A CFD investigation and heat transfer augmentation of double pipe heat exchanger by employing helical baffles on shell and tube side

Abstract

The inclusion of baffles in a double pipe heat exchanger is becoming increasingly important as it improves the heat exchanger's performance. The CFD analysis is used in this paper to investigate the performance of double pipe heat exchangers with and without helical baffles on both shell tube sides. The 3-D CFD model was created in Solid Works, and the FloEFD software was used to analyze the conjugate heat transfer between the heat exchanger's tube and shell sides. Heat transfer characteristic like outlet temperature of shell and tube are investigated along with pressure drop on shell and tube side. Based on CFD results of double pipe heat exchanger with helical baffle on both shell side and tube side (Type 4) gives the better results than the other type of heat exchangers with an increased pressure drop than the others, results reveals that Type 4 outlet temperature of shell side is 8% higher and on tube side it is 5.5% higher, also pressure drop on shell side is 12% higher and on tube side it is 42% higher than the other types.