Stress Analysis of Conical Shell Skirt Support for High Pressure Vessel Using Finite Element Method

Abstract

Pressure vessel is a closed cylindrical vessel for storing gaseous, liquids or solid products. The stored medium is at a particular pressure and temperature. The cylindrical vessel is closed at both ends by means of dished head, which may be hemispherical, ellipsoidal. The pressure vessels may be horizontal or vertical. The supporting system of this vertical vessel plays an important role in the performance of the equipment. Proper supporting system gives better efficiency. The bottom supports are critical components since they are to be designed with much care to avoid failure due to internal pressure with temperature. In this analysis, skirt support for vertical vessel was analyzed as per the guidelines given in the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineering) section VIII division 2 and IBR (Indian Boiler Regulations) standards. The stress analysis was carried out for this support using a general purpose FEM code, ANSYS macros. The coupled field (Structural and Thermal) Analysis was carried out for skirt support to find out the stresses in the support. The analysis’s results were compared with ASME code allowable stress values.