1.

Abstract

LPG cylinder is a kind of pressure vessel that requires high tensile and
compressive strength to store pressurised gases. The commonly used
material for the manufacturing of LPG cylinder is steel. However, steel will
corrode and has some safety concerns. Thus, different alternatives have been
examined and S355J2+N micro-alloyed structural steel is chosen as the
material for LPG storage tank in our design. In this design, material of
construction, pressure, dimension, minimum thickness under internal and
external pressure, vessel length and volume, weld specification and primary
stress analysis were examined to ensure the tank is safe and will not damage
the environment.

2. Introduction

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) can be obtained through the extraction of

natural gas and petroleum, or be produced as by-product of petroleum refining.
LPG has a wide range of applications, mainly as a fuel, in many fields including
the industry, transport and house hold due to its availability, ease to transport
and low cost. LPG is mainly composed of propane and butane and small
amount of other substances. At room temperature and normal pressure, LPG
exists as an odorless and non-toxic gas. When LPG is pressurized or cooled
down to low temperatures, it will transform into liquid state. The density of LPG
in gaseous state is denser than the air while LPG in liquid state is less dense
than water. LPG with butane as its main component has an energy value of 45
MJ. Kg-1.

A pressure vessel is defined as a container that differential pressure exists

between its interior and exterior surface. The inner pressure is usually higher
than the exterior pressure. Pressure vessels are usually utilized to store fluid
under high temperature or pressure and in some case highly flammable gases.

3. Design specifications

Location: Malaysia, open area

Content: LPG (mixture of propane and butane) only, the LPG composition is
assumed to be 100% propane due to pure propane has the highest vapor
pressure.

Design Temperature = 40 oC

The selected design temperature is selected as 40 oC. This is due to the tank
is located at open area which means it will have same temperature as the
ambient temperature. This also because the highest ambient temperature
possible is 40 oC. Minimum design temperature is not selected because lower
temperature (compared to room temperature) is very unlikely and does not
pose any threat to safety of the tank

Design Pressure

At 40 oC, LPG with 100% propane content has the highest vapor pressure
(compared to all kinds of compositions of LPG).

Figure 1: LPG vapour pressure chart. Adapted from

https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/propane-butane-mix-d_1043.html
Hence the highest possible inner pressure of LPG tank is 15.6 bar which is the
vapor pressure of propane at 40 oC (“Propane,” n.d.).

The external pressure is assumed to be same as the atmospheric pressure = 1

bar.

14.04 bar × 1.1 = 15.6bar

The inner pressure is multiplied by 1.1 to determine the final design pressure =
15.6 bar.

Other specifications:

1. The vessel is thin walled.

2. The vessel is cylindrical.

3. No other thermal source other than solar radiation is affecting the vessel.

4. No activities performed near the vessel.

5. No hazards or ignition source can be found nearby the vessel.

6. The maximum volume of LPG stored does not exceed 80% volume of the
vessel to allow expansion due to temperature change.

4. Vessel Size and Specification

a. Material of construction

Body = S355J2+N Micro-Alloyed Structural Steel

Tensile strength of body =560 N/mm2 (“S355J2 N Steel Plate,”n.d.)

Head=P355N Carbon Steel

Tensile strength of head =550 N/mm2 (“Iron alloy,”2018)

b. Pressure

Design Pressure, Pi = 15.6 bar = 15.6 × 105 Pa

c. Dimensions

Length of the body=4810 mm

Length of the head= 312.5mm

Total Length of vessel=4810 + 2×312.5 = 5435mm

Inner diameter =1250mm

Outer diameter=1250mm + 2(9.264)mm = 1269mm

Type of welding=Double welded butt

Joint efficiency = 1.0

Corrosion allowance = 2.0 mm

d. Minimum Thickness under Internal Pressure

Design Pressure, Pi = 15.6 bar = 15.6 × 105 Pa

Internal Diameter,Di = 1.25m

Joint efficiency, J =1

Tensile strength, f=135 N/mm2 =135 × 106 Pa

Minimum thickness of vessel,

Pi Di 15.6 105 1.25

e  = 7.264mm
2 Jf  Pi 2 1135 106  15.6 105

Adding the corrosion allowance (2mm), the final minimum thickness is:

7.264+2= 9.264mm

d. Critical Pressure to cause buckling

Length of head, h= 0.3125m

Length of body, L= 4.81m

L’ = L+2h/3= 4.81+ 2(0.3125)/3 = 5.018 m

Do = Di + t (thickness of vessel) = 1.269 m

L’/Do = 3.95 Do/t = 137

Based on figure 13.16, Kc = 7.0

t 3
Pc  K c E ( )
Do

3
9)
9.264 × 10−3
7.0 × (210 × 10 ( ) = 571910.55𝑃𝑎
1.269

Use safety factor =3 , Pc,allowable=3×Patm = 3(101325 Pa) = 3.04 × 105 Pa

Pc > Pc, allowable hence the vessel withstand external pressure.

e. Vessel Length and Volume

Length of cylindrical part of Vessel = 4.81m

Length or height of head = D/4 = 1.25/4 = 0.3125m

Total vessel length = 4.81m+2(0.3125m) = 5.435m

Volume of left head

4 𝑡
= [ 𝜋(𝐷𝑖 )2 × (ℎ − )]/2
3 12

4 0.009264
= [ 𝜋(1.25)2 × (0.3125 − )] /2 = 0.2518𝑚3
3 12

Volume of right head

𝑡 𝑡 2
= 𝜋 × (ℎ − ) × [3 × (𝐷𝑖 )2 + 4 × (ℎ − ) )/24
12 12

0.009264 2
0.009264 2
= 𝜋 × (0.3125 − [3
) × × (1.25) + 4 × (0.3125 − ) )/24
12 12

