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• Engineering workflow for misalignment studies by using 3D field line tracing codes. • The heat load pattern on geometrical configurations deviating from their reference ones can be retrieved by using penalty factors. • Penalty factors are not self-exhaustive: heat flux magnitude and duration of its applications are parameters to consider in an engineering design. • During Normal Operations, hot spots should be prevented in case of segments' misalignment by defining assembly tolerance levels. • Misalignment tolerance studies help drive the design of FW and limiters. Within the framework of EURO fusion DEMO First Wall and limiter design activities, the protection of the First Wall against power deposition peaks is being considered. During steady-state operation, the radiative power from the plasma could be considered more uniformly spread on plasma-facing components than the charged particle power deposition. The presence of openings (i.e. gaps between segments and ports) and the introduction of limiters breaks the continuity of the wall and opens the possibility of localized high heat flux values on toroidal-facing gaps due to charged particles striking the wall. The heat flux pattern is likely to be altered by misalignments between components due to manufacturing, assembly or non-uniform/non-symmetrical operational conditions in the segments. In this paper, the 3D field line tracing code SMARDDA is used for studying the impact of misalignment on the heat load distribution for a periodically segmented DEMO First Wall, specifically the Single Module Segment Concept. The present work does not address any study on limiter misalignments, which will be treated separately. The work covers normal operation conditions (ramp-up and steady-state), considering both the cases of bare First Wall (without limiters, as reference) and First Wall protected by limiters. The main aim of the work is understanding how the power deposition on the First Wall (due to charged particles) is affected by the presence of a radial or vertical misalignment between segments and starting a workflow to be applied later to all the possible plasma scenarios and First Wall layout. Heat flux penalty factor maps have been created to identify the worst cases among the ones analyzed. The related heat flux maps are relevant for thermal assessments of a simplified DEMO model to be performed later on, particularly in terms of maximum temperature values for the current DEMO design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]