Approximate correlations for chevron-type plate heat exchangers

There exists very little useful data representing the performance of industrial plate heat exchangers (PHEs) in the open literature. As a result, it has been difficult to arrive at any generalized correlations. While every PHE manufacturer is believed to have a comprehensive set of performance curves for their own designs, there exists the need to generate an approximate set of generalized correlations for the heat-transfer community. Such correlations can be used for preliminary designs and analytical studies. This paper attempts to develop such a set of generalized correlations to quantify the heat-transfer and pressure-drop performance of chevron-type PHEs. For this purpose, the experimental data reported by Heavner et al. were used for the turbulent region. For the laminar region, a semi-theoretical approach was used to express, for example, the friction factor as a function of the Reynolds number and the chevron angle. Asymptotic curves were used for the transitional region. Physical explanations are provided for the trends shown by the generalized correlations. The correlations are compared against the open-literature data, where appropriate. These correlations are expected to be improved in the future when more data become available.