Pressure Vessel - Calculations, Issues in Design, Trouble Shooting-Part-1
Pressure Vessel - Calculations, Issues in Design, Trouble Shooting-Part-1
General Introduction of
Pressure Vessel
INTRODUCTION [1]
• Vessels, tanks, and pipelines that carry, store, or receive fluids are called
pressure vessels.
• A pressure vessel is defined as a container with a pressure differential
between inside and outside.
• The inside pressure is usually higher than the outside, except for some
isolated situations.
• Pressure vessels often have a combination of high pressures together with
high temperatures.
• Because of such hazards it is imperative that the design be such that no
leakage can occur.
• Pressure vessels and tanks are, in fact, essential to the chemical, petroleum,
petrochemical and nuclear industries. It is in this class of equipment that the
reactions, separations, and storage of raw materials occur.
CLASSIFICATION OF PRESSURE VESSEL [3]
Pressure vessel
Horizontal/Vertical Fired/Unfired
COMPONENTS OF PRESSURE VESSELS
i. Shell
ii. Heads
iii. Nozzles
iv. Stiffening rings
v. Supports
Head
• All pressure vessel shells must be closed at the ends by heads (or another
shell section).
• Heads are typically curved rather than flat.
• Curved configurations are stronger and allow the heads to be thinner,
lighter, and less expensive than flat heads. Heads are usually categorized
by their shapes.
Fig: Different types of heads.
(Modified from ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, ASME, New York.)
Support
• The type of support that is used depends primarily on the size
and orientation of the pressure vessel.
• the pressure vessel support must be adequate for the applied
weight, wind, and earthquake loads.
• Typical kinds of supports are as follow:
a. Skirt
b. Leg
Leg
c. Saddle
d. Lug
Saddle
Stiffener Rings
• Rings made of flat bar or plate or structural shapes welded around the
Circumference of the vessel.
• These rings are installed on vessels operating under external pressure to
prevent collapse of the vessel.
Fig:
Screenshot of
PV-Elite Software
2. Impact Testing‐
• The impact testing of materials is done to take care of low temperature
service. This is because the material tend to become more brittle at low
temperature.
• Charpy V notch impact test is the most common type of test used.
3. Stresses in Pressure
Vessels
Mainly there are 2 types of stresses involved in a pressure vessel
1. Primary stress
Primary stresses are generally due to internal or external pressure or produced
by sustained external forces and moments.
These stresses act over the full cross section of the vessel. They are produced
by mechanical loads and are the most hazardous of all types of stress.
5. CORROSION:
• If excessive corrosion occurs than material thickness will decrease
constantly and after a certain limit the material will fail
• Due to this the vessels are provided with corrosion allowance thickness.
Generally taken 3mm at inside boundary layer.
• At outside some corrosion resistant material are used to prevent the
rusting.
4. Design of Shell
VESSEL NOMENCLATURE
Pe
Pi
1 2
SHELL UNDER INTERNAL
PRESSURE
LONGITUDINAL
HOOP STRESS
STRESS
Classical Equation
Calculate internal 𝑃𝑟 Classical Equation
design pressure 𝜎 h𝑜𝑜𝑝 = 𝑃𝑟
𝑡 𝜎 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 =
2𝑡
P = Pi + Pliquid level
ASME CODE EQUATION
ASME CODE EQUATION
𝑷𝑹𝒊 𝑷 𝑹𝒊
𝒕= 𝒕=
(𝑺𝑬 − 𝟎 .𝟔 𝑷 ) (𝟐 𝑺𝑬+ 𝟎 .𝟒 𝑷 )
Design of cylindrical shell under
external pressure
• Designing vessels for external pressure is an iterative
procedure [8].
When Do/t is less than 10, the allowable external pressure is taken as the
smaller of the values determined from the following two equations:
Total internal pressure, P = pressure inside the vessel+ pressure due to liquid
Step-4: Select the maximum thickness as obtained from the step-1 & 2.
Follow the steps as described in the section design of cylindrical shell under
external pressure.
SUMMARY OF DESIGN PROCEDURE FOR SHELL
Step-6(a) Select a new thickness and repeat step-4 to 6 for calculating allowable
pressure
iii) Repeat step-4 to 6 for calculating allowable pressure using new value
of L.
Fig: A pressure vessel with the use of stiffening rings. [8]
Calculation Program using Mathcad.