(10) Pressure Vessels

Faculty of Engineering
Kingston University
Dr Homa Hadavinia
Pressure Vessels Failure
Thin-Walled Pressure Vessels
Several assumptions are made.
1. Plane sections remain plane.
2. r/t 10 with t being uniform and constant.
3. Material is linear-elastic, isotropic and homogeneous.
4. Stress distributions throughout the wall thickness will not
vary.
5. Element of interest is remote from the end of the cylinder
and other geometric discontinuities.
6. Working fluid has negligible weight.
Thin-Walled Pressure Vessels
Consider a cylindrical pressure vessel:
The hydrostatic pressure causes stresses in three directions:
1. Longitudinal stress (axial) o
L
2. Radial stress, o
r
3. Hoop stress, o
h
P
t
Internal pressure P
L
D
L
r
h
Thin-Walled Pressure Vessels
Thin-Walled Pressure Vessels
Thin-Walled Spherical Pressure Vessels
t
PD
Dt
D
P
h
h
4
4
2
=
=
o
t o
t
Failure of Metallic Materials
2
1 3
2
3 2
2
2 1
) ( ) ( ) (
2
1
o o o o o o o + + =
e
Surface Crack
The stress-intensity factor
at the location of maximum
stress intensity is given by
k I
M
Q
a
K =
t
o 12 . 1
M
k
is approximately 1.0 as long as the crack depth, a, is less than one-half the
wall thickness, t. As a approaches t, M
k
approaches 1.6, and a useful
approximation is:
|
.
|

\
|
+ = 5 . 0 2 . 1 0 . 1
t
a
M
k
Flaw shape parameter, Q
Example
A high strength cylindrical steel pressure vessel must be built to
withstand 5000 psi of internal pressure, p. The nominal diameter
of the vessel is d=30 in and the yield stress is o
ys
=180 ksi.
(a) For a factor of safety of 2 based on yielding find the
thickness of the vessel.
in 83 . 0
) 90000 ( 2
) 30 )( 5000 (
2
ksi 90
2
180
2
design
design
= = = =
= = =
o o
o
o
pd pr
t
ys
Example (cont.)
k
I
k I
M a
Q K
M
Q
a
K

= =
t
o
t
o
12 . 1
12 . 1
we want to prevent failure caused by a crack propagation which exist in the
vessel due to improper fabrication or crack growth by fatigue or stress
corrosion. Assume a possible surface flaw of depth a=0.5 in with an a/2c ratio
of 0.25. Find the vessel thickness for a safety factor of 2.0 against fracture.
Assume K
Ic
=220 ksi\in
Therefore, the design stress for a safety factor of 2.0 against fracture
is found from above by replacing K
I
with K
I design
=K
Ic
/2
design
2
pd
t and
12 . 1
2
o
t
o =

=
k
Ic
design
M a
Q
K
Example (cont.)
in
ksi
design
8 . 0
) 95 ( 2
) 30 )( 5 (
2
pd
t
95
0 . 1 ) 5 . 0 ( 12 . 1
4 . 1
2
220
design
= = =
=

=
o
t
o
initial iteration: Assume M
k
=1.0 and o/o
ys
=0.55, from the figure Q=1.4.
For t=0.8 in, a/t=0.5/0.8=0.63. Therefore M
k
=1.15. Also o
design
/o
ys
=95/180=0.53
therefore from figure Q=1.4
First iteration: M
k
=1.15 and Q=1.4.
in
ksi
design
91 . 0
) 2 . 82 ( 2
) 30 )( 5 (
2
pd
t
2 . 82
15 . 1 ) 5 . 0 ( 12 . 1
4 . 1
2
220
design
= = =
=

=
o
t
o
Example (cont.)
in
ksi
design
85 . 0
) 90 ( 2
) 30 )( 5 (
2
pd
t
90
06 . 1 ) 5 . 0 ( 12 . 1
42 . 1
2
220
design
= = =
=

=
o
t
o
For t=0.91 in, a/t=0.5/0.91=0.55. Therefore M
k
=1.06. Also o
design
/o
ys
=82.2/180=0.46
therefore from figure Q=1.42
Second iteration: M
k
=1.06 and Q=1.42
For t=0.85 in, a/t=0.5/0.85=0.59. Therefore M
k
=1.11. Also o
design
/o
ys
=90/180=0.5
therefore from figure Q=1.42. Third iteration:
in
ksi
design
87 . 0
) 8 . 85 ( 2
) 30 )( 5 (
2
pd
t
8 . 85
11 . 1 ) 5 . 0 ( 12 . 1
42 . 1
2
220
design
= = =
=

=
o
t
o
Example (cont.)
in
ksi
design
86 . 0
) 87 ( 2
) 30 )( 5 (
2
pd
t
87
1 . 1 ) 5 . 0 ( 12 . 1
42 . 1
2
220
design
= = =
=

