Currently, to ensure the energy efficiency of production processes, attention is being drawn to the compact heat exchange equipment creation that is used in various thermal power systems and complexes. It is possible to reduce heat exchange dimensions when using various types of intensifiers in the design. The greatest interest in the heat exchange study with intensifiers is caused by various kinds of fillers. One of the promising directions in efficient structures development is the use of porous inserts in heat exchangers construction. To design heat exchangers with porous intensifiers in the design, it is necessary to substantiate and test models for calculating heat transfer and hydraulic resistance in channels with porous inserts. Despite the many works in this scientific field, the task of studying heat transfer processes in chaotic shape porous structures is relevant, since there is no standard approach to describing heat transfer in them. The paper considers the heat exchange processes in the design of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger with porous inserts. The purpose of the study is to study heat exchangers thermohydraulic parameters using porous inserts in their design to develop a model for their calculation. The heat transfer parameters study was carried out based on data obtained during freon flow in pore channels experimental studies. As a result, criterion equations are obtained that allow us to obtain a method for calculating heat exchangers using porous intensifiers in heat exchangers of this type.