Effect of changes in the thickness of a perforated plate of the heat exchanger on its structural stability

One of the most important elements of heat exchangers are perforated bottoms. These are perforated plates of significant thickness, in which heating cartridge pipes are mounted. For the designers of heat exchangers, the strength analysis of the connection between the elements, which allows for the determination of the state of stress and calculation of displacements of the perforated bottom after fixing the pipes in it, is of special importance. It results from carried out computations that the maximum reduced stresses in the perforated bottom are significantly lower than the values of admissible stresses. In this paper, computations of stresses and strains for various thicknesses of the perforated bottom have been presented. As a result of a decrease in the thickness of the perforated bottom, its deflection increases, and thus the heating system pipes are more exposed to strains and losses of stability.