Effect of tube pitch on heat transfer in shell-and-tube heat exchangers—new simulation software

A new program for simulation and optimization of the shell-and-tube heat exchangers is prepared to obtain useful results by employment of the computing technology fast and accurately. As an application of this program, the effects of transverse and longitudinal tube pitch in the in-line and staggered tube arrangements on the Nusselt numbers, heat transfer coefficients and thermal performance of the heat exchangers were investigated. The obtained values of the tube pitch were compared with literature values.