Author(s): Hamid Bashiri; Yifan Zheng

Linked Author(s): Yifan Zheng

Keywords: Hydraulic transient analysis; Shell-and-tube heat exchanger; Rupture disk; Tube rupture

Abstract: Tube rupture of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger can cause severe pressure spikes in the system due to a large pressure difference between the tube and shell sides. A hydraulic transient analysis of a tube rupture for a hot water system, which is required as the heating medium for a pipeline gas preheater in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility is presented in this paper. Based on American Petroleum Institute (API) standard 521, when the pressure difference between the low pressure (liquid side) and high pressure (gas side) is significantly high, exceeding 70 bar, a dynamic analysis of a full-bore guillotine tube failure on heat exchanger shell and piping connected to it, is recommended to investigate the impact. This study analyzes two different failure modes, a guillotine tube failure, and a pinhole tube failure. This study provides the maximum pressure and dynamic loads in the system. Several mitigation options such as reducing the pipe sizes, changing the size and location of rupture disks, relocating the flow control valve, and adding a nozzle-type non-slam check valve on the inlet side of the heat exchanger are proposed to reduce the surge pressures under the test pressure limits. Although these recommendations led the pressures to stand below the test pressure limits for most of the segments, the dynamic loads still were significantly high for guillotine tube rupture case. The magnitude of loads should be evaluated by the project as part of the risk matrix prior to any decision on whether or how to adopt the dynamic loads for design purpose.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3850/978-90-833476-1-5_iahr40wc-p1576-cd

Year: 2023