Abstract
The basic requirements to improve the joints quality of tube-to-tubesheet for heat exchangers are to obtain high residual contact pressures between the tubes and the tubesheet as well as low residual stresses in the transition zone of the tubes. The residual contact pressures and residual stresses which govern the joint quality are influenced by parameters such as material properties, geometric dimension of tube and tubesheet and expansion pressures. There are two types of tube layout patterns, triangular and square, which are frequently used for heat exchangers. The purpose of the present work is to examine the superior tube layout patterns considering the joints quality by comparing numerical results from sensitivity analyses which were performed for both of tube layout patterns.