Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Design

1.0

Input Data

The following items summarize the input data to be prepared prior to commencement of the design of heat exchangers: Operating data : Flow rates, operating conditions, physical properties, etc as shown in Table- 1 Construction data: Installation (horizontal, vertical or inclined); Design pressure and temperature; Tube geometries (length, OD, thickness); Tube pitch and layout angle; Materials Nozzle size, rating and facing Design requirements: Allowable pressure drop Table- 1: Input process data Fluid Name Flow Rate Operating Pressure Operating Temperature Vapour Fraction Heat Duty Fouling Factor Vapour Thermal Conductivity Viscosity Enthalpy Specific Heat Density Liquid Thermal Conductivity Viscosity Enthalpy Specific Heat Density Critical Pressure Boiling Range(Dew-Bubble) SI --kg/s or kg/hr kPaG or MPaG C wt/wt kW or MW 2 m -K/W 2 W/m -K m.Pa.s kJ/kg kJ/kg-K 3 kg/m W/m-K m.Pa.s kJ/kg kJ/kg-K 3 kg/m kPaA C Metric --kg/hr 2 Kg/cm G C wt/wt MMkcal/hr 2 m -hr-C /kcal kcal/m-hr-C cP kcal/kg kcal/kg-C 3 kg/m kcal/m-hr-C cP kcal/kg kcal/kg-C 3 kg/m 2 Kg/cm A C Requirement Yes Yes Yes Yes (Yes) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (Yes) (Yes) Notes

For two phase flow

For boiling For boiling

2.0

Output from the Design

Process calculation results: Overall heat transfer coefficient; Film coefficient of both shell and tube sides; Temperature difference (MTD); Heat transfer area (effective/gross); Pressure drop estimates; Basic construction information: Shell material, size and thickness; Tube material length and pitch; Baffle geometries (type, cut orientation, cut%, central spacing and number); Corrosion allowance; Insulation Design references: Process calculation references (Methods Kern / ; Mechanical standard class (TEMA, BIS, etc.); Design considerations such as short term conditions, if required Complete fabrication drawing consisting of the following set(s) General arrangement drawings including stacking plan, if required; Shell, Nozzles and support details, other connections (vent, drain, instruments, etc); Tube bundle and its component details; Details of stationary and floating head.

The design steps are

(a) Prepare input data as listed Table 1 (b) Select the standard class and exchanger type (See Para 3.0) following the appropriate design code.

Follow the design procedure and generate the process calculation results and the basic construction information. (See Para 2.0) (d) Prepare the design report and the data sheets (Table )
(c)

3.0 Codes and Standards

Common standards for design of shell and tube exchangers are TEMA - Tubular Exchangers Manufacturers Association (TEMA) , a US based organisation of heat exchanger manufacturers have a design code formulated with the following subsection

o o o o o

Class R : the design and fabrication of unfired shell and tube heat exchangers for the generally severe requirements of petroleum and related processing applications Class C : the design and fabrication of unfired shell and tube heat exchangers for the generally moderate requirements of commercial and general process applications Class B : the design and fabrication of unfired shell and tube heat exchangers for chemical process service TEMA Standards refer to the ASME boiler code (Section I) or pressure vessel code (Section ) according to the services of the heat exchanger. National standards and codes specified by the client shall also be applied. American Petroleum Institute has its standard (API 660) for heat exchangers to be used in refineries and petroleum related applications. The BIS code covering the shell and tube heat exchangers is IS 4503:1967. Its data sheet is specified by IS 10123:1982. Air cooled exchangers are specified in IS 10470:1983 and its data sheet is IS 10873:1983. There are other codes applicable to heat exchangers for marine, air conditioning etc. BIS 4503-1967 Reaffirmed 2003 (Indian Standards - Specification for Shell and Tube Exchangers). This code broadly classifies shell and tube type heat exchangers as (a)Fixed tube plate - non-removable tube bundle design, (b) U-tube- removable tube bundle and (c) Floating head- removable tube bundle types. There with subdivisions, give the following seven designs 1 ) Fixed tube plate (see Fig. 1 ), 2 ) U-tube (see Fig. 2 ), 3) U-tube reboiler or kettle type (see Fig. 3), 4 ) Internal floating head ( pull through type ) ( see Fig. 4 ), 5 ) Internal floating head ( non-pull through type ) ( see Fig. 5 1, 6) Internal floating head (reboiler or kettle ) (see Fig. 6), and 7 ) Floating head external packed ( see Fig. 7 ) BIS 4503 refer to IS 28251969, Indian standard code for unfired pressure vessel. ASME : American Society of Mechanical Express has its code ASME Section VIII, Division I for unfired pressure vessels as well as the pressure parts of heat exchangers. BSI: British Standards Institution standard no BS ISO 16812 is applicable for shell and tube exchangers in petroleum, petrochemicals and natural gas industries. DIN and GOST are the German and Russian standards with specific codes for heat exchangers. Heat exchanger type designation according to TEMA is guided by the features of 1)Front end stationary head, 2) Shell and 3)Rear end head. Fig. 1 shows the different features of each

