Thin walled cylinders or

Pressure vessels tanks

•  a pressure vessel is • A storage tank is designed
designed to contain to contain material (with a
liquid/gas at a specified specified leak rate/flow).
pressure with some defined
safety factor. • Solid /liquid
• Used for material
(gas/liquid).
• Atmospheric pressure
• Above/below Atmospheric
pressure
• Easily maintained
• mechanical maintenance is
a bit hazardous in a
pressure vessel as the
chances of explosion is
higher
 Design involves
• operating pressure
• operating temperature,
•  safety factor,
• Material selection
• corrosion allowance
• minimum design temperature (for brittle fracture).
Testing
• nondestructive testing(NDT)
1. ultrasonic testing (UT)
2.  radiography (RT),
3. pressure tests.(PT)
• Hydrostatic tests use water, but pneumatic tests use air or another gas.
• Hydrostatic testing is preferred, because it is a safer method, as much less
energy is released if a fracture occurs during the test (water does not
rapidly increase its volume when rapid depressurization occurs, unlike gases
like air, which fail explosively)
• ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC)
 Testing
• Non-destructive testing(NDT)
1. Ultrasonic testing (UT)
2.  Radiography Test (RT)
3. Pressure tests (PT)
• Hydrostatic tests use water- pneumatic tests use air
or another gas.
• Hydrostatic testing is preferred, because it is a safer
method, as much less energy is released if a fracture
occurs during the test (water does not rapidly
increase its volume when rapid depressurization
occurs, unlike gases like air, which fail explosively)
• ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC)
• Cylindrical pressure vessel with spherical
end caps
• Filled with fluid having pressure P
• D= diameter of cylinder
• t= wall thickness
• Thin walled d/t > 20
 Stresses

• Hoop/Circumferential/ • Axial/Longitudinal stresses

tangential stresses
• Stresses along the
circumference/ tangent
• Longitudinal section
• tensile
• Stresses along the
length/longitudinal axis
• Transverse section
• tensile
 Hoop/Circumferential/tangential stresses

Apply the condition of equilibrium

sum of forces due to internal pressure balance by force due to
circumferential stress in the wall

Assumptions: stresses are uniform across the thickness

 Axial/Longitudinal stresses

• Cylinder has closed ends

• Transverse section
• Apply the condition of equilibrium
• sum of forces due to internal pressure balance by force due to
Axial stress

Axial Stress
Conclusion???
Spherical pressure vessels
Sphere with internal radius r
thickness t

Pressure due to cut

half section
Maximum stresses in spheres are
half of the maximum stress in
cylinder

Internal resistance
 Problem-1
• Calculate the minimum wall thickness for a
cylindrical vessel that’s to carry a gas at a
pressure of 1400 PSI. the dia of vessel is 2 ft
and the stress is limited to 12 Ksi
 Problem-2
• A water tank 22ft in diameter is made from
steel plates that are ½ inch thick. Find the
maximum height to which the tank may filled
if the circumferential stresses are limited to
6000 Psi. the specific weight of water is
62.4lb/ft3