International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 159

Fired Heater Design and Simulation

Mahesh N. Jethva
1
, C. G. Bhagchandani
2

1
M.E. Chemical Engineering Department, L.D. College of Engineering, Ahmedabad-380 015
2
Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering Department, L.D. College of Engineering, Ahmedabad-380 015


Abstract- In fired heaters, heat is released by combustion of fuels
into an open space and transferred to process fluids inside tubes.
The tubes are ranged along the walls and roof of the combustion
chamber. The heat is transferred by direct radiation and
convection and also by reflection from refractory walls lining the
chamber. The design and rating of a fired heater is a moderately
complex operation. Here forced draft fired heater, which is fired
by fuel gas, has been treated. For that all required equations and
generalizations are listed from different fired heater design
methods as per requirement. A fired heater design calculations
are performed using Microsoft Excel Programming software and
the same fired heater data are used in HTRI simulation software
for simulation and comparision purpose.


Keywords- Radiant heat transfer, Convective heat transfer,
Shield section, Heat balance, HTRI simulation, Comparision.


I. Introduction
A fired heater is a direct-fired heat exchanger that uses the hot
gases of combustion to raise the temperature of a feed flowing
through coils of tubes aligned throughout the heater.
Depending on the use, these are also called furnaces or
process heaters. Some heaters simply deliver the feed at a
predetermined temperature to the next stage of the reaction
process; others perform reactions on the feed while it travels
through the tubes.
Fired heaters are used throughout hydrocarbon and chemical
processing industries such as refineries, gas plants,
petrochemicals, chemicals and synthetics, olefins, ammonia
and fertilizer plants. Most of the unit operations require one or
more fired heaters as start-up heater, fired reboiler, cracking
furnace, process heater, process heater vaporizer, crude oil
heater or reformer furnace.
Heater fuels include light ends (e.g. refinery gas) from the
crude units and reformers as well as waste gases blended with
natural gas. Residual fuels such as tar, pitch, and Bunker C
(heavy oil) are also used. Combustion air flow is regulated by
positioning the stack damper. Fuel to the burners is regulated
from exit feed temperature and firing rate is determined by the
level of production desired.
A typical fired heater will have following four sections: (1)
Radiant section, (2) Shield section, (3) Convection section,
and (4) Breeching and stack. A fired heater may be a box
(rectangular c/s) or vertical (cylindrical c/s) in shape. Same
way, a fired heater may be classified depending on location of
the burners and type of the draft.


II. Radiant Section Design
A. Radiant Heat Transfer in Radiant Section:
Applying basic radiation concepts to process-type heater
design, Lobo & Evans developed a generally applicable rating
method that is followed with various modifications, by many
heater designers. Direct radiation in the radiant section of a
direct fired heater can be described by the equation shown
below.

R
=ooA
cp
(I
u
4
I
w
4
)
Where,

R
= Radiant heat transfer, Btu/hr
o = Stefan-Boltzmann constant,
0.173E-8 Btu/ft
2
-hr-R
4

o = Relative effectiveness factor of the tube bank
A
cp
= Cold plane area of the tube bank, ft
2

= Exchange factor
I
u
= Effective gas temperature in firebox, R
I
w
= Average tube wall temperature, R

B. Heat Balance In The Radiant Section:
There are four primary sources of heat input as well as four
sources of heat output to the radiant section. We can now set
up the heat balance equation as follows:

PucI
+
A
+
Stcum
+
RPu
=

R
+
S
+
Loss
+
0ut

Where,

PucI
= heat liberated by fuel, Btu/hr (LHV)

A
= sensible heat of combustion air, Btu/hr

Stcum
= sensible heat of steam used for oil atomization,
Btu/hr

RPu
= sensible heat of recirculated flue gases, Btu/hr

R
= heat absorbed by radiant tubes, Btu/hr

S
= Radiant heat to shield tubes, Btu/hr

Loss
= heat loss in firebox through furnace walls,
bridgewall, casing, etc., Btu/hr

0ut
= heat of flue gases leaving the radiant section,
Btu/hr
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 160


C. Total Heat Transfer in Radiant Section (if Shield Section
is present):
The total heat transfer in firebox when shield section is
present will be as follows:

PcBox
=o(( A
cp
)
ud
+o(oA
cp
)
shId
)(I
u
4
I
w
4
) +
CR
+
CS

Where,

CR
= Convective heat transfer to radiant tubes, Btu/hr

CS
= Convective heat transfer to shield tubes, Btu/hr


III. Convection Section Design
A. Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient, u
o
:

u
o
=
1
R
to

Where,
u
o
= Overall heat transfer coefficient, Btu/hr-ft
2
-F
R
to
= Total outside thermal resistance, hr-ft
2
-F/Btu

And,
R
to
=R
o
+R
wo
+R
o

Where,
R
o
= Outside thermal resistance, hr-ft
2
-F/Btu
R
wo
= Tube wall thermal resistance, hr-ft
2
-F/Btu
R
o
= Inside thermal resistance, hr-ft
2
-F/Btu

And the resistances are computed as,

R
o
=
1

c

R
wo
=(
t
w
k
w
)(
A
o
A
w
)
R
o
=(_
1

] +R
]
)(
A
o
A

)
Where,

c
= Effective outside heat transfer coefficient, Btu/hr-
ft
2
-F

= Inside film heat transfer coefficient, Btu/hr-ft

2
-F
t
w
= Tube-wall thickness, ft
k
w
= Tube wall thermal conductivity, Btu/hr-ft-F
A
o
= Outside tube surface area, ft
2
/ft
A
w
= Mean area of tube wall, ft
2
/ft
A

= Inside tube surface area, ft

2
/ft
R
]
= Inside fouling resistance, hr-ft
2
-F/Btu

B. Inside film heat transfer coefficient,

:
The inside film coefficient needed for the thermal calculations
may be estimated by several different methods. The API
RP530, Appendix C provides the following methods,

For liquid flow with R
c
10,000,

I
=0.023(
k
J

)R
c
0.8
P

0.33
(
p
b
p
w
)
0.14


And for vapor flow with R
c
15,000,

=0.021(
k
J

)R
c
0.8
P

0.4
(
I
b
I
w
)
0.5


Where the Reynolds number is,

R
c
=
J

0
p
b


And the Prandtl number is,

P

=
C
p
p
b
k

Where,

I
= Heat transfer coefficient, liquid phase, Btu/hr-ft
2
-F
k = Thermal conductivity, Btu/hr-ft-F
J

= Inside diameter of tube, ft

p
b
= Absolute viscosity at bulk temperature, lb/ft-hr
p
w
= Absolute viscosity at wall temperature, lb/ft-hr

= Heat transfer coefficient, vapor phase, Btu/hr-ft

2
-F
I
b
= Bulk temperature of vapor, R
I
w
= Wall Temperature of vapor, R
0 = Mass flow of fluid, lb/hr-ft
2

C
p
= Heat capacity of fluid at bulk temperature, Btu/lb-F

For two-phase flow,

tp
=
I
w
I
+

Where,

tp
= Heat transfer coefficient, two-phase, Btu/hr-ft
2
-F
w
I
= Weight fraction of liquid
w

= Weight fraction of vapor

C. Effective outside heat transfer coefficient (
c
) for Fin
tubes:

c
=
o
(EA
]o
+A
po
)
A
o

Where,

o
= Average outside heat transfer coefficient, Btu/hr-
ft
2
-F
E = Fin efficiency
A
o
= Total outside surface area, ft
2
/ft
A
]o
= Fin outside surface area, ft
2
/ft
A
po
= Outside tube surface area, ft
2
/ft

i. Average outside heat transfer coefficient,
o
:

International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 161

o
=
1
1
(
c
+

)
+R
]o

Where,

c
= Outside heat transfer coefficient, Btu/hr-ft
2
-F

= Outside radiation heat transfer coefficient, Btu/hr-

ft
2
-F
R
]o
= Outside fouling resistance, hr-ft
2
-F/Btu

ii. Outside film heat transfer coefficient,
c
:

c
=]0
n
c
p
(
k
b
c
p
p
b
)
0.67

Where,
] = Colburn heat transfer factor
0
n
= Mass velocity based on net free area, lb/hr-ft
2

c
p
= Heat capacity, Btu/lb-F
k
b
= Gas thermal conductivity, Btu/hr-ft-F
p
b
= Gas dynamic viscosity, lb/hr-ft

iii. Colburn heat transfer factor, ]:

