2.

Design Of Cylindrical And Spherical Vessels Under Internal Pressure

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 Most of the Chemical process equipments are either in Cylindrical or in Spherical shape. The thickness of the vessel wall depends upon the operating pressure and temperature.
Thin wall: Thickness/diameter < 0.1. Thick wall: Thickness/diameter > 0.1. Thin wall vessels for low pressure operations Thick walls for high pressure operations. In an ideal thin or thick wall vessels, stresses are uniform along the thickness.
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Cylinder:

Thin Wall Vessels

Radial, Hoop and Longitudinal stresses in Thin Cylinder

t
d

rd

z
Di

P
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fig 1

When a cylindrical vessel of length L,diameter D and thickness t is subjected to an internal pressure p as shown in the above figure, radial stress in the radial direction,hoop stress in tangential direction and longitudinal stress in axial direction will be developed in the vessel. The force F,which is balancing radial forces acting on the shell surface is equal to sum of the vertical components of all the forces acting on each half of the shell and is given as : Force=Pressure x Area

-------(1)

--------(2)
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The hoop stress in the shell can be obtained by dividing the force F by the cross sectional area (A=tL) of the vessel as:

--------------(3)

Note: Radial stress = Hoop Stress The longitudinal stress can be calculated by equating the total pressure against the end of the cylinder to the longitudinal forces acting on a transverse section (at right angle to the longitudinal axis) of the cylinder, as indicated in the following fig 2

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Longitudinal Stress In Thin Cylinder And Sphere

t z
Di

z=

P
P

ri

Cylinder
fig 2
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Sphere

giving
--------------(4)

------------(5)

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Sphere: The hoop and longitudinal stresses in a thin sphere subjected to internal pressure can be found out to be equal to and same as that of longitudinal stress in a cylinder.
-------------(6)

Where D = Di + t The minimum for a sphere is

absolute

stress

value

The thickness of a sphere for a given set of conditions is one half that necessary for a cylinder.
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Lames Stress analysis for thick vessels

Statement: If a Cylinder of constant wall thickness is subjected to internal pressure pi and external pressure po, deformation in the cylinder will be symmetrical about its axis and will not change along its length. The thickness (t) of thick cylindrical vessel given by Lame is

Cylinder:

Derivation for t: Consider an element mnm1n1 of unit length of the cylinder from the wall for force balance as shown in the following figure 3.
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Po r

ri
ro

fig 3
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The hoop stress acting on the sides mm1 and nn1 is The radial stress on mn is r and this stress varies with radius r in the amount of ( ) dr over a distance dr.

Therefore the normal radial stress on the side m1n1

-----------(7)

is

At equilibrium the direction yields

summation

of

forces

in

radial

-----------(8)

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If u is the radial displacement of cylindrical surface of radius r, the radial displacement of a surface of radius r+dr is ---------(9)
Hence, the element mnm1n1 undergoes a unit radial elongation or unit radial strain of -------(10) In the circumferential direction, the unit elongation or hoop strain is equal to unit elongation of the corresponding radius ----------(11)
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From Poissons ratio concept, we know that

(A) Then the stresses in terms of strains ( & (B) ) become

------(12) ------(13) These stresses are independent because they are expressed in u.

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 By substituting equations (12) and (13) in equation (8) and solving the differential equation, we get the normal stresses as

------(14)

------(15)

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The above equations are known as Lames solutions. The maximum shearing stress at any point in the cylinder is given by

------(16)
The longitudinal stress is small and is given by ------(17) For a cylinder subjected to only internal pressure, p,the expression for stress become,

----(18)
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-----(19)
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It should be noted that is greater than r and it is maximum at inner periphery of cylinder.
Therefore, for design purposes the hoop stress at r=ri should be taken as critical or allowable stress , i.e.

--------(20)
Where f stands for allowable stress. The chemical process equipment is fabricated with sheet metals need the end joints which reduces the allowable strength of material by a factor called joint efficiency factor.
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If J denotes joint efficiency factor , then,

If t is the minimum wall thickness required for the shell

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The final expression from the hoop stress consideration are ,

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Sphere:

In case of spherical vessel under internal pressure, the induced hoop and longitudinal stresses are equal and the magnitude is same as longitudinal stress in cylinder. For internal pressure only this becomes

For sphere, equations can be written as

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 Hence, the final expressions for sphere are

After adding appropriate corrosion allowances to calculated thickness (t), the final value is to be chosen. The above eqns are valid for t/Di < 0.25.
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PROBLEM A process vessel is to be designed for the maximum operating pressure of 500 kN/m2. The vessel has the nominal diameter of 1.2m and tangent to tangent length of 2.4m. The vessel is made of IS: 2002-1962 Grade 2B quality having allowable design stress value of 118 MN/m2 at working temperature. The corrosion allowance is suggested to be 2mm for the life span expected for the vessel. The vessel is to be fabricated according to class 2 of Indian standard specifications which stipulate the weld joint efficiency of 0.85.Determine (a) The standard plate thickness to fabricate this vessel? (b) The maximum internal pressure that the sphere will withstand safely, if a spherical vessel having the same diameter and thickness is fabricated with same quality steel.

Solution: (a) Assuming t/Di < 0.25, the minimum wall thickness of thick cylinder excluding corrosion allowances s given by,

Where, t= minimum wall thickness without corrosion allowance, m P=Design pressure, N/m2 = Max.working pressure + minimum of 5% Max.working pressure. P=500+5% of 500 = 500(1+5%)

Do=Outer diameter of the vessel (nominal dia.)=1.2m f=allowable design stress

J=weld joint efficiency factor=0.85

Substituting the given values in the above equation, we get

Adding corrosion allowance to t, minimum actual wall thickness (Ta) required will be Ta=t+c =3.13+2 =5.13mm But the Standard thickness available is 6mm. Therefore, to fabricate this vessel, sheet metal of 6mm thick is to be used. (b) The maximum internal pressure for a spherical vessel of Do =1.2m and t=ta-c=6-2=4mm,can be found out using the equation

Where P is the design pressure. Hence design pressure is to be first evaluated.

Substituting the values, we get

Maximum internal pressure can be obtained by dividing P by 1.05.Therefore

The spherical vessel having the same diameter and thickness will withstand a pressure of 1.276MN/m2 safely. In both cases t/Di is same ,and that is (t=Do Di / 2 )
=0.0034 The ratio is much less than 0.25 and hence the equation are correctly applied.