International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)

Volume 9, Issue 4, April 2018, pp. 185–191, Article ID: IJMET_09_04_021

Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/ijmet/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=9&IType=4
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

FLUENT ANALYSIS OF SHELL AND

TUBEHEAT EXCHANGER USING NANOFLUIDS
Dr. M Sakthivel
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.L (Deemed to be University),
Vaddeswaram, Andhra Pradesh, India

A Harikrishna, K Satyadeep and B Vineeth

B.Tech-Student-Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.L (Deemed to be University)

ABSTRACT:
A Heat exchanger is an application which affecting the operation used to
exchange the heat from flowing of one liquid on one side of a barrier horizon to
another liquid on the other side of a barrier horizon. Resilient heat exchangers have
two streaming fluent at diverse temperatures that are desperate for a solid shell. In the
recent scenario, the shell and tube heat exchanger (STHE) is the utmost flexible and
appropriate for high-pressure operations, independent of pressure and temperature
utilized in power production commercial enterprises, air conditioning and
refrigeration, space, auxiliary large chemical development and other expansive
chemical processes. Nanofluids have more heat transfer rate than conventional fluids.
Nanofluid is most convenient for quick heating and cooling applications. Heat transfer
increases due to low specific heat and high density, high-temperature distribution and
large surface volume of nanoparticles in the base fluent.
Keywords: Heat transfer, Nano fluids, STHE, temperature.
Cite this Article: Dr. M Sakthivel, A Harikrishna, K Satyadeep and B Vineeth, Fluent
Analysis of Shell and Tubeheat Exchanger Using Nanofluids, International Journal of
Mechanical Engineering and Technology, 9(4), 2018, pp. 185–191.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=9&IType=4

1. INTRODUCTION:
Heat transfer is a process of flow of heat energy occurs from hot body region to cold body
region. It is also the rate of change of system from one to other equilibrium states. It occurs
through three modes of transfer i.e., conduction, convection, and radiation. In conduction,
transfer of heat occurs through direct contact. In convection, transfer of heat occurs through a
fluid i.e., in a duct. In radiation, transfer of heat occurs through electromagnetic radiation in
space or air. Conduction and convection do require a medium to transfer heat energy. But
radiation does not require any medium for transfer of heat and it can occur in the vacuum. A
heat exchanger is a heat exchanging device that is used for exchange heat from one fluent to

http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 185 [email protected]

 Dr. M Sakthivel, A Harikrishna, K Satyadeep and B Vineeth

another, usually through a separating wall. The main aim of using heat exchangers is to
decrease the hot fluid temperature by using the cold fluid. Parallel flow implies that stream of
a direction of tube side hot liquid to stream in the direction of the shell side cold liquid. The
inward temperature of the tube side of hot liquid reduces to outward temperature of the hot
liquid and the inward temperature of shell side cold liquid in the counter direction starting
from the temperature of the hot liquid. STHE’s are the most extreme flexible sort of heat
exchangers which give moderately at high proportions of heat transfer area to volume. They
are constructed by tubes and baffles mounted in shells. It consists of many numbers of tubes
constructed in the cylindrical shell. The heat is exchanged by the two fluent, one of the liquid
passes outside of the tubes in the shell and the other fluids pass through the tubes. The fluid
enters through the front header into the tube of the heat exchanger. Through the Rare header,
the fluid passes out of the heat exchanger. In the heat exchanger consists of tubes, tube sheets,
baffles and tie rods all together was hold by tube bundle and it was kept in the shell of a heat
exchanger. The single segmental baffles are used to give larger heat exchange rate due to the
high turbulence, to hold the tubes and to avoid vibration and sagging
The current trend of nanotechnology has been developed in the presentation of nanofluids
i.e., colloidal suspensions of nanometer-sized strong particles rather than normal working
liquids. Nanofluids were first developed by Choi and Eastman in 1995 at the Argonne
research facility, USA.
In many applications of heat transfer, the nanofluids have novel properties that include
domestic refrigerator, nuclear reactor coolant, fuel cells, hybrid-powered engines and heat
exchangers. Surface area per unit volume of nanoparticles is much larger than that of
microparticles.
Nanoparticles include oxide ceramics, carbides of metal, metals, and nitrides. Ceramics
consists of Al2O3 and CuO, Metal carbides include SiC, Nitrides include AlN, SiN, and
Metals include Al, Cu. Base fluids include water, ethylene glycol, oil and other lubricants.
Two methods have been developed for the preparation of nanofluids. Nanofluids are
prepared by the two methods at one step and two step methods respectively. By one step
method technique the primary step is a fabrication of nanoparticle and then dispersion of
nanoparticle in a base fluid in next step. In two-step method technique the mass production of
nanofluids by using the inert gas condensation process. A particle-source evaporation and
deposition of the evaporator into a base fluid is done by one-step method.
In STHE, Al2O3 nanofluid has preferred as a coolant due to its ease availability and good
thermal properties. Al2O3 nanoparticles are generally preferred as a safe material for human
being and animals, considered as a base fluid.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW:
Nishimura et al. (1993) explored the flow and mass transfer qualities of the tube.
Cebrucean et al. (2009) demonstrated heat transfer and pressure drop in STHE with single
segmental baffles by utilizing FLUENT.
In order to reduce the pressuredrop and fouling and to decrease the maintenance and
operating cost Sirous et al. reestablished a heap of tubes with helical baffles in an STHE in the
petroleum industry.
Mohammadi et al. (2009) had investigated the flow through an STHE, focusing on the
impacts of leakage and baffle orientation.
Ozden and Tari (2010) analyzed the impact of baffle-cut, baffle spacing and shell
diameter on heat transfer and pressure drop by using CFD.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 186 [email protected]

