Experimental investigation of a U-tube shell and tube heat exchanger

In this study, an experimental investigation of a U-tube, baffled, shell and tube heat exchanger was performed. A heat exchanger was designed, and by setting an experimental set-up, the experiments were carried out for different mass flow rates and different inlet temperatures of hot and cold streams. The U-tube shell and tube heat exchanger, which was used in the experiments, consists of 32 tubes. Each tube has inner and outer diameters of 9 mm and 12 mm, respectively. The shell length of the heat exchanger is 420 mm and the inner shell diameter is 230 mm. Using the Bell-Delaware and Kern Methods and the experimental data, the analyses were performed to investigate the thermal performance of the heat exchanger, and the results of the analyses were compared with the experimental data. It is seen from the results that the thermal performance rate of the U-tube shell and tube heat exchanger is in the range of 14-22%. According to the analyses, it is also observed that the difference between the theoretical and the experimental outlet temperatures of the shell and tube sides is maximum 2%.