Fatigue performance evaluation of plate and shell heat exchangers

doi:10.1016/j.ijpvp.2020.104237

International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping

Volume 188, December 2020, 104237

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpvp.2020.104237 Get rights and content

Highlights

•
Fatigue Performance Evaluation of Plate and Shell Heat Exchangers.
•
Fatigue life of plate and shell heat exchangers has been determined by experiments.
•
The external welded region is the preferential failure location.
•
Fatigue strength reduction factors at the critical welded locations were determined via elastic stress analysis.
•
PSHE useful life increases with decreasing spacing between plates.

Abstract

Fatigue life of plate and shell heat exchangers has been determined by experiments. Tests occurred with the aid of a pneumatic-hydraulic setup in which plate pack samples were internally pressurized by water. The samples were exposed to cyclic pressure loads varying from ambient to service pressure in the range 1.0–1.4 MPa, typical operating pressure range of crude oil production sites. Stress determination was possible due to strain gauge measurements. A heterogeneous stress field occurs along the corrugated plate due to its complex geometry. The external welded region is the preferential failure location. An average stress-life curve has been provided with 50% failure probability in accordance to ISO-12107. Fatigue strength reduction factors at the critical welded locations were determined via elastic stress analysis as proposed by ASME procedure. PSHE useful life increases with decreasing spacing between plates.

Introduction

Plate and Shell Heat Exchangers (PSHE) comprise a fully welded plate pack enclosed within a cylindrical casing. They contain chevron-type plates similar to the ones found in classical Plate Heat Exchangers (PHE) in order to yield high-thermal performance and compactness. The casing structure and laser welding treatment of PSHEs allow operation under severe pressure and temperature conditions. Temperature and pressure levels up to 900 °C and 20 MPa have been observed, Klemes et al. [1] and Beckedorff et al. [2]. Considering the advantages of heat transfer and extended operating conditions, PSHEs can replace typical PHEs, see Freire and Andrade [3], Lim et al. [4] and Arsenyeva et al. [5].

However, structural issues may arise regarding the combination of cyclic loads and elevated working pressure. Cyclic loads may occur if operation shutdown happens frequently or if oscillating flow conditions happen in at least one stream as commonly observed in crude oil production sites. Therefore, in these circumstances, PSHE fatigue evaluation is a necessity.

Recently, fatigue in heat exchangers has been evaluated mostly by means of numerical simulations. Patil and Anand [6], and Liu et al. [7] studied fatigue in shell and tube heat exchangers through finite element method (FEM). The formers determined stresses via numerical simulations and the useful life according to ASME procedures, while the latter identified weld beads as potential failure locations. Laurent et al. [8] evaluated the fatigue performance of compact heat exchangers made of 316 L stainless steel. Pelliccione et al. [9] investigated failures in titanium plate heat exchangers yielded by fatigue. Cracks in heat exchanger plates have been analyzed via metallography and spectroscopy. They determined stresses in corrugated plates via FEM.

PSHE evaluation regarding fatigue is hardly found on literature. To the best of our knowledge, no experimental investigation has been carried out with plate and shell heat exchangers concerning fatigue.

This work aims at determining the fatigue life of plate and shell heat exchangers (PSHE) by experiments in a pneumatic-hydraulic setup. Cyclic pressure loads from ambient to service pressure in the range 1.0–1.4 MPa are applied to testing samples that reproduce typical PSHE structural behavior. Stress levels are determined with the aid of strain gauge measurements. Fatigue strength reduction factor is provided by means of an analytical model based on ASME rules for construction of pressure vessels.

The structure of the paper is as follows. Section 2 presents characteristics of the test section and experimental rig as well as experimental procedure details. Section 3 presents stress determination approach, while Section 4 shows a description of the applied ASME code, Sec. VIII, Div. 2, related to cyclical loads. Sections 5 Results, 6 Conclusions present results and main conclusions, in that order.

Section snippets

Test section

The plate and shell heat exchanger (PSHE) consists of corrugated circular plates assembled via laser welding process as described below. A cylindrical casing with the aim of resisting to high-pressure flow conditions surrounds the set of PSHE plates. Plate diameter typically varies from 0.2 to 1.5 m, while the plate thickness, from 0.6 to 0.9 mm. Plate material is often titanium or stainless steel. Heat transfer occurs from one stream to a second one without any mixing process.

Several spare

Stress determination

Nearby the external weld bead, deformation measurements were obtained by twelve three-axis strain gauges (0°/45°/90°), since the principal stress directions are unknown. Furthermore, stress levels along the plate circumference are different owing to the lack of radial simmetry. Owing to the complex geometry of the PSHE plate, the actual analysis is performed with von Mises stresses once the principal normal stresses are computed at the measuring point as: $σ_{p, q} = \frac{E}{1 - ν} . \frac{ε_{0} + ε_{90}}{2} \pm \frac{E}{\sqrt{2} (1 + ν)} . \sqrt{{(ε_{0} - ε_{45})}^{2} + (ε_{90} -}$

ASME code, section VIII, division 2

In the current work, ASME procedure [11] to evaluate protection against failure due to cyclic loading has been applied to PSHE plate pack samples in a similar fashion as accomplished in Ref. [10].

The permissible fatigue cycles were determined by means of experiments. Local stresses were determined with the aid of deformation measurements nearby the preferential failure locations (the external weld bead). By calculating the effective total equivalent stress amplitude (S_alt,k) and with knowledge

Stresses

Stress levels were determined with the aid of three-axis strain gauge measurements at twelve locations along the central pair of plates and close to the external bead. Three service pressures have been applied: 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4 MPa. Principal normal and von Mises stress uncertainties were less than 0.8 and 6%, respectively.

Fig. 6 presents the PSHE plate geometry effect on equivalent stresses at 12 locations nearby the main weld bead. Service pressure is equal to 1.4 MPa. A reference white

Conclusions

An experimental apparatus has been developed to determine the fatigue life of samples with actual geometry by means of cyclic pressure loads with stress ratios equal to zero. Plate pack samples of Plate and Shell Heat Exchangers were tested with loads varying from ambient to service pressure in the range 1.0–1.4 MPa. Stress has been determined with the aid of strain gauge measurements. Stress-life diagrams were provided by means of linear elastic analysis based on ASME rules (Sec. VIII, Div. 2).

Recommendations

Besides the design spacing, the weld bead quality and the plate mechanical properties, other design variables may also affect the fatigue life of plate and shell heat exchangers. For example, the effects of plate thickness, corrugation amplitude, external diameter, Chevron angle or modifications to the plate pattern on fatigue life also demand systematic appraisal. However, these are beyond the scope of the present work.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Fatigue performance evaluation of plate and shell heat exchangers

Highlights

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Test section

Stress determination

ASME code, section VIII, division 2

Stresses

Conclusions

Recommendations

Declaration of competing interest

Int. J. Heat Fluid Flow

Nucl. Eng. Des.

Int. J. Heat Mass Tran.

Appl. Therm. Eng.

Int. J. Pres. Ves. Pip.

Case Studies In Engineering Failure Analysis

Eng. Fail. Anal.

Eng. Fail. Anal.

Compact Heat Exchangers for Energy Transfer Intensification: Low Grade Heat and Fouling Mitigation

Fatigue Experimental Analysis of Plate and Shell Heat Exchangers, Master Thesis