Guidelines to do design sizing for Double Pipe Heat Exchanger and estimate length of double pipe

required.

Step 1

Determine Heat Load

Obtain flowrate (W ), inlet, outlet temperatures and fouling factor for both hot and cold stream. Calculate
physical properties like density ( ), viscosity ( ), specific heat (Cp ) and thermal conductivity (k ) at mean
temperature. Determine heat load by energy balances on two streams
Q

= mH * CpH * ( T Hot In - T Hot Out)

= mC * CpC * ( tCold Out - tCold In)

where,
mH , mC: Mass flow rate of Hot and Cold Stream
CpH , CpC: Specific Heat of Hot and Cold Stream
T Hot In , T Hot Out: Inlet and outlet temperature of Hot Stream
tCold In , tCold Out: Inlet and outlet temperature of Cold Stream
Step 2

Calculate Logarthmic Mean Temperature Difference (LMTD)

LMTD

= (T1 - T2) / ln( T1 / T2)

For Counter-current flow

T1

= T Hot In - tCold Out

T2

= T Hot Out - tCold In

For Co-current flow

T1

= T Hot In - tCold In

T2

= T Hot Out - tCold Out

Step 3

Calculate Film Coefficient

Allocate hot and cold streams either in inner tube or annular space. General criteria for fluid placement in
inner tube is corrosive fluid, cooling water, fouling fluid, hotter fluid and higher pressure stream. Calculate
equivalent diameter (De ) and flow area (Af ) for both streams.
Inner Tube
De

= Di

Af

= Di/4

Annular Space
De

= D1 - Do

Af

= (D1 - Do)/4

where,
Di : Inside Pipe Inner Diameter
Do : Inside Pipe Outer Diameter
D1 : Outside Pipe Inner Diameter
Calculate velocity

(V ) ,

Reynolds

= W / ( * Af )

Re

= De * V * /

Pr

= Cp * / k

(Re )

and Prandtl

(Pr )

number for each stream.

For first iteration a Length of double pipe exchanger is assumed and heat transfer coefficient is calculated.
Viscosity correction factor ( / w )0.14 due to wall temperature is considered 1.
For Laminar Flow (Re <= 2300), Seider Tate equation is used.
Nu

= 1.86 * (Re.Pr.De / L )1/3 * ( / w )0.14

For Transient & Turbulent Flow (Re > 2300), Petukhov and Kirillov equation modified by Gnielinski can be
used.
Nu

= (f/8).(Re - 1000).Pr.(1 + De/L)2/3/ [1 + 12.7.(f/8)0.5.(Pr2/3 - 1)] * ( / w )0.14

= ( 0.782* ln(Re) - 1.51 )-2

where,
L : Length of Double Pipe Exchanger
w : Viscosity of fluid at wall temperature
Nu : Nusselts Number (h.De / k)
Step 4

Estimate Wall Temperature

Wall temperature is calculated as following.
TW

= ( hi .tAve + ho .T Ave .Do/ Di ) / ( hi + ho .Do/ Di )

where,
hi : Film coefficient Inner pipe
ho : Film coefficient for Annulus
tAve : Mean temperature for Inner pipe fluid stream
T Ave : Mean temperature for Annulus fluid stream

Viscosity is calculated for both streams at wall temperature and heat transfer coefficient is multiplied by
viscostiy correction factor.

Step 5

Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient

Overall heat transfer coefficient
1/ U

(U )

is calclated as following.

= Do/hi.Di + Do.ln(Do / Di)/ 2kt + 1/ho + Ri. Do / Di + Ro

where,
Ri : Fouling factor Inner pipe
Ro : Fouling factor for Annulus
k t : Thermal conductivity of tube material
Calculate Area and length of double pipe exchanger as following.
Area

= Q / (U * LMTD )

= Area / * Do

Compare this length with the assumed length in step 3, if considerable difference is there use this length and
repeat from step 3, till there is no change in length calculated.
Number of hair pin required is estimated as following.
N Hairpin

= L / ( 2 * Length

Hairpin

Step 6

Calculate Pressure Drop

Pressure drop in straight section of pipe is calculated as following.
PS

= f.L.G / (7.5x1012.De.SG. ( / w )0.14 )

where,
P : Pressure Drop in PSI
SG : Specific Gravity of fluid
G : Mass Flux ( W / Af ) in lb/h.ft
For Laminar flow in inner pipe, friction factor can be computed as following.
f

= 64 / Re

For Laminar flow in the annulus.

f

= (64 / Re) * [ (1 - ) / ( 1 + + (1 - ) / ln ) ]

= Do / D1

For tubulent flow in both pipe and annulus

-0.2314

= 0.3673 * Re

-0.2314

Pressure Drop due to Direction Changes

For Laminar Flow.
PR

= 2.0x10-13. (2NHairpin - 1 ).G/SG

For Turbulent Flow.

PR

= 1.6x10-13. (2NHairpin - 1 ).G/SG

Total Pressure Drop

Total Pressure drop in both inner pipe and annulus is calculated by adding pressure drop due to straight
section and direction change.
PTotal

= PS + PR

References
1. Process Heat Transfer: Principles and Applications
2. VDI Heat Atlas (VDI-Buch)

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