Computational Modeling (CFD and FEA) of Crude Oil Refinery Heat Exchanger’s Failure Modes

Heat exchanger is one of the most commonly used equipment in refineries and chemical plants. Every year millions of dollars are spent globally, for their maintenance and trouble shooting. There are many reasons for failure and malfunctioning of the heat exchangers. It is important to have a cost effective approach to determine the causes of these failures, know their location, test their mitigation methods, and monitor their health. This paper focuses on the use of computational modeling (like CFD and FEA) to get the above mentioned information for various failure modes such as fouling, corrosion, erosion, fatigue, buckling etc. ANSYS CFD models will provide a good estimate of fouling, corrosion and erosion on the equipment surfaces. The CFD results will then be transferred to ANSYS FEA models to analyze fatigue and buckling of the tubes. These analyses can also help in designing of new heat exchangers.