 Fluent Analysis of Shell and Tubeheat Exchanger Using Nanofluids

Choi (1995) was the first person to conduct research at the Argonne Research laboratory,
the United States on nanoparticles. He examined that nanofluids exhibit high thermal
conductivity than base fluids.
Namburu et al. (2008) organized the numerical investigation of turbulent flow and heat
transfer attributes of CuO, Al2O3, and SiO2 nanoparticles in the base liquid of ethylene
glycol and water mix applying consistent warmth transition limit conditions.

3. THEORETICAL CALCULATIONS:
Pak and Cho relation determines the density of nanofluids as
ρnfs= (1 - φ₀) ρbfs +φρnp
Where the density of nanofluids was indicated by ρnfs, the volume concentration of
Nanoparticles was indicated by φ₀, the density of the base fluid was indicated by ρ bfs and the
density of nanoparticles was indicated by ρnp.
Yu and Choi related the thermal conductivity of nanofluid interms of nanofluids, base
fluids, and nanoparticles.
( )
=[ ]
Where Knfs, indicates the thermal conductivity of nanofluid, Kbfs indicates the thermal
conductivity of base fluid and Kps indicates the thermal conductivity of nanoparticles.
The viscosity of nanofluid is determined by:
µ = µbf (1 + 39.11φ + 533.9φ2)
µ determines the viscosity of nanofluid, µbf determines the viscosity of the base fluid and
φ determines volume concentration
Xuan and Roetzel related the specific heat of nanofluid by using
( ) ( )
( ) [ ]

Where (Cp)nfs is specific heat of Nanofluids, (cp)p is the specific heat of nanoparticles
Heat transfer rate can be related by using
Qs=m*(Cp)nfs*ΔT
Where Qs indicates the rate of heat transfer, m indicates the rate of mass flow of
Nanofluid and ΔT indicates the change in temperature of the cold fluid.
The LMTD (logarithmic mean temperature difference) ofnano fluid can be determined by
the following equation

( )
[ ]
( )
Where ΔTlm indicate the LMTD of nanofluid, Tbfiindicates inward temperatures, Tbfo
indicates the outward temperatures of base fluid and Tnfi, indicates inward temperatures, Tnfo
indicates the outward temperatures of nanofluid.
Overall heat transfer coefficient can be determined by following equation:
Q = UAsΔTlm
Q determines rate of heat transfer, U determines rate of overall heat transfer and AS
indicates surface area of heat exchanger.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 187 [email protected]

 Dr. M Sakthivel, A Harikrishna, K Satyadeep and B Vineeth

4. DESIGN:
Single segmented baffles are used in designing a STHE. A single segmented baffle is chosen
because they are the most generally utilized and hence can be theoretically designed.
In the present work, the components of STHE are designed utilizing the part drawing
components and assembled the heat exchangerby using the assembly modules.
The part drawing is a unique module where the entire STHE is displayed as an individual
unit, where every component is designed separately and finally assembled to get the required
unit using the different modules available. Fig 1 shows the geometric model of the STHE
which is modelledusing the software PRO-E and is a familiar software for3-dimensional
modelling and simulation for complex shapes. Table 1 Shows the specifications of STHE.