] =C
1
C
3
C
5
_
J
]
J
o
_
0.5
(
I
b
+460
I
s
+460
)
0.25

Where,
C
1
= Reynolds number correction
C
3
= Geometry correction
C
5
= Non-equilateral & row correction
J
]
= Outside diameter of fin, in
J
o
= Outside diameter of tube, in
I
b
= Average gas temperature, F
I
s
= Average fin temperature, F

Reynolds number correction, C
1
:

C
1
=0.25R
c
-0.35

Where,
R
c
= Reynolds number = J

0
p
b

Geometry correction, C
3
:

For segmented fin tubes arranged in,
a staggered pattern,

C
3
=0.55+0.45c
(
-0.35I
]
s
]
)

an inline pattern,

C
3
=0.35+0.50c
(
-0.35I
]
s
]
)


For solid fin tubes arranged in,
a staggered pattern,

C
3
=0.35+0.65c
(
-0.25I
]
s
]
)

an inline pattern,

C
3
=0.20+0.65c
(
-0.25I
]
s
]
)

Where,
l
]
= Fin height, in
s
]
= Fin spacing, in

Non-equilateral & row correction, C
5
:
For fin tubes arranged in,
Staggered pattern,

C
5
=0.7+(0.70.8c
(-0.15N
r
2
)
)c
(-1.0
P
l
P
t
)

Inline pattern,

C
5
=1.1(0.751.5c
(-0.70N
r
)
)c
(-2.0
P
l
P
t
)

Where,
N

= Number of tube rows

P
I
= Longitudinal tube pitch, in
P
t
= Transverse tube pitch, in

iv. Mass Velocity, 0
n
:

0
n
=
w
g
A
n

Where,
w
g
= Mass flow rate of gas, lb/hr
A
n
= Net free area, ft
2


And,
Net Free Area, A
n
:

A
n
=A
d
(A
c
I
c
N
t
)
Where,
A
d
= Cross sectional area of box, ft
2

A
c
= Fin tube cross sectional area/ft, ft
2
/ft
I
c
= Effective tube length, ft
N
t
= Number tubes wide
A
d
=N
t
I
c
P
t

A
c
=J
o
+2l
]
t
]
n
]

l
]
= Fin height, ft
J
o
= Outside diameter of tube, ft
P
t
= Transverse tube pitch, ft
t
]
= fin thickness, ft
n
]
= number of fins, fins/ft

v. Surface Area Calculations:
For the prime tube,

A
po
=nJ
o
(1n
]
t
]
)

And for solid fins,
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 162


A
o
=nJ
o
(1n
]
t
]
) +nn
]
(2l
]
(J
o
+l
]
) +t
]
(J
o
+2l
]
))

And for segmented fins,

A
o
=nJ
o
(1n
]
t
]
) +0.4nn
]
(J
o
+0.2)
+nn
]
(J
o
+0.2) [(2l
]
0.4)(w
n
+t
]
) +(w
s
t
]
)
w
s

Where,
J
o
= Outside diameter of tube, ft
n
]
= number of fins, fins/ft
t
]
= fin thickness, ft
l
]
= Fin height, ft
w
n
= ?
w
s
= Width of fin segment, ft

And then,
A
]o
=A
o
A
po


vi. Fin Efficiency, E:
For segmented fins,

E =x(0.9+0.1x)

And for solid fins,

E =y(0.45ln_
J
]
J
o
_(y 1) +1)
Where,
y =x(0.7+0.3x)

And,
x =
tanh (mB)
mB

Where,
B =l
]
+(
t
]
2
)

For segmented fins,

m =(

o
(t
]
+w
s
)
6k
]
t
]
w
s
)
0.5


And for solid fins,

m =(

o
6k
]
t
]
)
0.5


vii. Fin Tip Temperature, I
s
:
The average fin tip temperature is calculated as follows,

I
s
=I
g
+(I
w
I
g
)(
1
(
c
1.4142mB
+c
-1.4142mB
2
)
)
Where,
I
g
= Gas Temperature, F
I
w
= Tube Wall Temperature, F


IV. Excel Programming
Design of different sections of fired heater has been
performed using Microsoft Excel Programming. For the
calculation purpose, different calculation methods and
equations are used in the programming.


