Numerical comparison of shell side thermo-hydraulic characteristics of shell and tube heat exchangers with trefoil and segmental baffle by genetic algorithm

 In this paper, the effect of using trefoil and segmental baffles on heat transfer and pressure drop towards the shell of shell and tube heat exchangers is studied. Baffles are used in shell and tube heat exchangers to increase heat transfer coefficient, pipe support, flow pattern determination, structural strength and vibration prevention. Using the genetic algorithm under the same conditions, the heat transfer and pressure drop functions of the baffles are optimized as single-objective and multi-objective. The heat exchanger with the trefoil baffles is simulated by Aansys fluent software. The results show that in trefoil baffles, increasing the heat transfer coefficient will be accompanied by a greater pressure drop. The heat transfer capacity of the trefoil baffle has increased by 19.944% in the square arrangement and 16.25% in the triangle arrangement compared to the segmental baffle in the maximum state obtained from the single-objective genetic algorithm, while the pressure drop for the square arrangement of the tube bundle is 3.2 times and for the triangle arrangement tube bundle has increased 2.075 times compared to the segmental baffle. The jet fluid flow created in the trefoil perforated increase the heat transfer performance and the corrosion products and chemical sediments are reduced, which also improves the corrosion conditions of the shell and tube heat exchanger with the trefoil perforated plate.