Fig. 1: TEMA Type Designation of S&T Heat Exchangers

Some guidelines for selecting the shell and tube side fluids Tube side fluid High temperature fluid as at higher temperature the allowable stress is lower. Tubes, having much lower diameter (compared to shell), can withstand much higher pressure at the same temperature. This makes the design safer. Further, this ensures lower heat losses from the exchanger to the surroundings and lower cost of exchanger insulation. Dirty fluid as tubes are easier to clean. Fouling fluids - the chance fouling is less as the stagnation points are only few.Also, the tube fluid, mostly flowing at a higher velocity would have lower fouling. Slurry is preferred in the tube side for the same reason. More hazardous or expensive fluid as its chance of leaking out is lower. Fluid at higher pressure as lower diameter of tubes call for a lower wall thickness compared to the shell Corrosive fluid so that only the tubes and not the shell is exposed to the corrosive environment. A corrosive fluid in shell would affect both the shell and the tubes. Cooling water (Reason?) Shell side fluid - More viscous fluid as the critical Reynolds number for turbulent flow is 200 on the shell side. Thus when flow in tubes is laminar, it may be turbulent in the shell side for the same flow conditions. However if the flow is still laminar in the shell, it is directed through the tubes since this ensures more accurate prediction of both heat transfer and flow distribution. - Liquid with the lower flow rate to avoid multipass construction with LMTD correction factor below unity. It may also result in turbulent flow due to lower critical Reynolds number for the shell side flow. - Condensing steam/vapor is selected for the shell, which offers a lower pressure drop. However in vertical condensers, vapor- liquid mixtures resulting from vapour condensation is allowable. - Fluid for which the pressure drop limit is lower or there is chance of exceeding the same e.g. fluid of high viscosity - Fluid that has lower heat transfer characteristics - Fluid undergoing phase change In horizontal thermosiphon reboilers, the process fluid is in the shell and the heating stream or steam may be in the tubes.
Table 2 provides a general guidance for selection of the exchanger type that includes stationary and rear end, shell and the tube bundle.

Table 2: General guidance for selection of the exchanger type

Floating Head Pull-Through Bundle

Design Requirements

U-Tube

Fixed Tube sheet

Floating Head Split Backing Ring

Provision for individual tubes free expansion joint in differential expansion to expand shell Removable bundle yes no Replacement bundle yes not practical possible Individual tubes only those in outside yes replaceable row Tube interiors cleanable difficult to do yes, mechanically, can do mechanically or chemically chemically Tube exteriors with triangular pitch chemically only chemically only cleanable Tube exteriors with yes, square pitch cleanable mechanically or chemically only chemically Number of tube passes any practical even normally no number possible limitations Internal gaskets yes yes eliminated Cost comparison data BEU=1.0 BEM=1.0 (by TEMA type) AEU=1.1 BEN=1.1 (*1) BKU=1.2

floating head yes yes yes yes, mechanically or chemically chemically only yes, mechanically or chemically normally no limitations no AES=1.5

floating head yes yes yes yes, mechanically or chemically chemically only yes, mechanically or chemically normally no limitations no AET=1.5 AKT=1.8

In general the tubes are plain but some applications use low-fin tubes that provide about 2.5 times the external surface area. Typically these fins are 0.3 mm thick, 1.3 mm high and 19 fins per inch of tube length. Low-fin tubes are costlier by 50 to 70% and are used - When shell side fouling resistance is low typically below 0.00053 m2.K/W - If ratio of the total heat transfer resistance (including fouling) in the shell side is twice or more than that in the tube side. - Add other points from Shah and Sekulik Typical tube thickness for different tube sizes and materials are shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Tube of different materials Materials Carbon steel Low alloy steel(<9Cr-1/2Mo) Aluminium Aluminium alloy Other alloy steel (above 9Cr-1/2Mo through stainless steel) Non-ferrous (Ni-Cr-Fe alloy, Copper, Aluminium brass/bronze, Admiralty brass, CopperNickel, Monel, etc.) Titanium Tube side fouling factor Less than Mildly corrosive 2 0.00035m -K/W Corrosive 2 0.00035m -K/W Mildly corrosive or more Corrosive
2