Table 1 Radiant Section Design
PROPERTY DETAIL AMOUNT
Tube OD, in (d
o
) 8.626
thickness, in (t
w
) 0.05118
No of tubes (N
t
)
(Radiant)
40
No of tubes (N
t
)
(Shield)
12
Effective length, ft
(L
e
) (Radiant)
35.07
Effective length, ft
(L
e
) (Shield)
18.31
Tube spacing, in (CC)
(Radiant)
16
No of tubes per row
(N
t/r
) (Shield)
4
Transverse pitch, in
(P
t
) (Shield)
16
Combustion Fraction excess air 0.15
Firebox Diameter, ft (D) 19.98
Process fluid Mean wall
temperature, (T
t
), R
1097.95
Flue gas Flue gas temperature
(T
g
), R
2077.1
(Radiant) (-) 0.9086
(Shield) Assumed (-) 1
A
cp
(Radiant) ft
2
1870.52
A
cp
(Shield) ft
2
97.64
A
cp
(Radiant) ft
2
1699.51
A
cp
(Shield) ft
2
97.64
(A
cp
)
r
+(A
cp
)
s
ft
2
1797.15
A
R
/
((A
cp
)
r
+(A
cp
)
s
)
A
T
, ft
2
2103.81
Area of Shield
Section, ft
2
(A
s
)
97.64
A
R
, ft
2
306.66
A
R
/
((A
cp
)
r
+(A
cp
)
s
)
0.17
Partial pressure atm (P) 0.256
Mean beam length ft 13.32
P*l atm-ft 3.406
Emissivity E 0.5087
Exchange factor F 0.5129
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 163

Radiantion
Heat Transfer
Btu/hr 3.37*10^7
MM Kcal/hr 8.488


Table 2 Convection Section Design
PROPERTY DETAIL AMOUNT
Fin Height, in (l
f
) 1
Thickness, in (t
f
) 0.05118
No of fins, fins/ft (n
f
) 60
Ther. Cond., Btu/hr-ft-
F (k
f
)
21.292
Tube OD, in (d
o
) 8.626
Thickness, in (t
w
) 0.5
No of rows (N
r
) 5
No of tubes per row
(N
w
)
4
Effective tube length,
ft (L
e
)
18.307
Pitch, in (P
t
) 16
Wall temp, F (T
w
) 959
Wall Ther. Cond.,
Btu/hr-ft-F (k
w
)
12.83
Process Fluid Inlet temp, F (t
1
) 609.8
Outlet temp, F (t
2
) 621.1
Ther. Cond., (Liq),
Btu/hr-ft-F (k
l
)
0.04939
Ther. Cond. (Vap),
Btu/hr-ft-F (k
v
)
0.11995
Sp. Heat (Liq), Btu/lb-
F (c
p,l
)
0.694
Sp. Heat (Vap),
Btu/lb-F (c
p,v
)
0.8985
Viscosity (Liq), lb/hr-
ft (
l
)
0.31448
Viscosity (Vap), lb/hr-
ft (
v
)
0.0508
Mass flow rate, lb/hr 1054905.3
Wt fraction (Liq) (W
l
) 0.7
Wt fraction (Vap)
(W
v
)
0.3
Fouling factor,hr-ft
2
-
F/Btu (R
fi
)
0.00391
Flue Gas Inlet temp, F (t
1
) 1472
Outlet temp, F (t
2
) 788
Mass flow rate, lb/hr
(W
g
)
42620.545
Ther. Cond., Btu/hr-ft-
F (k
g
)
0.0353
Sp. Heat, Btu/lb-F
(c
p,g
)
0.3087
Viscosity, lb/hr-ft (
g
) 0.0883
Inside Film HT co-
efficient
h
i
, Btu/hr-ft
2
-F 461.16
Mass Velocity of Flue G
n
,

lb/hr-ft
2
1017.79
Gas
Colburn HT Factor j 0.00543
Outside Film HT co-
efficient
h
c
, Btu/hr-ft
2
-F 2.0291
Average Outside HT
co-efficient
h
o
, Btu/hr-ft
2
-F 2.599
Fin Efficiency E 0.9838
Effective Outside HT
co-efficient
h
e
, Btu/hr-ft
2
-F 2.5595
Overall HT co-
efficient
Uo, Btu/hr-ft
2
-F 1.9348
LMTD F 430.28
HT Area ft
2
10102.93
Convection Heat
Transfer
Btu/hr 8.4*10^6
MM Kcal/hr 2.119


