The centre to centre distance between two consecutive baffles in a shell and tube heat exchanger is called the baffle pitch or baffle spacing, which is more than 1/5th the I.D. of the shell. Which of the following is not a function of the baffles?

• To increase the residence time of shell side fluid.
• To provide support to the tube bundle.
• To reduce the induced vibration in the tubes.
• To increase the tube side heat transfer co-efficient by inducing turbulence.