Posted 03 March 2008 - 11:06 AM
I assume you are in the S&T heat exchanger manufacturing business. If not, I cannot see any reason for you to calculate tubesheet thickness, which I believe is typically determined based on fabrication considerations.
If you are in the HX business, then how could you not have available professional heat exchanger design software? You need to get HTRI or other software that will enable you (presumably) to correctly and error-free perform the design calculations needed. Doing otherwise, in my opinion, is reckless at best. It would involve the proverbial "reinventing the wheel" and would be a time consuming and error-prone process. Do the right thing and get the software, or hire a knowledgable consultant to do the design for you.
Doug