Industrial 1-2 Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger
16-tube 2-pass stainless steel bundle (A = 0.766 m^2) with 25% cut segmental baffles in glass shell.
Chemical & Process Engineering / Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger
FREE TO EXPLORELABORATORY 09 · CHEMICAL & PROCESS ENGINEERING
Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger LMTD & Thermal Effectiveness Characterization
Determine the overall heat transfer coefficient U, log mean temperature difference (LMTD) with F_T correction factor, and thermal effectiveness ε of an industrial 1-2 shell-and-tube heat exchanger as a function of tube-side flow rate. Explore interactive transport phenomena, unit operations simulation, and chemical engineering telemetry.
TRANSPORT PHENOMENA · UNIT OPERATIONS · PROCESS CONTROL · REACTION ENGINEERING
Your virtual chemical and process engineering laboratory.
OVERALL HEAT TRANSFER COEFF U—
PROCESS & PILOT PLANT TELEMETRY
Ready to sample with Flow V_h = 12.0 L/min.
Adjust Flow V_h, then execute chemical process trial.
Chemical and process engineering telemetry is evaluated rigorously using 64-bit IEEE 754 precision. Residuals reflect ordinary least-squares regression across successive observations. Continuous data structures support high-fidelity transport phenomena and unit operations modeling.
Process engineering assumptions and boundary condition limits
The transport and thermodynamic models apply within the specified calibrated operating window (4.0 to 24.0 L/min). Evaluated using a 1-pass shell, 2-pass tube exchanger containing 16 stainless steel tubes (OD 12.7 mm, length 1.2 m, area A = 0.766 m^2) with 25% cut segmental baffles. Linear regression models U versus (V_h)^0.8.
Process apparatus & industrial sensors.
Thermostatically Controlled Hot Water Loop
Delivers closed-loop process water at 65.0 ± 0.2 °C with variable-speed circulation pump.
Mains Cold Water Utility Supply System
Supplies shell-side cooling water at 18.0 ± 0.2 °C and constant flow rate of 15.0 L/min.
Calibrated Pt100 RTD Temperature Probes
Logs shell inlet/outlet (T_s,in, T_s,out) and tube inlet/outlet (T_t,in, T_t,out) with 0.05 °C accuracy.
Dual Electromagnetic Flowmeters
Independently meters tube-side hot flow V_h and shell-side cold flow V_c with ±0.2% accuracy.
Multi-Channel Digital Data Acquisition System
Computes real-time thermal duty q, LMTD, F_T correction factor, and overall conductance UA.
FOLLOW THE METHOD
A reason behind every step.
Determine the overall heat transfer coefficient U, log mean temperature difference (LMTD) with F_T correction factor, and thermal effectiveness ε of an industrial 1-2 shell-and-tube heat exchanger as a function of tube-side flow rate. Standardized parameter settings: 4.0, 8.0, 12.0, 16.0, 20.0, 24.0 L/min.
01
System Pre-Heating & Flow Priming
Turn on hot water heater and circulate hot water through tubes at 12 L/min and cold water through shell at 15 L/min for 15 minutes to reach steady thermal equilibrium.
02
Cold Shell Stream Stabilization
Fix the shell-side cooling water flow rate at exactly 15.0 L/min and inlet temperature at 18.0 °C throughout all test runs.
03
Initial Hot Flow Setpoint
Set tube-side hot water flow rate to V_h = 4.0 L/min; monitor inlet and outlet temperatures until readings fluctuate by less than 0.1 °C over 3 minutes.
04
Temperature & Heat Balance Logging
Record all four terminal temperatures (T_h,in, T_h,out, T_c,in, T_c,out) and verify heat balance closure: |q_h - q_c| / q_avg < 5%.
05
Tube Flow Progression Protocol
Step hot water flow rate through 8.0, 12.0, 16.0, 20.0, and 24.0 L/min, recording steady-state terminal temperatures at each flow plateau.
06
LMTD & Overall Conductance Regression
Calculate ΔT_lm, F_T, and U for each run, plot U versus (V_h)^0.8, and extract slope S to evaluate convective transport scaling.
YOUR NOTEBOOK · 0 OBSERVATIONS
Turn measurements into chemical process engineering insight.
Points are your recorded observations. The solid regression line validates Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger mathematical scaling.
LINEAR REGRESSION FIT · y = mx + b
U = S · (V_h)^0.8 = 85.0000 · (V_h)^0.8
| # | Tube-Side Hot Water Flow V_h (L/min) | Overall Heat Transfer Coeff U (W/(m^2·K)) | Flow factor (V_h)^0.8 ((L/min)^0.8) | Overall heat transfer coefficient U (W/(m^2·K)) | Remove |
|---|
No readings yet. Execute a process trial and record it.
Calculate it yourself.
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Explain what the process engineering metrics mean.
For turbulent flow inside smooth tubes, the convective heat transfer coefficient h_i scales with velocity as:
The LMTD correction factor F_T for a 1-2 shell-and-tube heat exchanger is always:
In standard shell-and-tube heat exchanger design, an F_T correction factor below 0.75 is considered:
Segmental baffles in the shell serve primarily to:
THEORY AND UNIT OPERATIONS CONTEXT
Process engineering background & physical principles.
In chemical refineries, petrochemical manufacturing, and power generation facilities, shell-and-tube heat exchangers represent the workhorse thermal unit operation, accounting for more than 65% of all heat transfer hardware in service. A standard TEMA (Tubular Exchanger Manufacturers Association) type 1-2 design comprises a cylindrical outer shell housing an internal bundle of parallel tubes; the shell-side fluid flows across the bundle guided by transverse segmental baffles that induce crossflow turbulence, while the tube-side fluid enters a partitioned channel head to make two passes through the tubes. Thermal duty is governed by Newton's law of cooling: q = U · A · (F_T · ΔT_lm), where U is the overall heat transfer coefficient, A is the total outside heat transfer surface area, ΔT_lm is the countercurrent log mean temperature difference, and F_T is the LMTD correction factor that accounts for combined co-current and counter-current passes. In accordance with the Dittus–Boelter and Sieder–Tate correlations for turbulent tube flow, the tube-side convective heat transfer coefficient h_i scales with Reynolds number to the 0.8 power (h_i ∝ v^0.8 ∝ V_h^0.8). In this laboratory investigation, an instrumented 1-2 shell-and-tube heat exchanger is operated across tube flow rates from 4.0 to 24.0 L/min at constant shell-side utility flow to evaluate U, verify Re^0.8 scaling, and map heat transfer effectiveness ε.
U = S · (V_h)^0.8 = 85.0000 · (V_h)^0.8
Evaluated using a 1-pass shell, 2-pass tube exchanger containing 16 stainless steel tubes (OD 12.7 mm, length 1.2 m, area A = 0.766 m^2) with 25% cut segmental baffles. Linear regression models U versus (V_h)^0.8.