Heat exchanger pressure testing
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Should the pressure difference between the tube side and the shell side be taken into account when testing a heat exchanger? Or should the tube side and shell side each be tested up to 1.25 times the design pressure?
This post was last edited by fzujunru on 2018-9-11 at 22:49. If the design does not take pressure differences into account, then there is no need to consider such differences during testing. According to GB151, section 4.7, the tube side and shell side should each be adjusted by a factor of 1.25 multiplied by the temperature correction factor and then by the design pressure. During pressure testing, if the test pressure for the tube side is high, it is necessary to consider the joints between the tube sheet and the heat exchange tubes; either leak detection must be carried out or the test pressure for the shell side must be increased to match that of the tube side. Another point is that SW6 does not include any checks on the stresses in the tube sheet during testing; usually, this aspect is not taken into account either, but in theory, it should be checked
What I understand is that the testing pressure is calculated by multiplying the higher of the pressures in the tube side and the shell side by a coefficient. I’m not sure if it’s for this reason, but I’ve been doing it this way all along :)