Reynolds Number
Reynolds Number
(OP)
I asked the manufacturer of chemical reactor at our plant what's the Reynolds number at 60 gpm. The manufacturer replied back at 60 gpm the reactor has an overall heat transfer coefficient of 75 KCal/m2h degree C with a pressure drop of 0.28 bar. I'm trying to back into the Reynolds number but it seems like I'm missing some data. Am I right?





RE: Reynolds Number
The Reynold's number is a 'diameter' * 'velocity' * 'density' / 'viscosity'.
The heat transfer coefficient (what the vendor has given you as 75 kcal/hm2) is affected by the Reynold's number as well as other fluid properties.
I'm unclear what type of system you are trying to get the Reynold's number for. Is the 60 gpm through the reactor flowing through some sort of catalyst or packing?
RE: Reynolds Number
RE: Reynolds Number
RE: Reynolds Number
RE: Reynolds Number
This should yield a very conservative Re number.
Calculate the cross-sectional area of the jacket, A.
Flowrate/A = estimated velocity, v.
For the diameter a crude estimate would be 2 x (the distance from the inside of the jacket to the outside of the reactor). You then need the viscosity & density of the liquid in the jacket. Watch you're units.
This is very much a back of the napkin calculation and is the type of thing I normally keep to myself until I can do a more accurate calculation. If your answer looks totally off the wall then crumple up the napkin and toss it. One other note, if your chemical engineer is any good he should be able judge if the flow is or isn't turbulent if he has the reactor jacket specifications and flowrates in front of him.
RE: Reynolds Number
RE: Reynolds Number
RE: Reynolds Number
RE: Reynolds Number
if you have convection heat transfer number, you can get back to Nusselt number which is related with Reynolds number and Prandtl number. prandtl number is identical for the mixture you handle.