Research And Optimization Of A U-Tube Heat Exchanger Tube Plate

Tube and shell heat exchanger is one chemical equipment which is commonly used in the petrochemical production. The tube plate which usually works at high temperature and pressure is one important part of the exchanger, so that the correct analysis of the tube plate’s stress state is important for the safety and economy of the heat exchanger.U-tube heat exchanger is the investigated subject in this thesis, which particular structure was designed according to GB151. The thickness of the heat exchanger’s tube plate is 57 mm; the tube plate is connected with the pipe flange and shell flange respectively; the tubes is distributed in the tube plate in the light of triangle’s shape; the distance of two adjacent tube hole is 25mm. The tube plate’s 3d model was established using Solidworks software firstly and imported to the ANSYS software because of its complex structure. The stress distribution of the tube plate was analyzed under the both sides pressure in this paper and linear stress analysis was conducted at the position where the stress is the maximum. At last, membrane stress, bending stress and membrane plus bending stress are studied for safety assessment based on the analysis design standard which is called JB4732. After analyzing the temperature field of tube plate, the result told us that the distribution of temperature along the thickness of the tube plate. Coupled thermo-mechanical analysis of the tube plate was conducted by using ANSYS software considering that tube plate is working under temperature and pressure load. The tubes’distribution in the shape of triangle and square was studied and concluded that the temperature stress has the most important influence on the tube plate’s stress. At the same time, we know that the most dangerous condition of the tube plate occurs at the moment of shutdown. In addition, the order of starting up and shutdown was arranged reasonably according to the results of the analysis,which can avoid the dangerous situation.The analysis of the tube plate according to GB151 is very conservative. The most dangerous condition analysis and buckling analysis of the thinned tube plate were conducted according to the the principle of optimization analysis, which still met the requirements given by JB4732. So we concluded that the work we did has some guiding significance for the study of the U-tube heat exchanger’s tube plate in engineering and reference value.