OD 19.0 or mm 19.05 (*1) 25.0 or mm 25.4 19.0 or mm 19.05 (*1) 25.0 or mm 25.4 19.0 or mm 19.05 25.0 or mm 25.4

Thickness (*2,*3)
14BWG(2.11 ) mm 12BWG(2.77 ) mm 12BWG(2.77 )
mm

10BWG(3.4

mm

mm

Less than 0.00035m -K/W

16 BWG(1.65

mm

0.00035m -K/W or more

14 BWG(2.11
mm

---

0.914
mm

18BWG(1.24

Designers restrict to the following nominal standard tube lengths: 2500 mm, 3000 mm, 3500 or 4000 mm; 4500 or 5000 mm, 6000 mm. Effective tube length is the length used for calculating heat transfer area and baffle spacing and is found as follows Le = L - 2TS (*1) Le = L - 2TS-XLZ (*2) Le = L - TS + XU (*3)(*4) (nozzle at/after U-bend) Le = L - TS - 50mm (*5) (nozzle before U-bend) (*1) TS : Tubesheet thickness (*2) XLZ : Floating head dead space (S or T type) (*3) XU : U-bend length ( only the curved portion) (*4) The U- bend is included in the effective length. But this should be confirmed with the clients criteria (*5) 50mm indicates the distance between TL and the last baffle. For fixed tube sheet For floating head For U-Tube

TS is roughly estimated by the following equation: TS = DS (P)/58.3 (mm) Where DS: shell diameter (mm) P: Design pressure (Kg/cm2(g)) of shell or tube, whichever is higher For DS 500mm, TS is higher of 50 mm and the caklculated value

For DS <500 mm, Ts is higher of the calculated value or DS/10

XU is calculated as OTL/3, OTL being the outer tube limit diameter, OTL = (Shell ID) (Bundle-to-shell clearance) The bundle-to-shell clearance depends on the type of tube bundles. It should not be less than the value listed in Table- 5. XLZ is decided by the floating head flange bolt size and the difference between the shell and tube thermal expansion. Rough estimated values are shown in Table- 4.

Table- 4 Estimated Floating Head Dead Space (XLZ, mm) Shell ID 250 mm 500 mm 750 mm 1000 mm 1300 mm 1500 mm 10 190 210 230 250 270 290 Design Pressure, (Kg/cm G) (*1) 20 30 200 210 230 240 260 280 290 320 320 360 350 400
2

40 220 250 300 350 400 450

NOTE(*1): shell or tube side, whichever is greater. Table- 5 Allowable Minimum Bundle-to-Shell Clearance Shell ID [ mm ] ~199.9 ~248.8 ~297.9 ~350 ~400 ~450 ~500 ~550 ~600 ~650 ~700 ~750 ~800 ~850 ~900 ~950 ~1,000 ~1,050 ~1,100 ~1,200 1,200~ Bundle to Shell Clearance (Shell ID - OTL) [ mm ] Fixed Tube, U-Tube Sprit Ring Floating Head(*1) 10.9 10.8 10.9 9.5 35.0 10.0 35.0 34.9

10.5

45.0

12.0 15.0 30.0

51.0

60.0

NOTE(*1): Add 100mm for Pull Through Floating Head (TEMA-T)

Bundle-to-shell clearance = 2X X

OTL Figure- 2 Diagram of Bundle-to-Shell Clearance

Tube Bundle Tube layout is based on TEMA type, shell diameter, number of tubes (in U-tube exchangers it is the number of holes in the tube sheet), Tube pattern/diameter/pitch, number of tube passes, nozzle size, requirement of impingement baffle. Standard tube patterns are shown below Flow Flow Flow Flow

30

60

90

30 Triangular

60 Rotated Triangular

90 Square

45 Rotated Square

In general, choice of triangular or square pitch decides the shell area. Selection of the pattern may be based on the performance features listed in Table 6.

