Experimental study on a shell and tube heat exchanger with novel self agitating inserts

The current experimental study investigates the effect of self-agitating inserts on the Shell and tube heat exchanger (STHX) thermal performance. Three novel self-agitating inserts are proposed, namely rectangular agitating insert (RAI), square agitating insert (SAI), and triangular agitating insert (TAI). The effect of these inserts is studied for the Reynolds number ranging from 3000 to 7200. The improvement in friction factor, thermal performance factor (TPF), and Nusselt number (Nu) are studied. Results showed the TAI has the best improvement in Nusselt number of 22.06% compared to smooth pipe with maximum TPF of 2.32 RAI and SAI show 17.88 and 9.55% improvement in Nu with maximum TPF of 1.81 and 1.6 respectively.