Shell and tube heat exchangers are used extensively throughout the process industry and as such a basic understanding of their design, construction and performance is important to the practicing engineer.
The objective of this paper is to provide a concise review of the key issues involved in their thermal design without having to refer to the extensive literature available on this topic.
The author claims no originality but hopes that the format and contents will provide a comprehensive introduction to the subject and enable the reader to achieve rapid and meaningful results.
The optimum thermal design of a shell and tube heat exchanger involves the consideration of many interacting design parameters which can be summarized as follows: