Assessment of Weld Joint Efficiency for Rolled and Welded Joint for Intermediate Heat Exchanger in Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor

Abstract:

The tube to tubesheet joint in a heat exchanger is one of the most critical joint and it has to meet stringent requirements as it provides the main barrier between the tube side and shell side fluids of heat exchanger. This paper discusses the various kinds of tube to tubesheet joint in heat exchanger, joint configuration adopted in PFBR IHX, structural analysis of IHX, axial load distribution in tube rows and experimental verification in order to evaluate allowable strength of tube to tubesheet joint. In IHX, tubes in outer rows are under tension and maximum stresses are below the allowable stresses in the tubes. Detailed experimental investigations result shows that the rolled and welded joint is stronger than the basic strength of the tube material. However, the allowable tensile strength of the joint under mechanical loading considered is 0.95 times the allowable value for tubes as per ASME.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volumes 592-594)
• Pages: 1438-1442
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.592-594.1438
• Online since: July 2014
• Authors: Suman Gupta*, P. Chellapandi
• Keywords: Expansion Joint, Heat Exchanger, Pull-Out Test, Tube to Tubesheet Joints, Welded Joint

References

[1] Kuppan Thulukkanam: Heat Exchanger Design Handbook, 2nd Edition, Chapter 15, CRC press, Taylor & Francis Publishers (2013).

[2] ASME SEC VIII Div 1. Rules for Construction of Pressure Vessels, NMA APP A Basis for establishing allowable loads for Tube to tubesheet joints (2010).

[3] Suman Gupta and P. Chellapandi, Assessment of Tubesheet design by Tubesheet design rules through detailed Finite Element Analysis, Proceedings of the International conference on Computer Aided Engineering (CAE-2013), IIT Madras, India.

[4] RCC-MR 2007 Section 1-Subsection Z, Appendix A17: Design of Flat tube plates.