Numerical Analysis of the Heat Transfer in Heat Exchangers
B.T.Lebele-Alawa, Victor Egwanwo

Abstract
This paper presents a numerical method of solution, capable of accounting for temperature dependent variation of fluid properties and heat transfer. Field data were collected for three different industrial heat exchangers and basic governing equations were applied. The parameters analyzed include: the outlet temperatures, the heat transfer coefficients and the heat exchanger effectiveness. For the heat exchangers 1, 2 and 3, the deviations in outlet temperatures for the tube were 0.53%, 0.11% and 5.10% while the shell side gave 0.76%, 0.47% and 0.74%. Comparison of the calculated and actual overall heat transfer coefficients gave deviations of 8.7%, 7.77% and 11% for exchangers 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The heat exchangers effectiveness were 73.6%, 88.9% and 76.4% respectively, which showed high efficiency in thermal energy transfer.

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