Design Optimization and Performance Monitoring of Heat Exchangers

Dear Colleagues,

The basic enginering design of heat exchangers requires the determination of a selected number of geometric dimensions (diameters, number of tubes, number of passes, etc., for shell and tube exchangers and similar data for other heat exchanger types). In the early years of limited computer power, the predominant procedure was one of trial and verification. If the guessed geometry renders a satisfactory heat transfer area and pressure drop, the procedure usually stops. If it does not, new dimensions are proposed. Although there are some rules to guide this process developed throughout the years, the end result is not an optimal exchanger, only a good one, depending on the expert performing the design. In the last few decades, several works have been presented adressing the problem using  mathematical models. These mathematical models consisted of a set of equations among which three sets are outstanding: the area verification equation (area larger than required), the heat transfer coefficients equations (using different heat transfer models) and the pressure drop equations. To obtain the optimal design, two objective functions are typically proposed: minimum area and minimum total annualized cost (area cost + pumping cost).  To solve these models, different types of tools were used. Previous methods were based on heuristics rules and/or enumeration. Later, metaheuristics and stochastic optimization tools were implemented. These proved to be effective once the parameters of these methods were properly tuned, but they never guarantee optimality, neither local or global, although they get close. Mathematical programming was used to attain these optima, first using MINLP procedures and later, through reformulation, some MILP models. In the recent years, new techniques were proposed departing from metaheuristics, enumeration, or mathematical programming techniques. In addition, the modeling of the exchangers is starting to depart from traditional LMTD-based procedures to develop models that are distributed, that is, including space related calculation of properties. These are important in cases where the physical properties vary significantly with temperature or when fouling is not uniform.  In parallel to the development of the aforementioned efforts, other advances were made in the direction of modeling fouling and using this knowledge to better design exchangers. Finally, the issue of monitoring the fouling and the translation into the scheduling of cleaning actions is raising popularity both in academic circles as well as in industry.   

This Special Issue, entitled “Design Optimization and Performance Monitoring of Heat Exchangers,” aims to present novel advances in the development and application of computational modeling to address the aforementioned longstanding challenges in design and monitoring. Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Advanced modeling of heat exchangers of all types, including intensified exchangers, especially those that have not been thoroughly studied
• New heat exchanger geometries and their assessment
• Adanced procedures that improve design optimization computational time
• New approaches for fouling modeling as well as monitoring
• Novel ideas on scheduling of cleaning of preheating trains and heat exchanger network in general

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• Heat exchangers
• Heat Exchanger Design Optimization
• Fouling modeling
• Fouling monitoring
• Modelling