History of pressure vessels[edit]

A 10,000 psi (69 MPa) pressure vessel from 1919, wrapped with high tensile steel
banding and steel rods to secure the end caps.

The earliest documented design of pressure vessels was described in 1495 in the
book by Leonardo da Vinci, the Codex Madrid I, in which containers of pressurized
air were theorized to lift heavy weights underwater.[1] However, vessels resembling
those used today did not come about until the 1800s, when steam was generated
in boilers helping to spur the industrial revolution.[1] However, with poor material
quality and manufacturing techniques along with improper knowledge of design,
operation and maintenance there was a large number of damaging and often fatal
explosions associated with these boilers and pressure vessels, with a death occurring
on a nearly daily basis in the United States.[1] Local providences and states in the
US began enacting rules for constructing these vessels after some particularly
devastating vessel failures occurred killing dozens of people at a time, which made
it difficult for manufacturers to keep up with the varied rules from one location to
another and the first pressure vessel code was developed starting in 1911 and
released in 1914, starting the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC).[1] In
an early effort to design a tank capable of withstanding pressures up to
10,000 psi (69 MPa), a 6-inch (150 mm) diameter tank was developed in 1919
that was spirally-wound with two layers of high tensile strength steel wire to
prevent sidewall rupture, and the end caps longitudinally reinforced with
lengthwise high-tensile rods.[2] The need for high pressure and temperature vessels
for petroleum refineries and chemical plants gave rise to vessels joined with
welding instead of rivets (which were unsuitable for the pressures and
temperatures required) and in the 1920s and 1930s the BPVC included welding
as an acceptable means of construction, and welding is the main means of joining
metal vessels today.[1]

There have been many advancements in the field of pressure vessel engineering
such as advanced non-destructive examination, phased array ultrasonic testing
and radiography, new material grades with increased corrosion resistance and
stronger materials, and new ways to join materials such as explosion welding (to
attach one metal sheet to another, usually a thin corrosion resistant metal like
stainless steel to a stronger metal like carbon steel), friction stir welding (which
attaches the metals together without melting the metal), advanced theories and
means of more accurately assessing the stresses encountered in vessels such as with
the use of Finite Element Analysis, allowing the vessels to be built safer and more
efficiently. Today vessels in the USA require BPVC stamping but the BPVC is not
just a domestic code, many other countries have adopted the BPVC as their official
code. There are, however, other official codes in some countries (some of which rely
on portions of and reference the BPVC), Japan, Australia, Canada, Britain, and
Europe have their own codes. Regardless of the country nearly all recognize the
inherent potential hazards of pressure vessels and the need for standards and
codes regulating their design and construction.