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Heat exchanger is the equipment which is used to reduce temperature of one process
fluid, which is desired to cool, by transferring heat to another fluid which is desired to heat
with or without inter-mixing the fluid or changing the physical state of the fluid.
There are various causes by which Heat exchanger may fail. As they are used at wide
range of temperatures hence there is possibility that crack may induce in it and can cause
catastrophic failure. Heat exchanger may fail by corrosion of tubes. Vibrations and fatigue
are the examples of most dangerous causes that can cause failure. The study of Failure
analysis of Shell and tube Heat Exchangers will help to understand methods to analyze
various types of failure in Shell and tube Heat Exchangers .
Chapter 1 deals with the introductory aspects of Heat Exchangers and its various
types. Various operations performed by Heat Exchangers and types of services in which
Heat Exchangers are used are also explained in this chapter.
The common failures of Heat Exchangers are described in Chapter 2. It includes
maintenance of Heat Exchangers and Fouling in Heat Exchangers. Also it describes types of
failure such as Stress Corrosion cracking, wear failure, creep in metals and stress rupture. It
also deals with causes of failure in Heat Exchangers such as vibration, tube breaking,
unexpected wall thinning of Heat Exchangers tubes, fracture in weld portion and tube
bending.
There are various methods of failure analysis of Heat Exchangers. It includes failure
analysis based on Thermodynamics point of view, based on fracture mechanics point of
view, vibration analysis, optimization of design, and reliability of design. All these aspects
are included in chapter 3.
The remedies for failures and conclusions on design improvement of Heat
Exchangers in order to minimize chances of failures with improved reliability are described
in chapter 4.
Page 1
Contents:
1. Introduction of Heat Exchangers ....................
1.1Heat Exchangers...
1.3.1
Nature of process
1.3.2
1.3.3
1.3.4
11
11
12
12
13
14
2.3.1
14
2.3.2
Wear failures
15
2.3.3
Fatigue failures .
16
2.3.4
Creep in metals .
17
2.3.5
Corrosive failures .
18
20
2.4.1
Vibration ..
20
2.4.2
Corrosion .
20
2.4.3
21
2.4.4
Tube breaking ..
21
2.4.5
21
2.4.6
Tube bending
21
22
22
24
26
27
4. Conclusions ..
29
References
30
Page 2
List of Figures:
1.1 Schematic diagram of shell and tube heat exchanger . 4
1.2 Direct Contact Heat Exchangers
1.6 One shell pass and two tubes pass heat exchanger . 10
2.1 schematic of stress corrosion cracking ...
14
16
17
18
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CHAPTER-1
1.1
Heat Exchangers
A heat exchanger may be defined as equipment which transfers the energy from the
hot fluid to a cold fluid or vice versa, with maximum rate and minimum investment and
running cost. The heat exchanger is used to reduce the temperature of one process fluid,
which is desirable to heat without inter-mixing the fluids or changing the physical state of
the fluids
[1-3].
A shell and tube heat exchanger is a class of heat exchanger designs [6]. It is the
most common type of heat exchanger in oil refineries and other large chemical processes,
and is suited for higher pressure applications. As its name implies, this type of heat
exchanger consists of a shell (a large pressure vessel) with a bundle of tubes inside it. One
fluid runs through the tubes, and another fluid flows over the tubes (through the shell) to
transfer heat between the two fluids. The set of tubes is called a tube bundle, and may be
composed of several types of tubes: plain, longitudinally finned, etc. There can be many
variations on the shell and tube design. Typically, the ends of each tube are connected to
plenums (sometimes called water boxes) through holes in tube sheets. The tubes may be
straight or bent in the shape of a U, called U-tubes.
Condensers are used to cool the temperature of a process vapor to the point where it
will become a liquid by the transfer of heat to another fluid without inter-mixing the fluids.
Water or air is used to condense the vapor [2].
1.2
Fig 1.1 Schematic diagram of shell and tube heat exchanger [7]
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Stationary Head-Channel
15
Stationary Head-Bonnet
16
17
Channel Cover
18
19
20
Tubes
21
Shell
22
Shell cover
23
Packing Box
10
Shell Flange
24
Packing
11
25
Packing Gland
12
Shell Nozzle
26
Lantern Ring
13
27
14
Expansion joint
28
1.3
have been developed which are classified on the basis of nature of heat exchange process,
relative direction of fluid motion, design and constructional features and physical state of
fluids[3].
ii.
Regenerators.
b.
Recuperators
I.
hot and cold fluids and transfer of heat and mass takes place simultaneously. The use of
such units is made under conditions where mixing of two fluids is either harmless or
desirable.
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II.
