INTRODUCTION

Pressure vessels are subjected to various loadings depending upon their applications. Due to the asymmetric nature of these loadings sometimes the vessel assembly experiences sudden failure. Most of the times it is observed that these failures are localized. So in order to avoid such catastrophic failures, Process equipment manufacturer from India & Abroad approached ANALYZER to seek assistance in evaluating the design of their newly developed vessels to multiple loading conditions using simulation techniques & provide the solution in case of any observed stress failure.

FEA WORKFLOW

• Design parameters & material properties extraction for Complete Pressure Vessel’s FEA
• Preparing FEA Model for a pressure vessel with complete structured Hexahedral Mesh.
• Solving the FEA Model & Result extraction
• Preparing an easy to understand report for the performed FEA.

CHALLENGES 

• Preparing complete structural hexahedral mesh without losing small geometrical details like fillets & weld chamfers.
• Identifying the critical locations & carrying out stress linearization at those locations

THE SOLUTION

The pressure vessel was analyzed using the Finite Element Method to determine the induced stresses due to various loading conditions. In order to assess the strength of complete pressure vessel, guidelines from ASME BPVC (Boilers & Pressure Vessels Code) Section VIII Div. 2 Ed. 2013 was utilized. Stress Linearization has been carried out at various locations. The results showed that the induced stresses were well within the acceptable limits as per guidelines. Hence, the structure’s design was predicted to behave safely during operation without premature failure.

BENEFITS

• Better insights on design modifications for alternate applications
• Optimized design with reduced material cost
• Reduced manufacturing time