Thin Walled Pressure

Vessels
 INTRODUCTION
Cylindrical or spherical vessels are commonly used in industry
to serve as boiler or tanks.
When under pressure, material is subjected to a loading
from all direction.
In general, thin wall refers to a vessel having an inner-radius-
to-wall-thickness ratio of 10 or 1/10 of the radius of the
container
Under this condition, the stress in the wall may be considered
uniform.

Some examples of cylindrical pressure vessel:

i) compressed air tanks
ii) rocket motors
iii) fire extinguishers
iv) spray cans
v) pressurized pipes
 Recompression chamber

A pressure tank a Pressure Vessel

connected to a used in industry
domestic hot water
system
Thin cylinders under internal pressure
Three mutually perpendicular principal stresses will be set up in cylinder material;
hoop stress, radial stress and longitudinal stress.

Ratio of thickness to inside diameter of cylinder is less than 1/20, it is reasonably

accurate to assume that the hoop and longitudinal stresses are constant across the
wall thickness and that the magnitude of radial stress set up is so small in
comparison with H & L(can be neglected)

In practice, it will vary from zero at the outside surface to a value equal to the
internal pressure at the inside surface (will be discussed later in Solid Mechanics II)
 Cylindrical vessel with principal stresses
1 = hoop stress
2 = longitudinal stress

Hoop stress:
Fz 0 1 2t x p 2r x
pr
1
t

Longitudinal stress:

Fx 0 2 2 rt p r
2

pr
2
2t
1 2 2
 Points A and B correspond to hoop stress, 1,
and longitudinal stress, 2

Maximum in-plane shearing stress:

1 pr
max(in plane) 2
2 4t

Maximum out-of-plane shearing stress

corresponds to a 45o rotation of the plane
stress element around a longitudinal axis
pr
max 2
2t
 A closed structure containing liquids or gases under
pressure

Example of spherical pressure vessels:

i) roof domes
ii) boilers
iii) airplane wings
iv) submarine hulls

A pressurized sphere is subjected to uniform tensile

stresses in all directions
 Spherical pressure vessel:
pr
1 2
2t

Mohrs circle for in-plane

transformations reduces to a point
1 2 constant
max(in -plane) 0

Maximum out-of-plane shearing

stress
pr
max 12 1
4t
The cylindrical pressure vessel has an inner radius of 1.25 m and a
wall thickness of 15 mm. It is made from steel plates that are
welded along the 45 seam. Determine the normal and shear
stress components along this seam if the vessel is subjected to
an internal pressure of 8 MPa.
 pr 8(1.25)
2 333.33MPa
2 t 2(0.015)
1 2 2 666.67 MPa
A(333.33,0)
B(666.67,0)
C(500,0)
333.33 666.67
avg 500MPa
2
x ' y ' R 666.67 500 167 MPa
 The pressure tank shown has a 10 mm wall
thickness and butt-welded seams forming an
angle = 20 with a transverse plane. For a gauge
pressure of 580 kPa determine:
(a) the normal stress perpendicular to the weld
(b) the shearing stress parallel to the weld
 The cylindrical pressure tank shown has an inside diameter of 1.8 m
and a wall thickness of 30 mm. The pressure in the tank is 1500
kPa. An additional axial load of 200 kN is applied to the top end of
the tank through a rigid bearing plate. Determine
a) The stresses x, y and xy on a stress element at point A,
which is on the outside surface of the tank.

b) The normal and shearing

stresses on an inclined plane
oriented at +30 from the x-axis

200 kN
 stress due to int ernal pressure
Hoop stress
pr 1500 103 (0.9)
x H 45 MPa
t 0.03

longitudinal stress
pr 1500 103 (0.9)
y L 22.5 MPa
2t
2( 0 . 03)

stress due to axial loading

F 200 10
3
200 10 200 103
3
y 1.16 Mpa
A 1
( Do 2 Di 2 ) (1.862 1.82) 1.724 10
4 4
Fy = 0; y 22.5 MPa 1.16MPa 21.34 MPa
x 45 MPa
n x cos2 y sin2 2 xy sin cos
45 106 cos2 (120) 1.09 106 sin2 (120) 0
11.25 106 0.818 106
12.078 MPa

n ( x y )sin cos xy (cos2 (120) sin2 (120)

( 45 106 1.09 106 )sin120 cos120 0
19.014 MPa
Example 5.4
Determine the normal stress in a basketball of 240 mm diameter and 3 mm
wall thickness that is inflated to a gauge pressure of 62 kPa.