Hydroexpansion of Tube to Tubesheet Joint
Hydroexpansion of Tube to Tubesheet Joint
(OP)
Does anyone have any experience with hydroexpanding (instead of a plain roll) heat exchanger tube to tubesheet joints? We currently roller expand our joints and still have leakage problems which forces us to then add a strength weld. I am hoping that hydroexpanding will eliminate a strength weld.
Any input would be great!
Thanks
Any input would be great!
Thanks





RE: Hydroexpansion of Tube to Tubesheet Joint
I2I
RE: Hydroexpansion of Tube to Tubesheet Joint
Sorry, no experience with hydroexpansion.
cheers,
gr2vessels
RE: Hydroexpansion of Tube to Tubesheet Joint
You may want to take a look at ASME publication82-JPGC-Pwr-1 "Hydro expanding: The Current State Of The Art" by S. Yokell.
Like gr2vessels stated roller expanding is generally adequate. There are several factors that can affect joint integrity such as: cleanliness, tolerances, material (tube & tube sheet), ligaments, groove width/ depth, etc. The majority of end users will specify the required joint connection: parallel pin roll, seal weld, strength weld, groove or no groove. Do your leak problems occur with retube jobs only? Is it a more common on a certain metallurgy ( eg. 90/10 tubes on SS TS)? I would do more research on cause.
I'm far from an expert on tube joint connections, but these are some of my observations.
RE: Hydroexpansion of Tube to Tubesheet Joint
The largest tube we have hydoexpanded is a 1 1/8 14 ga 304L SS.
RE: Hydroexpansion of Tube to Tubesheet Joint