Table 3 Heat Balance
PROPERTY DETAIL AMOUNT
Assumed amount of
Radiant HT
% 80
Assumed amount of
Convection HT
% 20
Thermal Efficiency % (given) 90.7
Total Heat Input (Q
fuel
) MM Kcal/hr 11.70
Total Heat Transferred
(Q
ht
)
MM Kcal/hr
(given)
10.61
Radiant HT (Q
r
) MM Kcal/hr 8.488
Convection HT (Q
c
) MM Kcal/hr 2.122
Heat Loss (Q
loss
) MM Kcal/hr (2.5%
of Q
fuel
)
0.2924
Heat out from HT area to
stack (Q
stack
)
MM Kcal/hr
(=Q
fuel
-Q
ht
-Q
loss
)
0.7955


V. HTRI Introduction
HTRI Xchanger Suite

6.0 combines in a single graphical user

environment the design, rating, and simulation of fired heaters
(Xfh

). Xfh simulates the behavior of fired heaters. The

program calculates the performance of the radiant section for
cylindrical and box (cabin) heaters and the convection section
of fired heater. It also designs process heater tubes using API
530 and performs combustion calculations. Xfh contains
different calculation modules to simulate the different parts of
a fired heater. One can run these modules separately or in
combination to model part or all of a fired heater.


VI. Comparision of given/calculated data and
simulated data
The following table of comparision between given or
calculated data or results and simulated results proves that the
prepared design module is trustable tool for fired heater
design.
International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology- Volume4Issue2- 2013

ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.internationaljournalssrg.org Page 164




Table 4 Comparision of given/calculated data and
simulated data
PROPERTY DETAIL CAL.
DATA
SIMU.
DATA
Overall Performance
Heat duty MM
kcal/hr
10.61 10.73
Efficiency (LHV) % 90.7 85
Heat release (Total) MM
kcal/hr
11.69 12.63
Fuel LHV kcal/kg 13260 13278.1
Process fluid temp at
crossover
C 327.28 327.88
Process fluid temp at
heater outlet
C 346 346.64
Radiant Section
Fuel gas temp out C 800 858.71
Average flux rate kcal/hr-m
2
29000 25611.2
Duty MM
kcal/hr
8.488 7.987
Surface area m
2
166.96 311.87
Pressure drop kgf/cm
2
1.292 1.75
Convection Section
Fuel gas temp out C 420 381.56
Outside film
coefficient
kcal/hr-
m
2
-C
12.5 17.63
Inside film coefficient kcal/hr-
m
2
-C
2251.58 1854.99
Overall HT
coefficient (U)
kcal/hr-
m
2
-C
9.45 12.7
Convection duty MM
kcal/hr
2.122 2.7424
Surface area m
2
938.59 985.27
EMTD C 221.27 220.4
Draft at bridgewall mm H
2
O 2.3043 2.54
Pressure drop kgf/cm
2
0.58 0.547
Burners
Fuel rate kg/hr 882.35 855.2


VII. Conclusion
Using Microsoft Excel Programming software, a design
module has been prepared which can be used for different data
values and gives satisfactory results. In present case, the
design module gives required radiant heat transfer and
convective heat transfer in the fired heater. The specified fired
heater is also simulated in HTRI heat exchanger suite 6.0
using the same fired heater data which are used in MS Excel
design module. The table of comparision illustrates that the
fired heater design and simulation has been performed in
satisfactory way.



References
[1] Process Heat Transfer by Donald Q. Kern,
[2] http://www.heatexchangerdesign.com,
[3] API 560, Fired Heaters for General Refinery Service, 4
th
edition, August
2007,
[4] HTRI Xchanger Suite 6.0 software,
[5] HTRI Manual and Help file