A collapse stress analysis of a heat exchanger subjected to external pressure in a nuclear power plant

The collapse pressure of tubes is determined experimentally by Tschoepe and Maison for various materials with different geometries. The results are compared with those obtained by ASME Codes UG-31 and UG-28. A collapse pressure is the pressure required for the incipient yielding stress of the tubes with and without ovality. This collapse pressure is compared with the experimental results by Tschoepe and Maison. The present investigation is towards finding the collapse pressure required to bring the entire wall of tubes into a state of plastic flow for the pipes, with ovality and without ovality. This collapse pressure is compared with the collapse pressure obtained through experiments in the present investigation. The experimental results are compared with the pressure obtained by FEM (finite element methods). The FEM results are then compared with results obtained through an approximate plastic analysis of the strain hardening material, SA312-TP304 stainless steel. The structural integrity evaluation is performed for the heat exchanger used in an actual nuclear power plant by using various methods described in this paper. The results obtained by the various analyses and the FEM are discussed. Consequently, the paper is oriented towards an actual design purpose of a heat exchanger in an industrial environment, rather than for the purpose of an academic research project investigation.