Using FEM to determine the thermo-mechanical stress in tube to tube–sheet joint for the SCC failure analysis

•High tensile stress in the tube to tube–sheet region has been proofed.•Welding, operating temperature, and operating pressure have effect on total stresses.•Geometric discontinuities of the vicinity of gap cause local stress concentration.

The stress corrosion cracking in a weld of the tube to tube–sheet region of heat exchangers is a common problem. Thermo-mechanical stress in tube to tube–sheet joints including welding effect should be determined in this situation for failure analysis. In this paper, the Finite Element Method (FEM) is used to predict the thermo-mechanical stresses including welding residual stress in a tube to tube–sheet weld. Both the thermo-mechanical stress distribution with and without the welding residual stress have also been investigated by numerical simulation. The welding, operating temperature, and operating pressure have effect on total stresses. Especially, the welding residual stresses play an important role in total stress state in tube to tube–sheet joints. Geometric discontinuities of the vicinity of gap cause the welding joint to experience a local stress concentration. A high tensile stress in the tube to tube–sheet region has been demonstrated by FEM, which is the stress aspect for the SCC phenomenon of austenitic stainless steel in chloride environment.