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Design liquid velocity recommended by TEMA

mechengineer

Mechanical
Apr 19, 2001
258
Hi Experts in shell & tube heat exchanger thermal design,
Kindly advise the design velocity for fluid (like cruel oil) recommended from TEMA and which para. is in TEMA.
Thanks
 
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Hi Experts in shell & tube heat exchanger thermal design,
Kindly advise the design velocity for fluid (like cruel oil) recommended from TEMA and which para. is in TEMA.
Thanks
Typical design velocity for crude oil in shell & tube heat exchangers is around 1-2 m/s in the tubes and 0.3-1 m/s in the shell, but it depends on factors like fouling and pressure drop limits. Check TEMA Standards under the 'Mechanical Design' and 'Thermal Design' sections for specific recommendations. Someone with a copy handy might be able to point out the exact paragraph!
 
Hi,
Consider reading this paper.
To mitigate the fouling, you could consider special devices, paper attached.
Pierre
 

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  • Shell and tubes HX design.pdf
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  • turbotal.pdf
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It depends a lot on composition of the fluid and the tube materials.
In general the higher the alloy content the better the erosion (and erosion-corrosion) resistance.
My TEMAs are all on paper but if you need something I could scan a page.
Though they are a great reference to own.
 
I could not locate the tube-side velocity limit in TEMA. This may be because TEMA is a manufacturing standard rather than a design standard(even though many clauses in TEMA pertain to design, e.g., shell diameters, etc.).

However, Heat Exchange Institute (HEI) does provide limits for tube side velocities for power plant heat exchangers(for feed water quality water) as below (Ref Cl 3.4)

1. SS, Ni Alloy, Ti:-10 fps
2. Cu-Ni:-9 fps
3. Admiralty, Cu, Al-Brass:-8.5 fps
4. CS:-8 fps

I feel these limits can also be used for normal water in other industries. For other liquids, the specialized limits as applicable should apply.
 
Thanks for all inputs.
The real case as below. This thermal design is done by client (user).
 

Attachments

  • Crude Oil Velocity.png
    Crude Oil Velocity.png
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I am not in this specialized field.

But this site may help:

Especially "PROCESS DESIGN FOR RELIABLE OPERATIONS".

Good Luck!
 
Thanks for all inputs.
The real case as below. This thermal design is done by client (user).
That table is going to need some explain as nothing seems to make sense.

E.g. case1 and 3 are similar mass flow yet 3 is half the velocity??

But velocities appear to be unreasonably high and don't seem to make a lot of sense but we only have 5% of the information.

Is this a case of someone just getting some numbers from a program or spreadsheet and not putting brain into gear?
 

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