Hazard Analysis of Fixed‐Tube‐Sheet Shell‐and‐Tube Heat Exchangers

Abstract

Fixed-tube-sheet shell-and-tube heat exchangers (FTHEs) are widely used in process plants to enhance energy efficiency and to control temperature levels of unit operations. Even moderate temperature differences between shell and tube bundle of FTHEs can lead to failure mechanisms induced by thermal stress. To avoid equipment failure, design codes require an analysis of the transient response of an FTHE during special operating conditions. This work presents a modularhierarchical approach for the dynamic simulation of FTHEs, which is applied to special operating scenarios such as a loss of tube-side flow, a shell-side steaming-out (cleaning procedure to remove hydrocarbon residues with steam) and a reactor trip (sudden stop of exothermic reaction).

Improving the load flexibility of industrial air separation units using a pressure‐driven digital twin

“…However, the modular-hierarchical unit operation models allow for the drag and drop replacement of submodels and thus, the adaptation of the model granularity. Further information on the unit operation models, in particular the generic column model, can be found in Kender et al 1,4 For additional information on the generic heat exchanger model, the interested reader is referred to Rößler et al 39,50 All unit operation models rely on the pressure-driven approach according to Thomas et al 51 In general, the plant life cycle can be divided into two phases:…”