Delaware Method Improvement for the Shell and Tubes Heat Exchanger Design

Abstract

In this paper the Delaware Method published in 1963 is analyzed and upgraded with using correction factors which take into account the undesirable currents of the mean flow. However, this method presents graphically these correction factors which imply an impediment to fulfill the software calculations. Thus, the equations corresponding to the correction factor equations and a Fortran 77 numerical program were established. This system is given to explore different design alternatives in order to find the optimal solution to each proposed problem. The results of this work was a simple software that can perform calculations with the introduction of parameters depending only on the geometry of the heat exchanger, i.e., geometry, temperature and fluid characteristics eliminating the human errors and increasing the calculations speed and accuracy.