Pressure Vessels

Pressure Vessels

A pressure vessel is a container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure

Pressure vessels can be dangerous, and fatal accidents have occurred in the history during their development and operation. So extra care is taken while designing pressure vessel
  
Safety Feature of Pressure Vessels


Leak Before burst:  Pressure vessels are designed such that a crack in the vessel grow through the wall, allowing containing fluid to escape 

Safety value: Allow containing fluid to escape if pressure rises above set point
 
 
Stresses in Pressure Vessels


When a thin – walled cylinder is subjected to internal pressure, two mutually perpendicular principal stresses set up in the cylinder materials, namely
 

1.      Longitudinal stress
2.      Circumferential or hoop stress

Longitudinal Stress



In the above figure
R= Internal radius of the cylinder
t = Wall thickness
P=Internal pressure in the cylinder



In order to calculate longitudinal stress, we have to do force balance

Circumferential Stress


In the figure
R= Internal radius of cylinder
t = Wall thickness
L= length of cylinder
P=Internal pressure in cylinder

 So this is how stresses are calculated in pressure vessels, now if you analyze above equations than you find that "Circumferential stress is twice of longitudinal stress"

Heads of Pressure Vessels

Hemispherical Head: A sphere is the ideal shape for head, because the pressure in the vessel is divided equally across the surface of the head. Strongest, can withstand highest pressure.

Ellipsoidal head: Also called 2:1 elliptical head. The shape of this head is more economical, because height of the head is just a quarter of the diameter.

Tori spherical head: These heads have a dish with a fixed radius (r1), the size of which depends on the type of torispherical head. 

Flat head: Torroidal knuckle connecting to a flat plate. Used for bottom of cookware.

Diffuser head- Found on bottom of aerosol spray cans. It is inverted torispherical head.

Conical head
 

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