ranges from
0.9 to 2.4 m/s.
Shell-side velocity from 0.6 to 1.5 m/s.
The lower velocity limit corresponds to limiting the fouling,
and the
upper velocity limit corresponds to limiting the rate of erosion.
When sand and silt are present, the velocity is kept high
enough to prevent settling.

Number of Tubes Vs Reynolds Number

Number of Tubes Vs Heat Transfer Coefficient

Tube-Side Nusselt Number

For turbulent flow, the following equation developed by PetukhovKirillov is used:

Nutube

f
Re t Prt
2

1
f 2 23
1.07 12.7 Prt 1
2

Where f 1.58 ln Re t 3.28

Properties are evaluated at mean bulk temperature and constants

are adjusted to fit experimental data.
Validity range: 104 < Ret < 5 x 106 and 0.5 < Prt < 2000 with 10%
error.

For laminar flow, the Sieder and Tate correlation is be used.

Nutube

Re t Prt d i
1.86

is applicable for 0.48 < Prt < 16700 and (Ret Prt di/L)1/3 > 2.
The heat transfer coefficient for the tube-side is expressed as
follows:

kt
ht Nut
di

Thermal Analysis for Shell-Side

Tube Layout
Triangular pitch (30o layout) is better for heat transfer and
surface area per unit length (greatest tube density.)
Square pitch (45 & 90 layouts) is needed for mechanical
cleaning.
Note that the 30,45 and 60 are staggered, and 90 is in line.
For the identical tube pitch and flow rates, the tube layouts in
decreasing order of shell-side heat transfer coefficient and
pressure drop are: 30,45,60, 90.
The 90 layout will have the lowest heat transfer coefficient
and the lowest pressure drop.
The square pitch (90 or 45) is used when jet or mechanical
cleaning is necessary on the shell side.

Tube Layout & Flow Scales

A Real Use of Wetted Perimeter !

Tube Pitch
Tube pitch Pt is chosen so that the pitch ratio is 1.25 < PT/do <
1.5.
When the tubes are to close to each other (PT/do less than
1.25), the header plate (tube sheet) becomes to weak for
proper rolling of the tubes and cause leaky joints.
Tube layout and tube locations are standardized for industrial
heat exchangers.
However, these are general rules of thumb and can be
violated for custom heat exchanger designs.

Equivalent Counter Flow : Hydraulic or Equivalent

Diameter
The equivalent diameter is calculated along (instead of
across) the long axes of the shell and therefore is taken as
four times the net flow area as layout on the tube sheet
(for any pitch layout) divided by the wetted perimeter.

Net Free - flow area

De 4
heattransferperimeter

Equivalent diameter for square layout:

De square

4 A flow
Pe

2
4 P d O
4

d O

Equivalent diameter for Triangular layout:

2
T

De triangular

4 A flow
Pe

3PT2

2
dO
8

d O

Shell-Side Reynolds Number

Reynolds number for the shell-side is based on the
equivalent diameter and the velocity on the cross
flow area at the diameter of the shell:

sU s De Gs De
Re s

s
s

m s De
Re s

As s

Shell-Side Flow Area

The shell-side mass velocity is found with

Ds
As N tc .C.B
C .B
PT
Ashell

N t Apro tube
CTP

2
DS
4

Apro tube CL PT2

C PT d o

Shell-Side Flow

Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient for the

Heat Exchanger
The overall heat transfer coefficient for clean surface
(Uc) is given by

Considering the total fouling resistance, the heat

transfer coefficient for fouled surface (Uf) can be
calculated from the following expression:

Outlet Temperature Calculation and

Length of the Heat Exchanger
The outlet temperature for the fluid flowing through
the tube is

The surface area of the heat exchanger for the fouled con

and for the clean condition

where the LMTD is always for the counter flow.

The over surface design (OS) can be calculated from :

The length of the heat exchanger is calculated

by

Hydraulic Analysis for Tube-Side

The pressure drop encountered by the fluid making Np
passes through the heat exchanger is a multiple of the
kinetic energy of the flow.
Therefore, the tube-side pressure drop is calculated by

f tube 1.58 ln Re t 3.28

Properties are evaluated at mean bulk temperature and constants

are adjusted to fit experimental data.
Validity range: 104 < Ret < 5 x 106

Shell side Hydraulic Analysis

Where,

Gs : Shell side mass velocity

N b : Number of baffles

b
s
w

0.14

: Variable property correction.

f s : Shell side friction factor

b is the viscosity of the shell-side fluid at bulk

temperature, and w is the viscosity of the tubeside fluid at wall temperature.
The wall temperature can be calculated as follows:

Pumping Power

Ptube

m hot oil ptube

p hot oil

Pshell

m crude oil pshell

p crudeoil

Roadmap To Increase Heat Transfer

Increase heat transfer coefficent
Tube Side
Increase number of tubes
Decrease tube outside diameter

Shell Side
Decrease the baffle spacing
Decrease baffle cut

Increase surface area

Increase tube length
Increase shell diameter increased number of tubes
Employ multiple shells in series or parallel

Increase LMTD correction factor and heat exchanger

effectiveness
Use counterflow configuration
Use multiple shell configuration

Roadmap To Reduce Pressure Drop

Tube side
Decrease number of tube passes
Increase tube diameter
Decrease tube length and increase shell diameter and
number of tubes

Shell side

Increase the baffle cut

Increase the baffle spacing
Increase tube pitch
Use double or triple segmental baffles

 Study the effect of baffle spacing on size of heat

exchanger.
Study the effect of baffle spacing on total pumping
power.