© 2019 IJRTI | Volume 4, Issue 11 | ISSN: 2456-3315

Effect of Different Baffles Profile on Heat Transfer Rate and

Pressure Drop in Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger: A Review
Abhishek Joshi1, Mukesh Dole2

Research Scholar1, Assistant Professor2

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Lakshmi Narain College of Technology & Science (RIT), Indore

Abstract: Heat exchanger device act a mediator for thermal energy between fluids, at different temperatures. The tube
diameter, length and shell types are parameters and are available in standard sizes and geometry. Heat exchangers
applications areas are petroleum refining, refrigeration, cooling, nourishment industry etc. Construction of shell and-tube
type heat exchanger is simple and having versatile applications. This paper aims to conduct a survey for heat exchanger
with variety of baffles and its impact on pressure loss and heat transfer.

Keywords: Baffles, Shell and Tube HX, Pressure drop, heat transfer coefficient, fouling, Fold baffles, Baffle shape.

Introduction
A Heat Exchanger is a equipment capable to transfer high temperature fluid energy to a fluid at comparatively lower temperature
fluid. Invest is minimum and running cost is also low. Shell and tube type heat exchangers are most versatile; they are used with
wide variety of engineering applications.
Heat exchangers are of two types:-
 Where both fluid are in direct contact with each other is Direct contact heat exchanger,
 Where both fluids are separated by a wall, indirect contact heat exchanger.

Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

A Shell and tube heat exchanger consists of a shell (a large vessel) with a bundle of tubes inside it. Two fluids, of different starting
temperatures, flow through tubes (the tube side) and the other flows outside the tubes but inside the shell (the shell side). The fluids
can be either liquids or gases on either the shell or the tube side.

Literature Survey

Pranita Bichkar et al., (2018) Numerical model is used to compute and compare the shell side fluid performance of shell and tube
heat exchanger. Simulations are performed for different baffles. Number of baffles gives serious effects on pressure drop. Single
segmental baffles show the formation of dead zones with no heat transfer. This problem is solved by usage of double segmental
baffles. The use of helical baffles increases the overall system efficiency. So, it is concluded that helical baffles are more
advantageous.[1]

Swapnil S.Kamthe and Shivprakash B.Barve, (2017) This paper survey for impacts of various baffles sorts on pressure loss and
heat transfer in heat exchanger. It was inferred that helical baffles fill in as an all the more encouraging innovation due to having
less loss of pressure in shell, better heat exchange execution, less fouling and less liquid incited vibration. [2]

Asif Ahmed et al., (2017) FEM 3D numerical simulation of two segmentally baffled shell-and-tube heat exchangers (STHXs) with
plain tube bundle (STHXsPT) and annular-finned tube bundle (STHXsFT) has been performed. Comparative results shows that
STHXsFT has around 14% higher shell-side heat transfer coefficient and improved shell-side cross flow characteristics. Besides,
STHXsFT has slightly higher heat transfer coefficient per unit pressure drop compared to STHXsPT. [3]

Halil Bayram and Gökhan Sevilgen, (2017) In this present study, numerical and theoretical analysis are used to investigate the
effect of the variable baffle spacing on the thermal characteristics of a small shell and tube heat exchanger. The numerical study
was performed by using a three dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method and the computations were performed
under steady-state conditions. [4]

Saurabh Sharma and Ritesh Kumar Dewangan, (2017)5 This paper review design of Baffle plates and its different orientations
to improve overall performance of shell and tube heat exchanger. In most cases, 40° baffle inclination angle as well as low baffle
spacing will gives best results. [5]

M. Jin et al., (2017) Paper research for influence of baffle curvature radius of the sextant fan baffled shell and tube heat exchanger
(SFTHX) on the shell side pressure drop. Based on the numerically simulation results, [6]

A. A. Musilim et al., (2017) In present study, attempts were made to investigate the effects of varying baffle cut sizes at various
mass flow rates on temperature and pressure drop of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger for zero degree (0°) baffle inclination angle.

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 © 2019 IJRTI | Volume 4, Issue 11 | ISSN: 2456-3315

This study has shown that reducing baffle diameters, results in improvement on the flow conditions and overall cooling performance
of the heat exchanger. [7]

Swapnil S.Kamthe and Shivprakash B.Barve, (2017) A survey of exploratory research work is performed to test the impacts of
various baffles on pressure loss and heat transfer in heat exchanger. It shows that helical baffles is more excellent because it is
having lesser loss of pressur, better heat exchange execution, less fouling and less liquid incited vibration. [8]

J. Bala Bhaskara Rao and V. Ramachandra Raju, (2016) In the present study, CFD analysis for circular models and elliptical
models of the STHE with various baffle cuts at different tube orientations is conducted. It is found that the elliptical tube geometry
with mirror quarter baffle cut at 450 tube orientation is 10 % higher than existing shell and tube heat exchanger and the pressure
drop decrement in tube side shows up to 25 %. [9]

Xin Gu et al., (2016) Effect of main structural parameters of shutter baffle heat exchanger is studied in the article. The effects of
structural parameters are analyzed. Using the field synergy principle, the heat transfer enhancement mechanisms are analyzed. [10]

Sandeep M and U Sathish kumar (2015) In this paper, a study of triangle, rectangular and round cross sections for a shell and
tube heat exchanger is presented. From computational results, it is concluded that there is slight variation in heat transfer performanc.
Simulation results have good agreement with analytical results. [11]

