Abstract: Taking the high pressure air cooler in a 4.4 Mt/a residual oil hydrogenation unit and its inlet and outlet piping arrangement as the research background, this paper uses CAESARII software to simulate and analyze the high pressure air cooler and its inlet and outlet piping. Under normal operating conditions, the precise simulation method of air cooler equipment is found by changing the simulation mode of equipment, the calculation temperature of equipment, the form of support points and the layout of piping. It is concluded that setting low friction pair at the air cooler support point and changing the pipe routing can reduce the force acting on air cooler nozzle, and taking the average temperature of the inlet and outlet piping as the calculation temperature of air cooler is more reasonable. Finally, on the premise of meeting the force of air cooler nozzle, the piping is reasonably arranged, the piping material is reduced, and the engineering investment is saved

Key words: high-pressure air cooler, CAESARII software, stress analysis, piping layout