University of Khartoum

Faculty of Engineering
Chemical Engineering Department

PROCESS EQUIPMENT DESIGN

Design of pressure vessel
Lecture 3
By
Lecturer : Asila A. M. Osman

1
Cylinder (Figure 3.1a)
• A cylinder is swept out by the rotation of a line parallel to the axis of
revolution, so:
Sphere

Cone
A cone is swept out by a straight line inclined at an angle ˛ to the axis.
Ellipsoid (D)
• For an ellipse with major axis 2a and minor axis 2b,
Design pressure
• A vessel must be designed to withstand the maximum pressure to
which it is likely to be subjected in operation.
• For vessels under internal pressure, the design pressure is normally
taken as 5 to 10 per cent above the normal working pressure, to
avoid spurious operation during minor process upsets.
• Vessels subject to external pressure should be designed to resist the
maximum differential pressure that is likely to occur in service.
• Vessels likely to be subjected to vacuum should be designed for a full
negative pressure of 1 bar
Design temperature
• The strength of metals decreases with increasing temperature
• maximum allowable design stress will depend on the material
temperature.
• The design temperature at which the design stress is evaluated
should be taken as the maximum working temperature of the
material, with due allowance for any uncertainty involved in
predicting vessel wall temperatures.
Design stress (nominal design strength)
Corrosion allowance
• Corrosion is a complex phenomenon, and it is not possible to give
specific rules for the estimation of the corrosion allowance required
for all circumstances.
• The allowance should be based on experience with the material of
construction under similar service conditions to those for the
proposed design.
Design loads
• A structure must be designed to resist gross plastic deformation and
collapse under all the conditions of loading.
• Major loads
1. Design pressure: including any significant static head of liquid.
2. Maximum weight of the vessel and contents, under operating conditions.
3. Maximum weight of the vessel and contents under the hydraulic test
conditions.
4. Wind loads.
5. Earthquake (seismic) loads.
6. Loads supported by, or reacting on, the vessel
Subsidiary loads
1. Local stresses caused by supports, internal structures and connecting
pipes.
2. Shock loads caused by water hammer, or by surging of the vessel
contents.
3. Bending moments caused by eccentricity of the centre of the
working pressure relative to the neutral axis of the vessel.
4. Stresses due to temperature differences and differences in the
coefficient expansion of materials.
5. Loads caused by fluctuations in temperature and pressure.
Minimum practical wall thickness
• There will be a minimum wall thickness required to ensure that any
vessel is sufficiently rigid to withstand its own weight, and any
incidental loads. As a general guide the wall thickness of any vessel
should not be less than the values given below; the values include a
corrosion allowance of 2 mm:
THE DESIGN OF THIN-WALLED VESSELS UNDER
INTERNAL PRESSURE
• Cylinders and spherical shells
• If Di is internal diameter and e the minimum thickness required, the
mean diameter will be (Di + e); substituting this for D in equation
Heads and closures
• 1. Flat plates and formed flat heads;
• 2. Hemispherical heads;
• 3. Ellipsoidal heads;
• 4. Torispherical heads;.
Choice of closure
• Flat plates are used as covers for manways, and as the channel covers of
heat exchangers. Formed flat ends, known as “flange-only” ends
• Standard torispherical heads (dished ends) are the most commonly used
end closure for vessels up to operating pressures of 15 bar.
• They can be used for higher pressures, but above 10 bar their cost should
be compared with that of an equivalent ellipsoidal head. Above 15 bar an
ellipsoidal head will usually prove to be the most economical closure to
use.
• A hemispherical head is the strongest shape; capable of resisting about
twice the pressure of a torispherical head of the same thickness. The cost
of forming a hemispherical head will, however, be higher than that for a
shallow torispherical head. Hemispherical heads are used for high
pressures.
Design of flat ends
• The minimum thickness required is given by:
Ellipsoidal heads

Torispherical heads

The ratio of the knuckle to crown radii should not be less than 0.06, to avoid buckling;
and the crown radius should not be greater than the diameter of the cylindrical section.
Example
• Estimate the thickness required for the component parts of the vessel
shown in the diagram. The vessel is to operate at a pressure of 14 bar
(absolute) and temperature of 300C. The material of construction will
be plain carbon steel. Welds will be fully radiographed. A corrosion
allowance of 2 mm should be used.
DESIGN OF VESSELS SUBJECT TO
EXTERNAL PRESSURE
Cylindrical shells
• Two types of process vessel are likely to be subjected to external
pressure:
• those operated under vacuum, where the maximum pressure will be
1 bar (atm); and
• jacketed vessels, where the inner vessel will be under the jacket
pressure. For jacketed vessels, the maximum pressure difference
should be taken as the full jacket pressure, as a situation may arise in
which the pressure in the inner vessel is lost.
For an open-ended cylinder, the critical pressure to cause buckling Pc is
given by the following expression; see Windenburg and Trilling (1934):
• For long tubes and cylindrical vessels this expression can be simplified
by neglecting terms with the group 2L/D02 in the denominator; the
equation then becomes:

• The minimum value of the critical pressure will occur when the
number of lobes is 2,and substituting this value into equation

• For most pressure-vessel materials Poisson’s ratio can be taken as 0.3;

substituting this in equation
• For short closed vessels, and long vessels with stiffening rings, the
critical buckling pressure will be higher than that predicted by last
equation . The effect of stiffening can be taken into account by
introducing a “collapse coefficient”, Kc, into the equation
Vessel heads
• The critical buckling pressure for a sphere subject to external pressure
is given by (see Timoshenko, 1936):

• where Rs is the outside radius of the sphere. Taking Poisson’s ratio as

0.3 gives:
• This equation gives the critical pressure required to cause general
buckling; local buckling can occur at a lower pressure. Karman and
Tsien (1939) have shown that the pressure to cause a “dimple” to
form is about one-quarter of that given by equation 13.59, and is
given by:

• A generous factor of safety is needed when applying equation 13.60

to the design of heads under external pressure. A value of 6 is
typically used, which gives the following equation for the minimum
thickness
• Torispherical and ellipsoidal heads can be designed as equivalent
hemispheres. For a torispherical head the radius Rs is taken as
equivalent to the crown radius Rc. For an ellipsoidal head the radius
can be taken as the maximum radius of curvature; that at the top,
given by:
Attendance quiz

•The most important characteristics to be

considered when selecting a material of
construction are ????