Comprehensive review of pure vapour condensation outside of horizontal smooth tubes

The thermal design of an industrial shell-and-tube condenser requires the use of heat transfer coefficients, usually obtained from tables or correlations. Willing to develop a numerical model for design purposes, the present authors noticed the surprising diversity of correlations for the shellside heat transfer coefficient in the case of pure vapour condensation outside of horizontal smooth tubes. In order to shed light on this specific topic, a bibliographic study was therefore initiated. This comprehensive review is meant to provide the designers with means to understand how each correlation was obtained, from the assumptions to the resolution method. Thus two main phenomena are well accounted for in this paper: vapour shear stress and condensate inundation. Indeed, the review lists the most important contributions to this field and details their interconnections. Consequently, the present authors conclude this paper with their recommendations.