Transient behaviour of multipass shell-and-tube heat exchangers

A method for predicting the transient responses to arbitrary inlet temperature changes of multipass shell-and-tube heat exchangers with arbitrary number of tubeside passes is developed. The tubeside as well as shellside surface areas and heat transfer coefficients are allowed to be different from pass to pass. The thermal capacities of both fluids and the wall are included. Both possible flow arrangements are considered. The inlet temperature changes may take place on either side or simultaneously on both sides. Generally, the optimum value of M of the summed series terms for the numerical inverse Laplace transform falls in the range 8≤ M ≤ 20.