Internal heat transfer and pressure drop measurements in a variously baffled shell and tube heat exchanger

Heat transfer coefficients, pressure distributions, and fluid flow patterns on the shell side of shell and tube heat exchangers are discussed. The main focus was to quantify the effect of the size of the baffle window on the heat transfer coefficient, which was measured at each tube in the bundle and at three Reynolds numbers. Pressure drops were obtained by measuring detailed pressure distributions within the exchangers. The flow visualizations provided fluid flow patterns adjacent to the shell wall, to the baffle plates, and at each tube of the array. Performance comparisons among the exchangers were carried out holding the heat transfer surface area fixed together with either the pumping power, the mass flow rate, or the pressure drop. Numerical evaluations of commonly employed design procedures are presented using the present data as a means for rank ordering their validity. Tinker's design method provided the best predictions of the present heat transfer and pressure drop results, which are unaffected by leakage and bypass.