Modeling and Simulation of Thermally-Induced Static Stress on A Heat Exchanger

Abstract

The ultimate purpose of any stress analysis is to allow the comparison of the developed stresses, strains, and deflections with those that are allowed by the design criteria. Heat exchanger is a thermo-fluid machine used to transfer heat between two or more fluids. Depending on the goal for which the designer intends to achieve, heat exchangers, therefore, could be used for both heating and cooling processes. This work is about Static Stress analysis to determine or estimate the stresses, displacements, strains, including the factor of safety of the Heat Exchanger (HE) and its designed carrying or working capacity. This analysis predict failure by evaluating whether or not the Heat Exchanger will be able to withstand the internal stresses due to its maximum loading and working capacity. The summation of the masses of individual component inside the shell and tube heat exchanger was generated by the material library in the software using the provided model geometry and the resultant data was used to run the simulation. The maximum Stress experienced by the Heat Exchanger according to the simulation result is 1.254e-01 N/mm2 (MPa) which is far less than the yield strength of the material used in building it (1.72369e+08 N/m2). Hence the Heat Exchanger will survive the maximum loading and working capacity according to von Mises Stress analysis and with a significant factor of safety. For the numerical simulation and analysis of heat exchanger, the static stress processes is successfully captured. The simulations suggest that a critical stress level may exist beyond which a minor disturbance can induce a catastrophic damage.