Transient analysis of shell-and-tube heat exchangers using an educational software

• Analysis of transient heat transfer problems.
• Realistic training with educational simulator.
• Solution of the exercises provides valuable insights into the design problem.
• Software designed to engage students through decision making process.

Computer-aided design has become extremely popular and its use in classroom can be very helpful, adding more analysis capabilities to all engineering areas. A free piece of educational software to teach transient analyses of shell-and-tube heat exchanger equipment to undergraduate students is presented. The software was developed to provide unit operation courses with realistic exercises involving dynamic simulation of chemical processes. The use of the program improves the efficiency of the course since it let students practice heat exchanger analysis while relieving them of tedious repetitive calculations.