In the paper, the results of numerical simulations of the steam flow in a shell and tube heat exchanger are presented. The efficiency of different models of turbulence was tested. In numerical calculations the following turbulence models were used: k-ε, RNG k-ε, Wilcox k-ω, Chen-Kim k-ε, and Lam-Bremhorst k-ε. Numerical analysis of the steam flow was carried out assuming that the flow at the inlet section of the heat exchanger were divided into three parts. The angle of steam flow at inlet section was determined individually in order to obtain the best configuration of entry vanes and hence improve the heat exchanger construction. Results of numerical studies were verified experimentally for a real heat exchanger. The modification of the inlet flow direction according to theoretical considerations causes the increase of thermal power of a heat exchanger of about 14%.

The paper presents the results of calculations related to determination of temperature distributions in a steel pipe of a heat exchanger taking into account inner mineral deposits. Calculations have been carried out for silicate-based scale being characterized by a low heat transfer coefficient. Deposits of the lowest values of heat conduction coefficient are particularly impactful on the strength of thermally loaded elements. In the analysis the location of the thermocouple and the imperfection of its installation were taken into account. The paper presents the influence of determination accuracy of the heat flux on the pipe external wall on temperature distribution. The influence of the heat flux disturbance value on the thickness of deposit has also been analyzed.