Table 6 Options of different tube pitches and their features Pattern Triangular Square

Applicable shell side fluid Press-drop (shell side)

Heat transfer coefficient (shell side)

Shell diameter

Rotated Low fouling tendency due to the difficulty of mechanical cleaning Larger than square Larger than Smaller than rotated triangular triangular Higher than square Higher than Lower than rotated triangular triangular Lower So more compact design

Rotated No limitation

Smaller than triangular Smaller than Larger than rotated square square Lower than triangular Lower than Higher than rotated square square

Higher than triangular

Minimum tube pitch (PT) is 1.25 times the outer diameter of the tube. Common tube diameters and the corresponding pitch are: Tube OD Tube Pitch (19 mm or 19.05 mm) 15/16 (23.8 mm or 25 mm) 5 1 (25 mm or 25.4 mm) /4(31.8mm or 32 mm) The two alternative dimensions correspond to different gauge of tubes of same nominal size. Tube pass arrangements in the tube sheet can be Ribbon, H-banded (or mixed) or Quadrant and these are shown below in Fig. . The option is chosen based on the maximum number of tubes, deviation in tube counts per pass and pass by-pass flow in passlane. The deviation in tube counts per pass is less than 5%, preferably. The maximum deviation should be within 10%. But the flow velocity in the tubes of each pass should be checked if the deviation in tube counts exceeds 5% and the service has a limitation on flow velocity such as cooling water and slurry fluids. H-banded or quadrant passlane arrangement reduces bypass flow in the passlane if the baffle orientation is vertical. Schematically these arrangements are shown below Figure 3 Tube pass arrangements for straight tubes Ribbon H-banded or Mixed Quadrant

2 or multi-tube passes for straight tubes

Multi-tube passes for straight tubes

Multi-tube passes for straight tubes

In case of straight tubes the passlane width X is 19 mm and 22 mm for 19 (or 19.05) mm and 25 (or 25.4) as shown in Fig. 4. Figure 4 Pass lanes in the tube bundle

X Flow

A: Parallel pass lane, which is in parallel to flow direction

B: Perpendicular pass lane, which is in perpendicular to flow direction Impingement protection of tubes Some of the outer layer tubes in a tube bundle face the impinging entry fluid through the inlet 2 nozzles. These tubes get eroded particularly when the kinetic energy of the fluid (V /2) is

high and also when the entering fluid may contain a mix of vapour and liquid. Such tubes are required to be protected against erosion by a plate barrier called impingement plate (Fig. 5) or by a set of impingent bars. Such protection devices should be provided
when V through the inlet nozzle exceeds the following: Non corrosive, non abrasive, single phase fluid : 2230 (kg/m-sec )
2 2 2

All other liquids, including a liquid at its bubble point : 740 (kg/m-sec ) Where, is the fluid density, and V is the linear velocity of fluid. For two-phase fluid, the mean density should be calculated assuming a homogeneous vapor-liquid mixture. Additionally, for all other gases and vapours, including all nominally saturated vapours and liquid-vapour mixtures, impingement protection devices are provided.

Design guidelines for the dimensions in Fig. 5 are

H W L h Plate thickness : : : : : The minimum H is limited to 25% of the nozzle ID Nozzle ID + 50mm, min. See Table- 11 Min.10mm Min. 6mm

Figure 5 Impingement plate

Table 7 Values of L for different nozzle sizes Nominal Nozzle size L (mm) 2 110 3 4 6 220 8 270 10 320 12 370 14 400 16 460 18 510 20 560 24 660 >24
Nozzle OD + 50

140 170

Baffles
Usually baffles are segmental or disc-and-donut type Segemental baffles force the shell side fluid to travel across the tube bundle, whereas the disc -anddonut type force the flow across the tubes alternately towards the shell centre and away. The percent cut in segmental baffle refers to the % of the diameter cut off to shape it as segment of a circle. Lower % cut increases the shell side heat transfer coefficient at the cost of shell side pressure drop.

