A Numerical Study on the Heat Transfer Performance of Single-Tube Annular Baffle System

A new baffle configuration, an annular baffles, are considered in the present study as an alternative to reduce the excessive pressure drop associated with the conventional segmental ones in typical operating conditions. The heat transfer and pressure drops are numerically simulated for a single tube shell-and-tube model and compared against the conventional-baffle cases. Baffle blockage ratio and number of baffles are considered as the major variables for the present study specifying a fixed baffle spacing. It is found that the heat transfer increases 1.4~2.2 times without significant pressure loss compared to the bare tube cases and the goodness factor increases 1.35 times compared to the conventional-baffle model.