In this type of heat exchangers, the heat transfer between two fluids could be carried
out by transmission through wall which separates the two fluids.
a. Regenerator
In a regenerator type of heat exchangers the hot and cold fluids pass alternatively
through a space containing solid particles (matrix), these particles providing alternatively a
sink and a source for heat flow. Example: IC Engine and Gas Turbine.
The performance of these regenerators is affected by the following parameters
1. Heat capacity of Regenerating Materials.
2. The rate of absorption
3. The release of heat.
Advantages of regenerators are:
1. Higher heat transfer coefficient.
2. Less weight per KW of the plant.
3. Minimum pressure loss
4. Quick response to load variations
5. Small bulk weight.
Disadvantages of regenerators are:
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b. Recuperators
Recuperator is the most important type of heat exchanger in which the following
fluids exchanging heat are on either side of dividing wall. These heat exchangers are used
when two fluids cannot be allowed to mix i.e., when the mixing is undesirable.
Examples: -
ii.
Counter flow.
iii.
Cross flow
i.
In parallel flow heat exchanger as the name suggest the two fluid streams (hot and cold)
travel in the same direction. The two streams enter at one end and leave at the other end.
The flow arrangements and variations of temperatures of the fluid stream in case parallel
flow heat exchangers are shown in fig. 1.3. It is evident from the figure that the temperature
difference between the hot and the cold fluid goes on decreasing from inlet to outlet. Since
this type of heat exchangers needs a large area of heat transfer it is rarely used in practice.
Example: oil coolers, oil heaters, water heaters
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As the two fluids separated by a wall, this type of heat exchanger may be called
parallel flow recuperated or surface heat exchanger.
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Concentric Tubes
In this type, two concentric tubes are used each carrying one of the fluids. The
direction flow may be parallel or counted as depicted in figure. The effectiveness of the heat
exchanger is increased by using swirling flow [4].
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II.
enclosed by a shell. The other fluid is forced through the shell and it flows over the outside
of surface of the tubes. Such an arrangement employed where reliability and heat transfer
effectiveness are important. With the use of multiple tubes heat transfer rate is amply
improved due to increased surface area.
III.
Fig. 1.6 One shell pass and two tubes pass heat exchanger [8]
Multiple shell and tube passes are used for enhancing the overall heat transfer.
Multiple shell passes is possible where the fluid flowing through the shell is re-routed. The
shell side fluid is forced to flow back and forth across the tubes in the by baffles. Multiple
tube pass exchangers are those which re-route the fluid through tubes opposite direction
IV.
area per unit volume of the exchanger. They are generally employed the convective heat
transfer co-efficient associated with one of the fluids is much smaller than that associated
with the other fluid.
Example: Plate - Fin, flattened fin tube exchangers.
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Condenser
II.
Evaporators
I.
Condenser
In a condenser, the condensing fluid remains at constant temperature throughout the
exchanger, while the temperature of colder fluid gradually increases from inlet to outlet.
The hot fluid losses latent part of heat and it is accepted by the cold fluid.
II.
Evaporators
In this case, the boiling fluid remains at constant temperature while the temperature
1.4
Disadvantages
1. The use of heat exchange causes the flow restriction; hence, additional
pumps are required to correct the flow.
2. Friction losses.
3. Operation difficulties such as flange leakage.
4. Failure of heat exchanger.
5. Maintenance cost and operating cost.
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CHAPTER-2
Failures in Heat exchangers
2.1
I.
Structural Problems
II.
Performance Problems
III.
Metallurgical problems
I.
Structural Problems
Structural problems are the most serious; failure is often swift and irreversible.
Failures caused by flow - induced vibration of heat exchanger tubes over shadow all other
structural failures. Tube to tube sheet joints failure is also a frequent operational problem.
The other type of structural failure encountered in heat exchanger operation is
leakage from bolted joints. Leaks frequently occurred nozzle flanges due to moment loading
of the joint caused by thermal expansion of the interconnecting piping. In some cases, nontemperature distribution in the tube sheet or cover in multiple pass design induces joint
leakage. Replacement of the leaking gaskets with one having more appropriate loading and
relaxation properties is usually the panacea for such structural problems.
II.
Performance Problems
The excessive tube fouling usually causes performance problems. Deposition of foul
ants on the inside of the tube surface reduces the available flow area and increase the skin
friction, causing an increase in pressure loss and decrease in heat transfer. Uneven rates of
fouling of tubes usually occur in units with low flow velocity design. Uneven fouling may
occur on the shell side of the tubes due to a poor baffling scheme. This leads to a flow
misdistribution. Highly non-uniform fouling on severely modifies the metal temperature
profile in some tubes resulting in large tubes - to tube sheet joint leads.
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Thermal stresses in the internal of the heat exchanger can cause serious degradation
of heat duty. The most obvious example is failure of welds joining pass partition plates to
each other and to the channel.
III.
