E5.17 Agitated Vessel

Example 5.17: Calculate the heat transfer from a coil immersed in an agitated vessel. The agitator is a turbine that at 150 r/min.

The fluid has the following properties:

Density, ρ = 45 lb/ft³, absolute viscosity, μ = 10 lb/(ft·h)

Specific heat, c = 0.7 Btu/(lb·°F); thermal conductivity of fluid, k = 0.10 Btu/(h·ft·°F)

The system has the following properties:

Vessel diameter, D = 8 ft, agitator diameter, L = 3 ft;

Viscosity correction factor, φ = 1.

Solution: The heat transfer correlation for agitation of the fluids depends upon the type of the impeller. In general, it is given as

Where constant a is 1.5 and viscosity correction factor is 1.

The agitator speed is 150 rpm = 9000 rph.

The Reynolds number, Re, can be found as

And the Prandtl number, Pr = cμ/k = 70.

We can now calculate the Nusselt number, Nu, to be

And the heat transfer coefficient, h, can be found to be