Enhancement of shell side forced convective heat transfer in the shell tube‐type heat exchanger using thin plate‐type supports

The shell side heat transfer and pressure drop in counterflowing water were experimentally investigated on the basis of the overall heat transfer coefficient. The investigation was intended to identify ways to get higher performance for the cooler in a BWR nuclear power plant. The following three conclusions were reached in the study. (1) Predicted performance of the heat exchanger, using the overall heat transfer coefficient based on the outside area of the tube K_o, indicated an enhancement by 92% compared with the measured performance of the conventional segmental baffle‐type heat exchanger. (2) The tube side pressure drop ΔP_t=20 kPa and the shell side pressure drop ΔP_s=70 kPa were obtained, and were within the allowable value ΔP_a=80 kPa. The shell side pressure drop of the low‐pressure drop spacer could be decreased by 20% as compared with that of the standard spacer. (3) The enhancement constant of the shell side heat transfer using the low‐pressure drop spacer was about 1.2 times as large as that of the standard spacer, regardless of the pumping power. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 32(5): 455–471, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10097