Experimental Studies of Shell and Tube Condenser Fouling and Accelerated Particulate Fouling in Internal Helical-Rib Roughness Tubes Available to Purchase

This paper addresses fouling in a family of seven 15.54 mm I.D. copper, helically ribbed tubes, which have different ridge heights, helix angles, and number of ridge starts. A series of semi-theoretical linear fouling correlations as a function of the product of area indexes and efficiency indexes for long term combined precipitation and particulate fouling (PPF) in cooling tower systems and a series of semi-theoretical linear fouling correlations as a function of the efficiency indexes for particulate fouling were developed. The correlations can be directly used to assess the fouling potential of enhanced tubes in actual cooling water situations.