Heat Exchanger System Piping Design for a Tube Rupture Event

ABSTRACT: Tube-rupture events in shell and tube heat exchangers can result in significantly high surge pressures. Steady state and dynamic methods can be used to assess the impacts of these events on heat exchanger system piping networks. This paper presents the findings of a set of dynamic surge simulations on the impacts of tube-rupture events in a Propane-Feed Gas Heat Exchanger System. Once adjacent piping design is considered, the Joukowsky formulation-based method is not always appropriate to estimate tube-rupture surge impacts. Dynamic simulations need to be conducted to assess the tube-rupture impact on piping systems due to the surge wave amplification as it is transmitted and reflected in the complex pipe network. For blocked-in (noflow) or isolated systems, properly designed relief mechanisms are required to alleviate the tuberupture resultant pressure build-up