Figure 1 Geometric Model of the STHE

Table 1 Shows the specifications of the STHE

Specification Dimensions (mm)
Length of heat exchanger 1500
No of tubes 09
Diameter of inner shell 136
Diameter of outer shell 142
Diameter of inner tube 17
Diameter of outer tube 23
No of baffles 05
Distance between baffles 250

5. MESHING:
In any geometry, meshing is a leading step while performing analysis and is done in CFD
programming software of ANSYS 18.1.Mesh is defined as dividing the element into number
of finite elements. Fig 2. Shows the meshing model of STHE and the type of mesh used here
was Tetrahedral and quadrilateral of a coarse type of element size 5mm.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 188 [email protected]

 Fluent Analysis of Shell and Tubeheat Exchanger Using Nanofluids

Figure 2 Mesh Model of the STHE

6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

6.1. Variation of temperature:
Heat transfer coefficient mainly depends on flow velocity, turbulence, fluid viscosity, surface
geometry. With an increase in LMTD the rate of heat transfer coefficient decreases. Fig 4.
shows the temperature distribution of STHE.

Figure 4 Temperature distribution of STHE.

6.2. Variation of pressure:

The pressure distribution is caused due to mass flow rate, surface friction of pipe, number of
heat exchanger shell side passes, Baffles, density, and viscosity of Nanofluid. Fig 5 shows
pressure distribution of STHE.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 189 [email protected]

 Dr. M Sakthivel, A Harikrishna, K Satyadeep and B Vineeth

Figure 5 Pressure distribution in STHE

6.3. Variation of Velocity:

The Velocity distribution is caused due to the number of tubes, tube diameter, Baffles,
viscosity and density of nanofluid. Fig 6 shows velocity distribution of STHE.

Figure 6 Velocity distribution of STHE

7. CONCLUSION:
From the above analysis, we came to know that Al2 03 nanofluid has good properties like
density, specific gravity, viscosity which increases the results in high heat transfer rate,
thermal conductivity and overall heat transfer coefficient.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 190 [email protected]

 Fluent Analysis of Shell and Tubeheat Exchanger Using Nanofluids

REFERENCES:
[1] SadikKakaç and Hongtan Liu (2002). Heat Exchangers: Selection, Rating and Thermal
Design (2nded.).CRCPress. ISBN 0-8493-0902-6.
[2] Saunders, E. A. (1988). Heat Exchanges: Selection, Design and Construction. New York:
Longman Scientific and Technical.
[3] L.B.Mapa, Sana Mazhar, Heat transfer in mini heat exchanger using Nanofluids. IL/IN
sectional conference.
[4] J.Koo, C.Kleinstrecer, Laminar Nano fluid flow in micro heat sink. International journal
of heat and mass transfer (2005).
[5] Shung-Wei Kang, Wei-Chiang Wei, Sheng-Hong Tsai, Shih-Yu YANG, Experimental
investigation of silver Nano fluid on heat pipe thermal performance, Applied thermal
engineering (2006).
[6] Shuichi Torii, Experimental study on convective heat transfer of aqueous suspension of
Nano diamond particle, International symposium on Eco Topiascience (2007).
[7] S.H.Anil Kumar and G.Jilani, convective heat transfer enhancement in an enclosure with
fin utilizing Nano fluid, International journal of aerospace and mechanical engineering.
[8] Kamala Priya B, Effect of Operational Temperatures in Efficiency of Shell and Tube Heat
Exchanger Assistant Professor Mechanical Department, International Journal of
Mechanical engineering & Technology.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/index.asp 191 [email protected]