Disc-and-donut baffles are usually employed for dirty shell fluids and segmental baffles of different cuts are more common. Figure 6a,b Segmental and Disc-and-donut baffles

Baffle cut percent. The allowable baffle cut range for each baffle style for segmental and double segmental baffles are 10 to 49% and 10 to 30% respectively. The baffle edge should be located on the tube pitch center or tube center. 25% cut is recommended for segmental and single phase service. In case of a large size exchanger (shell ID is more than 1000mm), even 1015% is acceptable. 45% cut is recommended segmental and mixed phase service to avoid vapour accumulation at the top of the shell, except for small size exchangers (shell ID is less than 500mm). Orientation of segmental baffles In case of single phase flow in shell and without presence of any solid in the fluid, it is preferred to have horizontal baffle cuts with the fluid flowing up and down across the tubes. It is also used if shell side fluid is high viscous and flow regime is laminar. This avoids the chance of stratification, if there be any. Verical cut is preferred when the fluid is condensing, vaporising and also in case of single phase with or without solid. In this orientation, the shell side fluid flows horizontally across the tubes. Baffle spacing The inlet and the outlet baffles have different spacing from rest of the baffles. As an initial design, these spacings can be assumed as twice of the nozzle ID or 300mm, whichever is greater. TEMA specifies the minimum baffle spacing for segmental baffles to be the higher of 1/5 of the shell inside diameter, or 50 mm. A thumb rule limits the maximum spacing to twice the inside diameter of the shell. However, the maximum spacing between segmental baffles as per TEMA code should be such that the maximum unsupported tube span (maximum tube length which is supported by every other baffle) does not exceed the values in Table- 8. Note that these values indicate the maximum length to prevent the deflection of the tubes. These

do not consider the potential for tube vibration problems. Thus, engineers should check for tube vibration problem by using the program.

Table- 8 TEMA Maximum Unsupported Tube Spans Tube materials and temperature limits (C) Carbon Steel / Other alloy (400) Aluminium, Aluminium alloys Low alloy (455) Copper, Copper alloys Copper-Nickel (316) Titanium, Titanium alloy Nickel (454), Ni-Cr-Fe Alloy (538) (at code max. allow temp.) 1,525 mm 1,320 mm 1,880 mm 1,625 mm

Tube O.D.

19.0 or 19.05mm 25.0 or 25.4 mm

Nozzles The nozzles size usually is the same as the piping size. The design practice states that the total nozzle pressure drop for either the shell side or the tube side should not exceed about 25% of the total, except for the low pressure drop services such as for condensers or reboilers. In case of one tube pass exchanger, the pressure drop across the inlet nozzle of the tube side should not exceed 25% of the total. This avoids the flow mal-distribution on the tube side due to the high velocity head. Generally the hot side fluid should be introduced from top to bottom and the cold side fluid should be introduced from bottom to top. [ I do not know why possibly to allow vapour and liquid to escape. In cold fluid vapour formation and in hot fluid liuid formation chances are more and we do not want the phase formed to move in the opposite direction of the fluid introduced.] Typical cases of nozzle orientation are shown in Fig. 7.

Figure 7 Heat exchanger nozzle orientations

Most of the time nozzles are fabricated from standard pipe and Table 9 contains guidelines for selecting such nozzle thickness. The nozzle size is usually same as that of the connecting pipe. The pressure drop in the nozzles of the tube or the shell side should normally remain below 25% of the total shell or tube side pressure drop, except where theres phase change and the pressure drop is low e.g. in condensers and vaporisers / reboilers. Too high pressure drop in nozzles lead to a jetting action that may lead to flow mal-distribution. For axial nozzles to avoid tube end erosin, the V2 value should be below 8930 kg/m.Sec2. Table- 9 Nozzle Thickness Nominal nozzle size 1 1-1/2 2 3 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 24 ~1.0mm SCH. 160 Corrosion Allowance ~3.0mm ~6.0mm

SCH. 160 SCH. 80

SCH. 160

SCH. 80 SCH. 80 SCH. 40 SCH. 40

Exchanger Support Horizontal exchangers require saddle support which is designed as per the appropriate code of design for unfired pressure vessels IS 2825 for India, ASME code for TEMA exchangers or other codes that may be mutually agreed by the manufacturer and the purchaser. When more than one shell is used, these are usually stacked to reduce floor space requirement and also to keep the connecting piping short. Process Design Calculations Some useful relationships used while quickly evaluating the different design alternatives around a base design are given below Prssure drop (1) Ps or (Pt) V2, in turbulent flow; Ps or (Pt) V, in laminar flow (2) Pt (NTP/NTP)3 (3) Ps(DBL) = Ps(SEG) / 8 (4) Ps(J) = Ps(E) / 8 Where, V: Linear velocity Ps, Pt: Shell and tube side pressure drop excluding nozzle DBL, SEG: Double segmental Baffle, Segmental baffle J: