I have raised this topic on a different thread, but fabricators may not have seen it.
Leaks from excessive, under cooling tower water deposit pitting on the ID of existing carbon steel tubes necessitate a condenser replacement tube alloy upgrade..
Expanded tube-to-tubesheet joints have leaked excessively. Seal welded joints have cracked and leaked, and weld repairs have caused adjacent seal welds to crack. Strength welds are needed in the replacement condensers.
Cooling tower water fouling contributes to both corrosion and excessive pressure drop on the tubeside. Flared inlet tube ends are desired to minimize entrance losses and pressure drop in the replacement condensers.
Just two questions:
1. Is it practical to both strength weld and flare the inlet tube ends of the replacement condensers?
2. Is there an available reference that could help us calculate the pressure drop effect of flared inlet tube ends?
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Bill Salot
Fellow - Reliability Engineering
AdvanSix
Hopewell, VA
(804)541-5333
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