=
o
t
o
For t=0.87 in, a/t=0.5/0.87=0.57. Therefore M
k
=1.1. Also o
design
/o
ys
=86/180=0.48
therefore from figure Q=1.42
4
th
iteration: M
k
=1.1 and Q=1.42
This value agrees with the initial value of thickness of 0.87 in and thus further
trials are not required.
Leak-Before-Break (LBB)
The leak-before-break criterion was proposed by Irwin et al. as a means of
estimating the necessary fracture toughness of pressure-vessel steels so that
a surface crack could grow through the wall and the vessel leaks before
fracturing. It is often advantageous to design pressure containing plant, such
as pipework, tubes, vessels, and boilers, on the basis of leak-before-break.
This means that partial failures which occur by sub-critical mechanisms
(fatigue crack growth, stress corrosion cracking ) are detected by loss of
pressure in the plant before final catastrophic fracture occurs. This requires a
crack to grow in a stable manner through the wall of the component and
cause a detectable leak and consequent loss of pressure. This indication of a
partial failure allows the plant to be shut down in a controlled manner and
repairs/replacement carried out.
Leak-Before-Break (LBB)
The LBB concept has received increased consideration, on the industry side,
as an alternative criterion for elimination or reducing design provisions that
have to cope with dynamic effects such as pipe whipping, rapid fluid transient
phenomena that result from postulated high energy pipe ruptures.
The strategy in performing the analysis is as follows. A surface (part-through)
crack is assumed to initiate and grow by a sub-critical mechanism.
Generally, initiation will be from the inner surface of the pressurised
container, as stresses are usually higher at this point and there may well be
a corrosive environment present. However, industrial situations where
cracking can occur from the external surface are relatively common. A typical
example might involve intergranular attack of pipework at elevated
temperatures.
Leak-Before-Break (LBB)
An initial surface crack can grow through the pipe wall by several potential
mechanisms such as fatigue, tearing or any other process due to service loading
and environment called degradation mechanism. Crack growth through the wall
thickness comes to an end at the time when the remaining ligament fails. If the defect
length at breakthrough or even during its growth exceeds the limiting (or critical) crack
size, the conditions of crack instability are met and the catastrophic failure of the
component due to rapid crack extension will occur should a high loading transient
arise. If the defect length at breakthrough is less than the critical crack size, the now
fully penetrating crack can keep growing in size, possibly leading to a detectable leak,
until the limiting size is reached.
The main steps of the conventional LBB procedure include:
1. Material characterisation and stress calculation
2. Determination of critical through-wall crack lengths (incl. crack location
assessment)
3. Calculation of crack opening area
4. Evaluation of leak rate
5. Assessment of results
Leak-Before-Break (LBB)
The leak-before-break criterion
assumes that a crack of twice the
wall thickness in length should be
stable at a stress equal to the nominal
design stress.
The stress intensity factor for a
through crack in a large plate where
the applied stress approaches yield
stress is:
Section A-A
B
2a
o
o
2a
A
A
2
2
2
) / (
2
1
1
ys
I
a
K
o o
to

=
Where:
2a = effective crack length
o = tensile stress normal to the crack
o
ys
=yield stress
Note that for low design stress, o, this expression reduce to: a K
I
t o =
Leak-Before-Break (LBB)
At fracture K
I
= K
c
(assuming plane-stress behaviour)
2
2
2
) / (
2
1
1
ys
c
a
K
o o
to

=
Standard material properties were usually obtained in terms of K
Ic
, the following
relationship between K
c
and K
Ic
was suggested by Irwin to establish the LBB
criterion in terms of K
IC
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =
2
2
2
2 2
4 . 1 1
ys
Ic
Ic c
B
K
K K
o
Substituting for K
c
in the above equation will result
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =

4 2
4
2
2
2
4 . 1 1
) / (
2
1
1
ys
IC
IC
ys
B
K
K
a
o
o o
to
Leak-Before-Break (LBB)
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =

4 2
4
2
2
2
4 . 1 1
) / (
2
1
1
ys
IC
IC
ys
B
K
K
B
o
o o
to
2a=2B
a B
In the LBB criterion, the depth of
the surface crack, a, is set equal
to the plate thickness, B, we
obtain:
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =

4 2
4 2
2
2
4 . 1 1
) / (
2
1
1
ys
IC IC
ys
B
K
B
K
o
o o
to
or
Where
o = nominal design stress
o
ys
=yield stress
B = vessel wall thickness
K
Ic
= plane-strain fracture toughness
required to satisfy the leak-before-
break criterion for a material with
particular o
ys
, a vessel with wall
thickness B and design stress o.
Leak-Before-Break (LBB)
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =

4 2
4 2
2
2
4 . 1 1
) / (
2
1
1
ys
IC IC
ys ys
ys
B
K
B
K
o
o o
to
|
|
.
|

\
|
+ =
4 3
6 2
2
4 . 1 2
ys
IC IC
ys
B
K
B
K
o
to
For the critical situation of o = o
ys
, the criterion becomes:
2
2
4 3
6
2
4 . 1
ys
IC
ys
IC
B
K
B
K
to
o
= +
The engineer must first select the nominal yield stress of the steel, then
determine the wall thicknesses. These two factors might be established
based on a general strength criterion to withstand a given internal
pressure. Finally the required minimum fracture toughness necessary to
meet the LBB criterion can be found from LBB criterion.