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Process Combustion Ltd design and supply heat exchangers to companies around the world. They required a thermal analysis of a tube bundle from a Heat Exchanger destined for China. Analysis by Firth were pleased to be able to assist.
The top picture shows the thermal loads applied to the bundle which reach 610C, and the picture below, detail of the ends of the tubes where they are welded into a thick tube plate. The bundle is nearly 5 metres long and comprises steel tubes of 27mm diameter. We applied discrete temperatures as directed by Process Combustion and ran a steady state thermal analysis to obtain 'smoothed' temperatures throughout the bundle. These were then used to determine the deflections and stresses in the model under thermal expansion loads, which were then used against allowable criteria to determine the acceptability of the design.
For subsequent work we have even used differing thermal and material properties for each tube in the bundle as the temperature varies, thereby refining the techniques and hence the accuracy of the results.
This of course provides Process Combustion with a validation of their equipment at operational levels, dramatically reducing the risk of problems arising when in service (not convenient with a client based in China!).
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