Metallurgical problems
Stress corrosion, galvanic corrosion, and erosion are the most frequently reported
metallurgical problems. Care in the selection of material can eliminate most of these
problems, where the galvanic action cannot be completely eliminated. The use of waster
anode is recommended.
2.2
deposits of ash, soot, and dirt and scale etc. This phenomenon of rust formation and
deposition fluid impurity is called fouling.
Fouling Processes
I.
II.
IV.
Corrosion fouling
V.
Biological fouling
Freeze fouling
III.
VI.
Velocity
Temperature
III.
Water chemist
IV.
Tube material
Prevention of fouling
The following methods may be used to keep fouling minimum
I.
II.
III.
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2.3
Types of failures
2.3.1 Stress corrosion cracking
Stress corrosion cracking is a failure mechanism that is caused by environment,
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Page 15
Erosion, or erosive wear, is the loss of material from a solid surface due to relative
motion in contact with a fluid that contains solid particles. More than one mechanism can be
responsible for the wear observed on a particular part.
Stress S
Cycles to Failure N
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If the stress is cycled between two tensile stresses, R = a positive number less than 1.
Variations in the stress ratios can significantly affect fatigue life. The presence of a
mean stress component has a substantial effect on fatigue failure. When a tensile mean
stress is added to the alternating stresses, a component will fail at lower alternating stress
than it does under a fully reversed stress.
Cycles to failures
Fig 2.4 variation in stress [14]
Preventing Fatigue Failure
The most effective method of improving fatigue performance is improvements in
design:
1. Eliminate or reduce stress raisers by streamlining the part
2. Avoid sharp surface tears resulting from punching, stamping, shearing, or other
processes
3. Prevent the development of surface discontinuities during processing.
4. Reduce or eliminate tensile residual stresses caused by manufacturing.
5. Improve the details of fabrication and fastening procedures
Page 17
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uniform corrosion are the tarnishing of silver or the green patina associated with the
corrosion of copper. General corrosion is rather predictable. The life of components can be
estimated based on relatively simple immersion test results. Allowance for general
corrosion is relatively simple and commonly employed when designing a component for a
known environment.
Page 19
Some common methods used to prevent or reduce general corrosion are listed below:
1. Coatings
2. Inhibitors
3. Cathodes protection
2.4
Causes Of failures
2.4.1 Vibration
Damage from the tube vibration has become an increasing phenomenon as heat
exchanger sizes and quantities of flow have increased [9-10]. The shell side flow baffle
configuration and unsupported tube span are of prime consideration mechanism of tube
vibration are follows.
1. Vortex shelling
The vortex shelling frequency of the fluid in cross flow over the tubes may coincide
with a natural frequency of tube and excite large resonant vibration amplitudes.
2. Fluid elastic coupling
Fluid flowing over tubes causes them to vibrate with a whirling motion. The
mechanism of fluid elastic coupling occurs .When a critical velocity exceed and the
vibration then become self exited and grows in amplitude .This mechanism frequently
occurs in process heat exchangers which suffer vibration damage.
3. Pressure fluctuation
Turbulent pressure fluctuations which develop in the wake of a cylinder or are
carried to the cylinder from upstream may provide a potential mechanism for tube vibration
.The tube respond to the portion of the energy spectrum that is close to their natural
frequency.
2.4.2 Corrosion
High temperature in the system can cause oxidation due to its cause corrosion [16].
Chemical reactions of hydrocarbon can also causes corrosion.
Page 20
Page 21
CHAPTER-3
Analysis of failures of Heat Exchangers
3.1
Method to check whether design is safe under heat transfer point of view is
explained as follows [15]:
1. Calculate Logarithmic mean temperature distribution.
Hear,
LMTD = Logarithmic mean temperature distribution
Th1 = temperature of hot fluid at inlet
Th2 = temperature of hot fluid at outlet
Tc1 = temperature of cold fluid at inlet
Tc2 = temperature of cold fluid at outlet
Correction factor F can be find out from heat transfer data book using Temperature
ratio 'P' and Capacity ratio 'R'
2. Now consider flow inside the tube and calculate Convective heat transfer coefficient
'hi'
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Here,
Nu = Nusset number
Re = Reynolds number
Pr = Prandlts number
Re > 104
(L/di)> 10
Where v = /
Nu = 0.53(Gr*Pr) 0.25
5. Calculate heat transfer rate Q for hot fluid as well as for cold fluid by relations
Page 23
=U* A* LMTD
=Q/ (U*LMTD)
3.2 Improving life of tubes from fracture mechanics point of view and
reducing induced vibrations
The stresses in the heat exchanger tubes are mostly created by water pressure
flowing inside the tubes and vapor pressure of the input/output steam/condensed in
the entrance/exit areas [5-6]. In addition, because of the high speed of the entrance
steam during entering into heaters, it can create vibration bending stresses in the
tubes located in the entrance area.
