King Abdulaziz University

Mechanical Engineering Department

MEP460

Heat Exchanger Design

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

March 2020

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

Contents

Introduction
Input data
Required output design data
Procedure

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

Introduction

The objective is to design a double pipe heat exchanger i.e. finding the heat
exchanger heat transfer area (which include the inner tube inside diameter, the heat
exchanger length which fulfils the heat load and not exceeding the maximum
pressure in the tube or annulus flow

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

Input data
1-fluids flowing in the tube side and in the annulus.
2-mass flow rate for cold and hot streams
3-inlet and outlet temperatures or at least three temperatures
and mass flow rates
4-maximum pressure drop in the tube side and in the annulus
side i.e. Δ𝑝𝑡,𝑚𝑎𝑥 and Δ𝑝𝑎,𝑚𝑎𝑥
5-thermal conductivity of the tube material, kt

Required

1-Area of the heat exchanger for clean and

fouled heat exchanger (Ac Af ,di, L, ….)

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

 Input data
tube side mass annulus side Tube side Annulus Inside Outside Tube
flow rate mass flow rate fluid side fluid fouling fouling thermal
factor factor conductivity
𝑚ሶ 𝑡 𝑚ሶ 𝑎 Rfi Rfo kt
[kg/s] [kg/s] [m2.K/W] [m2.K/W]

Inlet cold fluid Outlet cold fluid Inlet hot fluid Outlet hot fluid Tube side Max. Annulus Max.
temp. temp. temp. temp. allowable allowable
pressure drop pressure drop
Tci Tco Thi Tho Δ𝑃𝑡,𝑚𝑎𝑥 Δ𝑃𝑎,𝑚𝑎𝑥
[ºC] [ºC] [ºC] [ºC] [Pa] [Pa]

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

Assumptions

1-Tube wall thickness, t [mm]

2-Fouling factors (inside and outside i.e. Rfi, Rfo )
3-Initial guess for the tube and annulus velocities (Vt,max & Va,max)

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

Procedure
1-Calculate the fourth temperature if not given using the heat balance equation i.e.
𝑞 = 𝐶𝑐 Δ𝑇𝑐 = 𝐶ℎ Δ𝑇ℎ
Then calculate LMTDCF 𝑇ℎ𝑜 − 𝑇𝑐𝑖 − (𝑇ℎ𝑖 − 𝑇𝑐𝑜 ሻ
𝐿𝑀𝑇𝐷𝐶𝐹 =
𝑙𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑜 − 𝑇𝑐𝑖 Τ 𝑇ℎ𝑖 − 𝑇𝑐𝑜
2-Calculate the fluid properties at the mean temperatures

Property Cold side Hot side

Density 𝜌𝑐 𝜌ℎ
Specific heat 𝐶𝑝𝑐 𝐶𝑝ℎ
Thermal conductivity 𝑘𝑐 𝑘ℎ
Viscosity 𝜇𝑐 𝜇ℎ
Prandtl number Prc Prh

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

3-Based on an assumed max velocity for tube side Vt,max for tube
side, get di.

𝑚ሶ 𝑡 = 𝜌𝑡 𝑉𝑡,𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝐴𝑐𝑡

where Act is the cross section area of the tube. Vt is the tube
velocity. The Cross section area of the tube

𝜋 2
𝐴𝑐𝑡 = 𝑑𝑖
4

Assume typical wall thickness t and get do

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

4-Using the given mass flow rate in the annulus and the assumed annulus
max velocity, calculate the inside diameter of the annulus Di.
𝜋 2
𝑚ሶ 𝑎 = 𝜌𝑎 𝑉𝑎,𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝐴𝑐𝑎 𝐴𝑐𝑎 = 𝐷𝑖 − 𝑑𝑜2
4
Also calculate the hydraulic diameter De

4(𝜋 𝐷𝑖2 Τ4 − 𝜋𝑑𝑜2 Τ4ሻ 𝐷𝑖2 − 𝑑𝑜2

𝐷𝑒 = =
𝜋𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑜

Also calculate the hydraulic diameter Dh as follows

𝜋 2
4𝐴𝑐𝑎 4𝐴𝑐𝑎 4 (𝐷𝑖 − 𝑑𝑜2
𝐷ℎ = = = 4 = 𝐷𝑖 − 𝑑𝑜
𝑃 𝜋𝐷𝑖 + 𝜋𝑑𝑜 𝜋(𝐷𝑖 + 𝑑𝑜 ሻ

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

5-For tube side calculate Ret , Nut & ht

6-For annulus flow Calculate Rea ,Nua , & ha

7-You may assume typical values for the fouling resistances i.e. Rfi , and Rfo

8-Based on assumed kt , calculate Uc and Uf

1 1 𝑅𝑓𝑖 𝐴𝑜 l n( 𝑑𝑜 Τ𝑑𝑖 ሻ 1
= + + + + 𝑅𝑓𝑜
𝑈𝑓 ℎ𝑡 (𝐴𝑖 Τ𝐴𝑜 ሻ 𝐴𝑖 Τ𝐴𝑜 2𝜋𝑘𝐿 ℎ𝑎

Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure

9-Use the equation
𝑞 = 𝑈𝑜 𝐴𝑜 𝐿𝑀𝑇𝐷𝐶𝐹 𝐹 𝐴𝑜 = 𝜋𝑑𝑜 𝐿

get the heat exchanger length L

10-Calculate the pressure drop in tube side Δ𝑝𝑡 and the annulus side Δ𝑝𝑎
Use very simple equations to find the friction coefficient as a function of Re
number
For laminar flow 𝑓 = 16Τ𝑅𝑒

For turbulent flow

−2
inside a smooth pipe 𝑓 = 1.58 ln 𝑅𝑒 − 3.28

𝐿 𝑉𝑡2 𝐿 𝑉𝑎2
Δ𝑝𝑡 = 4𝑓𝑡 𝜌𝑡 Δ𝑝𝑎 = 4𝑓𝑎 𝜌𝑎
𝐷𝑡 2 𝐷𝑎 2
Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure
 11-Calculate the difference between the allowable pressure and the
pressure calculated from the previous step. It is called Residual Sum of
Squares RSS

2 2
𝑅𝑠𝑠 = Δ𝑃𝑡 − Δ𝑃𝑡,𝑚𝑎𝑥 + Δ𝑃𝑎 − Δ𝑃𝑎,𝑚𝑎𝑥

When Rss is higher than a prescribed value, one can restart the iteration process by
computing the tube and annulus velocities from the allowable pressure drop for each side

𝐿 𝑉𝑡2 𝐿 𝑉𝑎2
Δ𝑝𝑡,𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 4𝑓𝑡 𝜌𝑡 Δ𝑃𝑎,𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 4𝑓𝑎 𝜌𝑎
𝐷𝑡 2 𝐷ℎ 2

0.5 0.5
𝑉𝑡 = Δ𝑃𝑡,𝑚𝑎𝑥 Τ4𝑓𝑡 (𝑑𝑖 Τ𝐿ሻ(2Τ𝜌𝑡 𝑉𝑎 = Δ𝑃𝑎,𝑚𝑎𝑥 Τ4𝑓𝑎 (𝐷ℎ Τ𝐿ሻ(2Τ𝜌𝑎
Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure
Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure
Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure
Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure
Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure
Double pipe heat exchanger iterative design procedure