Determination of Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Shell Diameter

For triangular pitch proceed as follows:

Draw the equilateral triangle connecting three adjacent tube centers. Any side of the triangle is the tube pitch (recall 1.25 D_o is minimum).

Triangle area is 0.5bh where b is the base and h is the height.

This area contains 1/2 tube.

Calculate area occupied by all the tubes.

Calculate shell diameter to contain this area.

Add one tube diameter all the way around (two tube diameters added to the diameter calculated above).

The result is minimum shell diameter. There is no firm standard for shell diameter increments. Use 2-inch increments for initial planning.For square pitch proceed similarly.

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Source : Branan, C. R., The Process Erzgineer- S Pocket Handbook,Vol. 1, Gulf Publishing Co., p. 54, 1976.