Effect of curved segmental baffle on a shell and tube heat exchanger thermohydraulic performance: Numerical investigation

In this paper a numerical investigation on shell-and-tube heat exchanger (STHE) with three configurations of novel segmental curved baffles (convex core baffles/convex peripheral baffles (CB1), convex peripheral baffles/ convex core baffles (CB2), and convex peripheral baffles/concave core baffles (CB3)) for thermohydralic performance analysis and enhancement is presented. STHE with conventional straight baffles (SB) is also numerically studied for comparison. Each baffle configuration was tested under different Reynolds number in shell side (Rec) (17693?30331) based on the overall heat transfer coefficient (U), effectiveness (?), and number of transfer unit (NTU). Also, pressure loss across the shell side is calculated to estimate the energy loss from the system due to the suggested design. In addition, the influence the inlet cold fluid temperature, baffle cutting ratio, and baffle spacing are tested, analyzed and discussed. The results showed that CB3 configuration results in a significant augmentation of the heat exchanger performance compared with the others two configurations for all investigated cases. The enhancements in U, ?, NTU by using CB3 configuration compared to SB are 48.98%-51.31% and 22.92%?23.62% and 48.98%?51.31% respectively, with decreasing in pressure loss by 12.40%?11.22%.