Study on the Effect of Baffle Cut Height on Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchangers with Conventional Segmental Baffles or Cinquefoil Orifice Mixed-Flow Baffles
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: To investigate the influence of baffle cut height on the performance of shell-and-tube heat exchangers, numerical simulations were conducted to analyse the shell-side heat transfer and flow characteristics of conventional segmental baffles and Cinquefoil Orifice Mixed-Flow Baffle (COMFB) under varying cut heights (0.15D–0.4D). The results indicate that when the cut height increases, both the shell-side Nusselt number (Nu) and pressure drop (ΔP) exhibit decreasing trends. However, the comprehensive performance PEC (Nu/ΔP 1/3) of both structures does not change monotonically and gives a peak value at a cut height of about 0.3D. Comparing the segmental baffle heat exchangers, COMFB heat exchangers behaves quite better with having much higher heat transfer efficiency and PEC and less flow resistance and energy dissipation.
Authors: Lebin Yu, Huifang Li, Caifu Qian, Zhiwei Wu
Institution: Beijing University of Chemical Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4413287155