Ajithkumar M.S. et al., (2014) In this paper, an effort has made for Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) analysis of a single pass
parallel flow Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger (STHX) with different baffle inclinations. From the CFD simulation results, the shell
side outlet temperature, pressure drop, optimum baffle inclination and optimal mass flow rate were determined. [12]

Neeraj kumar and Pradeep kumar Jhinge, (2014) In present work, single pass, counter flow shell and tube heat exchanger
containing segmental baffles with various orientations has been tested to find heat transfer rate and pressure drop at different
Reynolds number in laminar flow. It is observed that the angular orientation of baffles and the Reynolds number effects heat transfer
rate and pressure drop in the shell and tube heat exchanger. [13]

Amarjit Singh and Satbir S. Sehgal, (2013) In this study, the experimental analysis was performed on the shell-and-tube type heat
exchanger containing segmental baffles at different orientations. Three angular orientations (𝜃) 0∘, 30∘, and 60∘ of the baffles were
analyzed for laminar flow having the Reynolds number range 303–1516. It was observed that, with increase of Reynolds number
from 303 to 1516, there was a 94.8% increase in Nusselt number and 282.9% increase in pressure drop. Due to increase of Reynolds
number from 303 to 1516, there is a decrease in no dimensional temperature factor for cold water (𝜔) by 57.7% and hot water (𝜉)
by 57.1%, respectively. [14]

Literature Survey Conclusion

Review focuses on researches analyzed performance of industrial heat exchangers because of its expensive maintenance. In this
paper we discuss heat exchanger; its thermal design factors to design the tubes in the heat exchangers. They are tube diameter, tube
length, number of tubes, number of baffles, & baffles inclination etc. The characteristics of flow and heat transfer within the shell
are not simple. Various experimental analyses were conducted by many researchers to predict the characteristics of difference in
temperature and pressure drop, which are the performances of heat exchanger. The diameter of tube, the number of tubes and the
number of baffles may be considered as the design factors.

References
[1] Pranita Bichkar et al., Study of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger with the Effect of Types of Baffles, 2nd International
Conference on Materials Manufacturing and Design Engineering, Procedia Manufacturing Volume 20, pp 195–200, 2018.
[2] Swapnil S.Kamthe* and Shivprakash B.Barve, Effect of Different types of Baffles on Heat Transfer & Pressure Drop of Shell
and Tube Heat Exchanger: A review, International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, MITCOE, & DIAT, Pune,
AMET-2017, IJCET INPRESSO Special Issue-7, pp 358-362, 2017, March.
[3] Asif Ahmed et al., Comparison of Performance of Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers with Plain and Annular-Finned Tube
Bundle, Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Applied Science (ICMEAS 2017).
[4] Halil Bayram and Gökhan Sevilgen, Numerical Investigation of the Effect of Variable Baffle Spacing on the Thermal
Performance of a Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger, Energies Volume 10, pp 1156, 2017.
[5] Saurabh Sharma and Ritesh Kumar Dewangan, A Review on Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger (Sthx) Using Various Orientation
Angle of Baffle, International Journal of Engineering Sciences & Research Technology, Volume 6 Issue 10, 2017, October
[6] M. Jin et al., Optimization research of sextant fan baffle curvature radius in shell and tube heat exchanger, IOP Conference
Series: Materials Science and Engineering, pp 231, 2017.
[7] A. A. Musilim et al., Effect of Baffle Cut Sizes on Temperature and Pressure Drop at Various Mass Flow Rate in a Shell and
Tube Heat Exchanger, International Journal of Engineering, Science and Mathematics, Vol. 6 Issue 1, 2017, March.
[8] Swapnil S.Kamthe and Shivprakash B.Barve, Effect of Different types of Baffles on Heat Transfer & Pressure Drop of Shell
and Tube Heat Exchanger: A review, International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Special Issue-7, 2017, March.

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[9] J. Bala Bhaskara Rao and V. Ramachandra Raju, Numerical and heat transfer analysis of shell and tube heat exchanger with
circular and elliptical tubes, International Journal of Mechanical and Materials Engineering (2016) Volume 11 Issue 6, pp 2 – 18,
2016.
[10] Xin Gu et al., Heat transfer and flow resistance performance of shutter baffle heat exchanger with triangle tube layout in shell
side, Advances in Mechanical Engineering, Vol. 8, Issue 3, pp 1–8, 2016.
[11] Sandeep M and U Sathishkumar, CFD Investigation of Influence of Tube Bundle Cross-Section over Pressure Drop and Heat
Transfer Rate, International Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology Research (IJSETR), Volume 4, Issue 5, 2015, May.
[12] Ajithkumar M.S. et al., CFD Analysis to Study the Effects of Inclined Baffles on Fluid Flow in a Shell and Tube Heat
Exchanger, International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, Vol.2, Issue 7, pp 164-175, 2014, July.
[13] Neeraj kumar and Pradeep kumar Jhinge, Effect of Segmental Baffles at Different Orientation on the Performances of Single
Pass Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger, International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 15 Number
9, 2014, Sep.
[14] Amarjit Singh and Satbir S. Sehgal, Thermohydraulic Analysis of Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger with Segmental Baffles,
ISRN Chemical Engineering, Volume 2013, Article ID 548676.

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