Fracture mechanics analysis including the fatigue crack growth behavior can
be used to predict the amount of bending stress on the tubes in service. Using a
correlation between cyclic crack growth rates (da/dN) versus stress intensity factor
range (K), the applied bending stresses amplitude can be predicted.
Fig 3.1 Effect of crack growth on Sigmoidal curve (log-log scale) [5]
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A fatigue crack grows with each applied load cycle and therefore, crack growth per
unit cycle da/dN is an important parameter.
If we consider infinite life cycles i.e. greater than or equal to 106 million revolutions,
(to be on safer side consider it to be >=108 million revolutions) we can find out ()
theoretical
i.e. difference between max and min (bending stresses) of tubes from above
expression.
()
actual
can be found out from experiments i.e. by determining higher and lover
If yes, then design is safe according to fracture mechanics point of view and will
have an infinite life with reduced vibrations.
If not, then try to reduce vibrational bending stresses . The main cause of the
vibrational bending stresses in the tubes is the high speed input steam. Therefore,
such high stresses should be minimized using proper methods such as using of an
impingement plate under the entrance gate, or installing one or two baffle plates
supporting heat exchanger tubes in the input steam region. Use of each of these
techniques should be carefully accompanied with consideration of thermal and
mechanical design parameters of heat exchangers to prevent future problems.
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Ctot = Ci + Cod
Let
a1 = numerical constant (V)
a3 = numerical constant
Co = PCeH
(3)
(4)
Based on all above calculations, total cost is computed from equation (1). The
procedure is repeated computing new value of exchanger area (A), exchanger length (L),
total cost (Ctot) and a corresponding exchanger architecture meeting the specifications.
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The parameters , p, and g are selected by the practitioner and control the behavior and
efficacy of the PSO method
Each time the optimization algorithm changes the values of the design variables do,
Ds and B in an attempt to minimize the objective function.
Present approach uses the following steps for optimal heat exchanger design:
Step 1: Assuming values of a set of design variables and estimating heat transfer area of the
heat exchanger based on the required heat duty and other design specification.
Step 2: Evaluation of the capital investment, operating cost and formulation of the objective
function.
Step 3: Utilization of the PSO algorithm to select a new set of values for the design
variables.
Step 4: Iteration of the previous steps until a minimum of the objective function is found.
Page 28
CHAPTER-4
Conclusions
1. After checking design from heat transfer point of view, designer has freedom to
choose between to modify the design of heat exchanger or to change its material.
Due to constraints of design one should try changing material.
2. If design is safe from heat transfer point of view it will not fail at high temperatures.
3. The vibration of tube is one of the main reasons of failure which can be prevented by
using of an impingement plate under the entrance gate, or installing one or two
baffle plates (DTS plates) supporting heat exchanger tubes in the input steam region.
4. Life estimation from fracture mechanics point of view gives more accurate results as
it is not conservative method unlike life estimation from S-N curve.
5. If heat exchanger will fail in service, then the cost of each failure will be significant
as it can affect the production. Hence total cost incurred in operation of heat
exchanger must be optimized.
6. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm gives best way to optimize the cost.
Future scope:
The environment effect can be considered in case of life estimation from
fracture mechanics point of view. The modified Pascal law can be used to get more
accurate results.
Page 29
References:
[1] Nag P. K. (2006), Heat and mass transfer, 2nd ed., Tata McGraw Hills, 622-700
[2] Holman J.P.(2002), Heat transfer, 9th ed., Tata McGraw Hills, 518-566
[3] Suryanarayana N.V. (2015), 2nd ed., Engineering Heat Transfer, PRI
PENERAM,
825-904
[4] Gawande S. H., A. A. Navale, L. G. Nandgaonkar, M. R. Sonawane, V. J., Ubarhande,
U. B., (2011) Design optimization of shell and tube Heat Exchangers
by vibration
Page 30
A.
Nusair
Khan,
Failure
analysis
of
heat
exchanger
tubes,
R.K.,
Sekulic
D.P.
(2003)
Fundamentals
of
Heat
Exchanger
Design.Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, USA,93 p
[16] American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2004, Rules for Inservice Inspection of
Nuclear Power Plant Components, ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code Section
XI, ASME, New York.
[17] Wachel, J. C., 1995, Displacement Method for Determining Acceptable Piping
Vibration Amplitudes, ASMEJSME Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference, Paper
No. 72, Honolulu, ASME, New York, pp. 197208.
[18] Dian Palupi Rini, Siti Mariyam Shamsuddin, Siti Sophiyati Yuhaniz, 2011, Particle
Swarm Optimization: Technique, System and Challenges, International Journal of
Computer Applications (0975 8887), Volume 14 No.1.
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