Distribution performance of gas–liquid mixture in the shell side of spiral-wound heat exchangers

The non-uniformity of gas–liquid mixture is a critical issue which leads to the heat transfer deterioration of spiral-wound heat exchangers (SWHEs). Two-phase mass flow rate and the content of gas are important parameters as well as structural parameters which have prominent influences on flow distribution uniformity of SWHE shell side. In order to investigate the influences of these parameters, an experimental test system was built using water and air as mediums and a novel distributor named “tubes distributor” was designed. The effects of mass flow rate and the content of gas on two-phase distribution performance were analyzed, where the mass flow rate ranged from 28.4 to 171.9 kg·h⁻¹ and the content of gas changed from 0.2 to 0.8, respectively. The results showed that the mixture mass flow rate considerably influenced the liquid distribution than that of gas phase and the larger mass flow rate exhibited the better distribution uniformity of two-phase flow. It was also found that the tubes distributor had the better two-phase uniformity when the content of gas was around 0.4. Tube diameter played an important role in the distribution of gas phase and slit width was more significant for the uniformity of liquid phase.