Tube Side Flow Rate Distribution in a Horizontal Multitube Heat Exchanger : 4th Report, Effect of Tube Pass

Abstract

An experimental study was made to clarify the fundamental characteristics of the tube side flow rate distributions in a multitube heat exchanger with several tube passes. In this experiment, 2 and 4 tube passes divided a tube bundle consisting of a hundred branch tubes into two and four parts, respectively. Experimental parameters considered were the mean flow rate of the tube bundle, the inlet and outlet nozzle direction, the nozzle diameter, and the length of the header without nozzle. Results show that the flow rate distributions of the 1st pass changed markedly with the inlet nozzle direction and the nozzle diameter, while those of the 2nd pass were almost the same for the various flow conditions and became more uniform. Also, a suitable length of the header without nozzle existed for the flow rate distribution of the tube bundle.