Impact of grooves in hydraulically expanded tube-to-tubesheet joints

Dinu Thomas Thekkuden, Abdel Hamid I. Mourad, Abdel Hakim Bouzid

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The stress corrosion cracking of tube-to-tubesheet joints is one of the major faults causing heat exchanger failure. After the expansion process, the stresses are developed in a plastically deformed tube around the tube-to-tubesheet joint. These residual stressed joints, exposed to tube and shell side fluids, are the main crack initiation sites. Adequate contact pressure at the tube-to-tubesheet interface is required to produce a quality joint. Insufficient tube-to-tubesheet contact pressure leads to insufficient joint strength. Therefore, a study on the residual stress and contact pressure that have a great significance on the quality of the tube-to-tubesheet joint is highly demanded. In this research, a 2D axisymmetric numerical analysis is performed to study the effect of the presence of grooves in the tubesheet and the expansion pressure length on the distribution of contact pressure and stress during loading and unloading of 400 MPa expansion pressure. The results show that the maximum contact pressure is independent of the expansion pressure length. However, the presence of grooves significantly increased the maximum contact pressure. It is proven that the presence of grooves in the tubesheet is distinguishable from the maximum contact pressure and residual von mises equivalent stress. The tube pull-out strength increases with the expansion pressure and the number of grooves. In conclusion, the presence of the grooves affects the tube-to-tubesheet joints.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationMaterials and Fabrication
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
ISBN (Electronic)9780791883860
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020
EventASME 2020 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference, PVP 2020 - Virtual, Online
Duration: Aug 3 2020 → …

Publication series

NameAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers, Pressure Vessels and Piping Division (Publication) PVP
Volume6
ISSN (Print)0277-027X

Conference

ConferenceASME 2020 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference, PVP 2020
CityVirtual, Online
Period8/3/20 → …

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Mechanical Engineering

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