Tube expansion
Tube expansion
(OP)
we have a box with a tube bundle in it. Hot gas (~1000F) is flowing on the box side (shell side) and cold water is flowing through the tubes (~200F).
The hot gas is being cooled to almost 200F and there is very little temp rise in the water. We want to design for clearance between end of tubes and the box wall to compensate for tube growth. If we use the very very conservative approach and assume the hot gas heats the first couple of tubes to about 1000F and base linear expansion of that.
But what about the box. The mean metal temperature for shell and tubes says the shell would on average be about 500F and for tubes around 200F. So there would be more expansion in the shell than the tubes. So the clearance will increase with increasing temperature. Is this correct reasoning? fyi there is just ambient atmosphere around box.
Thank You
The hot gas is being cooled to almost 200F and there is very little temp rise in the water. We want to design for clearance between end of tubes and the box wall to compensate for tube growth. If we use the very very conservative approach and assume the hot gas heats the first couple of tubes to about 1000F and base linear expansion of that.
But what about the box. The mean metal temperature for shell and tubes says the shell would on average be about 500F and for tubes around 200F. So there would be more expansion in the shell than the tubes. So the clearance will increase with increasing temperature. Is this correct reasoning? fyi there is just ambient atmosphere around box.
Thank You





RE: Tube expansion
RE: Tube expansion
RE: Tube expansion
Are you affirming that the thermal expansion design about the above situation should be based on the mean metal temperature for shell and tubes (per TEMA). And that clearance between utube ends and box wall will increase with increasing temperature.
RE: Tube expansion
Depending on wall thickness of the tubes, those things will turn into bananas with an 800F delta between the outer and inner surfaces. A rough model would be very helpful.
StrykerTECH Engineering Staff
http://www.stryker-tech.com/
RE: Tube expansion
So design for the two extremes and the normal operating condition falls in the "safe" (moderate) middle.