Heat Transfer Engineering, Vol.15, No.3, 42-56, 1994
PRESSURE-DROP MEASUREMENTS ON THE SHELL SIDE OF A CYLINDRICAL SHELL-AND-TUBE HEAT-EXCHANGER
Representative pressure distributions from an extensive survey of the shell-side pressure field within the tube bundle of an E-type segmented-baffle shell-and-tube heat exchanger are presented. Reynolds numbers based on minimum intertube flow area were varied within the range 270-2,200. Strategically placed tubes forming part of the bundle were fitted with pressure tappings and were used to measure (1) axial distributions of cross-flow pressure drop, symmetric about the pass partition lane and in the central vertical plane of the bundle, and also at the edge of the bundle near the bypass lane; (2) flow pressure drops between adjacent baffle compartments; and (3) circumferential pressure distributions on selected tubes in the center and at the periphery of the bundle. Comparison of the results with those obtained in a previous study with no pass partition lane reveal the effect of the removal of the central row of tubes on the shell-side flow distribution.