Thomas M. Rudy

Industry-recommended procedures for experimental crude oil preheat fouling research

Of all heat transfer research arenas, few have the investment return potential of crude oil fouling mitigation. However, crude oil fouling is a very complex phenomenon that occurs via the simultaneous activity of multiple mechanisms. Advances in this field of research are complicated further by the lack of standardized procedures, which would permit unequivocal comparisons of non-proprietary data. As a result, Heat Transfer Research, Inc. formed the Crude Oil Fouling Task Force (COFTF), which is composed of heat transfer experts from many of the worlds leading energy companies. The principle endeavor of the COFTF is to ensure that crude oil fouling research is both standardized and industrially relevant. The COFTF recommendations are detailed in this paper.

Risk-Based Design Margin Selection for Heat Exchangers

For more than a quarter century, business and industry have used risk-based matrices to quantify probability and consequences in decision making. However, this tool has not yet been applied to the heat exchanger design process. Adding a design margin to the calculated size of an exchanger is common practice. This margin represents the added heat exchanger area necessary to provide confidence that the exchanger will operate as required throughout its run cycle. An assumption is made that the additional area will not have a deleterious impact on performance. This report introduces the concept of a risk-based design margin selection process as a quantitative aid in separating the individual components that comprise the uncertainty in heat exchanger design. In addition, it provides a technique to help the designer determine a reasonable, cost-effective margin to apply to the heat exchanger. Two example cases show the application of the procedure.

Developments in Enhanced Heat Transfer Technology From a Petroleum Industry Perspective in 2012

Within the past 30 years, many Enhanced Heat Transfer (EHT) technologies have become available in a number of forms for application in heat exchangers. These technologies are used in various industries to widely different extents. In 1999, H. Joshi, T. Rudy, and A. Wanni, former Ph.D. students of Dr. Ralph L. Webb and specialists in the application of EHTs in the Petroleum Industry prepared a paper for the Journal of Enhanced Heat Transfer that reviewed the extent of use of EHT Technologies in the Petroleum Industry [1]. The current paper reviews how the application of EHT in the Petroleum Industry has changed in the last 14 years.Copyright