Velocity profiles between two baffles in a horizontal circular tube

Abstract

The shell and tube heat exchanger is an essential part of a power plant for recovering heat transfer between the feed water of a boiler and the wasted heat. The baffles are also an important element inside the heat exchanger. Internal materials influence the flow pattern in the bed. The influence of baffles in the velocity profiles was observed using a three-dimensional particle image velocimetry around baffles in a horizontal circular tube. The velocity of the particles was measured before the baffle and between them in the test tube. Results show that the flows near the front baffle flow were parallel to the vertical wall, and then concentrate on the upper opening of the front baffle. The flows circulate in the front and rear baffles. These flow profiles are related to the Reynolds number (Re) or the flow intensity. The velocity profiles at lower Re number showed a complicated mixing, concentrating on the lower opening of the rear baffle as front wall. Swirling flow was employed in this study, which was produced using tangential velocities at the inlet. At the entrance of the front baffle, the velocity vector profiles with swirl were much different from that without swirl. However, velocities between two baffles are not much different from those without swirl.