Welding, Corrosion and Inspection
Welding Technology and Procedure
API 660: Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers: Design, Welding, Fabrication, Inspection, Testing, Operation, Maintenance & Troubleshooting
Shell and tube exchangers from specification to inspection, including the welding and the failures that recur.
- Duration
- 5 days
- Contact hours
- 30
- Level
- Intermediate
- Fee from
- US$1,500
Overview
Heat exchangers are where thermal design, mechanical design and corrosion meet, and they fail more often than their cost suggests they should. Most of it traces back to specification: a tube material chosen on price, a layout that cannot be cleaned, a datasheet that left the vibration check to somebody who never did it. This week works through API 660 and the TEMA classes alongside it, covering what the purchaser has to specify, what the fabricator is entitled to assume, and what the inspector checks. The tube to tubesheet joint gets a session of its own, because it is both the commonest leak path and the hardest thing to repair in the field.
Who should attend
Mechanical and process engineers specifying or reviewing exchangers, inspection and integrity engineers, maintenance engineers responsible for exchanger reliability, and procurement engineers handling the datasheets.
What you will be able to do
- Write an exchanger datasheet that leaves nothing important to assumption.
- Read a TEMA type designation, and know what it implies for maintenance.
- Specify tube to tubesheet joints and the testing that proves them.
- Anticipate vibration, fouling and thermal fatigue at the design stage.
- Plan inspection and cleaning so the unit can actually be maintained.
How it is taught
Short input, then work, across 5 days of roughly 6 teaching hours each. Exercises run on situations delegates bring rather than on a case study written for a different organisation. Cohorts are capped so that everybody is asked something.
Available as classroom, live online, in house.
Programme outline
Day 1
Types and selection
- TEMA front, shell and rear designations
- Fixed tubesheet, U tube and floating head, and the maintenance each allows
- Where API 660 adds to TEMA
Day 2
Mechanical design
- Shell, channel and tubesheet thickness
- Baffles, tube pitch and layout
- Nozzle loads and supports
- Designing for access and bundle removal
Day 3
The tube joint
- Expanded, welded, and expanded plus welded joints
- Procedure qualification for the joint
- Mock ups and destructive checks
- Field plugging, and its consequences
Day 4
Fabrication and inspection
- Welding and post weld heat treatment
- Examination, pressure and leak testing
- Inspection release points and witness holds
Day 5
Failure and reliability
- Flow induced vibration
- Fouling, and cleaning methods by mechanism
- Corrosion at the tubesheet and under deposits
- Thermal fatigue and cycling
What you leave with
- A reviewed datasheet for one real exchanger, with the gaps closed.
- A tube joint specification with acceptance criteria.
- An inspection and cleaning plan for a unit on your own plant.
Dates and fees
| Dates | Location | Format | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 to 27 November 2026 | Cairo, Egypt | Classroom | US$1,500 |
| 30 November 2026 to 4 December 2026 | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | Classroom | US$1,500 |
| 7 to 11 December 2026 | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Classroom | US$1,500 |
| 14 to 18 December 2026 | Lagos, Nigeria | Classroom | US$1,500 |
Fees are per delegate and cover tuition, all programme materials and the certificate. Travel, accommodation and visas are arranged by the delegate. Registration closes two weeks before a programme starts.
Certificate
A GATI certificate recording what was attended, issued after the programme has run and attendance has been taken. Attending at least 80 per cent of the days earns a certificate of completion; attending less earns a certificate of attendance stating exactly what was attended. Every certificate carries a code that anybody can check against GATI's own record.
It records participation. and GATI does not claim one it does not hold.