= 0.2018𝑚3
Volume of Cylindrical part of vessel

𝐷𝑖2
=𝜋× × 𝐿 = 5.90𝑚3
4

Total Volume of vessel

= 0.2518𝑚3 + 0.2018𝑚3 + 5.90𝑚3 = 6.4𝑚3

(Llc.,n.d.)

f. Weld Specification

Type of joint – Double Welded butt or equivalent

Degree of radiography = 100%

Welding efficiency=1.0

g. Stress analysis

1 1
 1  ( y   x )  ( y   x ) 2  4 xy2
2 2

1 1
 2  ( y   x )  ( y   x ) 2  4 xy2
2 2

σ3 is ignored for thin-walled vessel.

 is ignored, no loads offset from vessel axis.

PDi PDi
x  y  w b
2t 4t

15.6 105 1.25

x   105.25MPa
2  9.264 103

At Upwind situation:
 15.6 105 1.25
y  3
 1.1025 106  17220.82  53742777.81Pa  53.74MPa
4  9.264 10

1 1
 1  (53.74 106  105.25 106 )  (53.74 106  105.25 106 ) 2  105.25MPa
2 2

1 1
 2  (53.74 106  105.25  106 )  (53.74  106  105.25  106 )2  53.74MPa
2 2

At Downwind situation:

15.6 105 1.25

y  3
 1.1025 106  17220.82  52605837.28  52.61MPa
4  9.264 10

1 1
 1  (52.61106  105.25 106 )  (52.61106  105.25  106 )2  105.25MPa
2 2

1 1
 2  (52.61106  105.25 106 )  (52.61106  105.25 106 ) 2  52.61MPa
2 2

560𝑀𝑝𝑎/2 = 280𝑀𝑝𝑎

Thus, the maximum primary stress of this design is 105.25Mpa and tensile
strength of S355J2+N carbon steel is 280 Mpa with safety factor of 2 will be
able to withstand the loads.

Dead weight σw calculations

W
Dead weight,  w
 ( Di  t )t

W= total weight supported by the vessel

=weight of content(LPG), W c + weight of vessel, W v

m kg
Wc = g   c  Vcylinder  9.81 2
 550 3  5.9m3  0.8(80% filled )  25466.76 N
s m
W v = 1.08Dm g ( H  0.8Dm )t where,

 =density of the vessel material= 7800kg/m3

Dm =outer diameter= 1.259m

H=Length of cylindrical section= 4.81m

Wv  1.08 (7800)(1.259)(9.81)[ 4.81  0.8 1.259]  (9.264 10 3 ) =17614.71N

W=25466.76 + 17614.71 = 43081.47N

43081.47
w   1.1025MPa
 (1.25  9.264 103 )  (9.264 103 )

Bending stress, σb calculations

M Di
Bending stress,  b   (  t)
Iv 2

wx 2
M= bending moment= , w=Pw (wind pressure) × Deff (effective diameter)
2

Deff = 1.25 + 2× 9.264× 10-3 = 1.269m

u ,wind speed =1 × 5 (safety factor) = 5m/s

Cd,discharge coefficient =0.7 (obtained from 𝑐𝑑 vs Re graph)

 =density of air= 1.225 kg/m3

u 2 1.225  52
Pw  Cd  0.7  =10.72Pa
2 2

w  10.72 × 1.269= 13.6 N/m

x =total length of the vessel= 4.81+2×0.3125+2×9.264×10-3=5.454m

wx 2 13.6  5.4542
M =  202.274 Nm
2 2
 
Iv  ( Do4  Di4 )
64


Iv  (1.269 4  1.254 )  0.00745m
64

202.274 1.25
b   (  9.264  103 )  17220.82 Pa
0.00745 2
6. Conclusion

Compared with low pressure tank, the key of liquefied petroleum gas tank
design lies in the body design and head design calculation. The design
parameters can be determined according to user’s actual installation condition.

From the analysis above, S355J2+micro-alloyed structural steel is a good

choice of material to make the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage tank. It
has a high tensile strength and temperature resistance. It is also a good
cold-forming property due to its characteristic with low carbon.

Based on the calculations above, it is shown that the vessel can withstand
external pressure of 3 times of atmospheric pressure. The calculations for
minimum thickness of the vessel have factored in the corrosion allowance and
design pressure (10% more than operating pressure) to make sure its
operation is safe.

7. References

Iron Alloy. (2018, October 18). Retrieved from

https://www.makeitfrom.com/material-properties/EN-1.0562-P355N-Non-Alloy
-Steel.

Llc. (n.d.). Tank with Spherical Ends Dimensional and Volume Data
Calculator. Retrieved from
https://www.engineersedge.com/calculators/fluids/propane-tank-dimensional-c
alculator.htm.

Propane. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/cbook.cgi?ID=C74986&Mask=4&Type=ANTOINE
&Plot=on.

S355J2 N Steel Plate. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.beverlysteel.com/products/steel-plate/s355j2-s355j2-n-steel-plate.
html.
8. Appendices