CS-3 Shellside Condensation of Pure Components on the Outside of Horizontal Finned Tube Bundles
Extensive data have been accumulated at HTRI for the shellside condensation heat transfer on two types of integral low-finned tube bundles. The data covered a full range of flow regimes from gravity- to shear-controlled regimes for pure fluids over a wide range of fluid properties from low surface tension to very high surface tension.
A major modification of the previous method has been made in the heat transfer correlations for both gravity-controlled and shear-controlled flow regimes based on these new data which include the visual observation of the actual condensing process recorded on a film. However, no changes were made to the basic calculation structure of the shellside condensation method, in which the heat transfer process during condensation is modeled by either a shear-controlled flow mechanism or a gravity-controlled flow mechanism.
The major improvements in the new method as compared to the previous method are in the following areas:
- Introduction of an effective finned tube diameter to account for the presence of condensate
- Effect of condensate retention flooding a portion of the heat transfer surface
- Effect of condensate loading on film thickness
- Two-phase convection factor constants developed especially for finned tubes
The new method significantly improves the prediction of shellside pure component condensation heat transfer coefficients.