www.ierjournal.

org International Engineering Research Journal (IERJ) Special Issue 2 Page 1191-1194, 2015, ISSN 2395-1621

ISSN 2395-1621
Nozzle Load Stress Analysis using
WRC 107 and WRC 297
#1
G.S. Jagadale, #2M.S. Ramgir
1
jagadalegs1987@gmail.com
2
milindramgir@yahoo.co.in

# 12
Mechanical Engineering Department, Pune University
Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering, Tathawade, Pune, India.

ABSTRACT ARTICLE INFO

Pressure vessels are closed containers used for storing, receiving or carrying the fluids. Article History
Nozzles are welded on shell, dished end (circular and spherical surfaces) or on flat
Received :18th November
surfaces. These nozzles carrying fluid, provide mounting of equipment such as motors,
2015
agitators, incoming piping, exposed to wind and seismic activity. Due to this, nozzles are
subjected to different loadings in x, y, z directions and six degrees of the moment. This Received in revised form :
results in failure and stress generation at the weld joints at the junction of nozzle and
19th November 2015
shell. Nozzle loading analysis at the junction of the vessel is available at WRC 107 and
WRC 297 when surfaces are cylindrical and spherical with circular openings. Accepted : 21st November ,
In the present work, nozzle loading analysis at the junction of the vessel is examined 2015
for the circular opening on the flat surface of the vessel. WRC 107 analyzes only
Published online :
circular opening on the cylindrical surface of the vessel so as the PVELITE software. In
the present case, there is a circular opening on the flat surface of the vessel, unable to 22nd November 2015
analyze in PVELITE software. To conquer this inadequacy, analysis is carried out by
both WRC 107 and PVELITE software considering radius of the cylinder as maximum
as possible so that area of cylinder assumed to be almost flat. This paper focuses on the
verifying the effects of nozzle loadings on stress attributes of the vessel. Theoretical
calculations are validated with experimental analysis. It is found that the theoretical and
experimental results are closer to each other.
Keywords Nozzle, Pressure Vessel, PVELITE, WRC.

I.INTRODUCTION
Pressure vessels are the closed containers used for
storing, receiving or carrying the fluids [1]. Nozzles are
welded on the shell, dished end (circular and spherical
surfaces) or on flat surfaces These nozzle functions of
carrying fluid, provide mounting of equipment such as
motors, agitators, incoming piping, exposed to wind and
seismic activity. Due to this, nozzles are subjected to
different loadings in x, y and z directions and six degrees of
the moment. This results in stress generation and failure at
the weld joints at the junction of nozzle and shell. Narale
Pravin and Kachare, P. S. [2] analyzed the effects of nozzle
on Stress attributes of the vessel in FEA Hardik B. Nayak
and R. R. Trivedi [3] give a more accurate stress evaluation
of nozzle to head junction using FE analysis than WRC
107. Anindya Bhattacharya [4] highlighted the strengths
and weaknesses of the conventionally used methods such
as FEA, WRC 107 and WRC 297. Fang, J. [5] et. al
focused that the pad reinforcement structures are useful
under static external load on nozzle. Magnucki, K. [6] et. al
investigated on flexible saddle support of a horizontal
cylindrical pressure vessel using parametric models. Kharat
Avinash and Kulkarni, V. V. [7] reviewed out work on the
stress concentration at openings in pressure vessels.
A. WRC 107 AND WRC 297
Welding Research Councils Bulletins, WRC 107 and
WRC 297 provide most important guidelines for the weld
joint analysis due to the loadings. It gives methods and data
for treating two normally intersecting cylindrical shells
[8,9]. Nozzle loading analysis is also available in PVELITE

2015, IERJ All Rights Reserved Page 1

 www.ierjournal.org International Engineering Research Journal (IERJ) Special Issue 2 Page 1191-1194, 2015, ISSN 2395-1621

software when only the surfaces are cylindrical and
spherical with circular openings as shown in Fig. 1.
WRC 107 to perform nozzle loading analysis with circular
opening on the flat surface. To conquer this inadequacy,
supplement formulae are attempted for calculating the
stresses at the junction and experimental validation is
carried out.

Fig. 1. Loading conditions at an attachment to cylindrical

shell [8,9] Fig. 2. Drawing of user specified nozzle loading condition

Fig. 2 shows the nozzle loading conditions specified by

the user to determine the stresses at the weld joints. In
present work there is a circular opening on the flat surface
of the vessel. PVELITE software has the same limitation of

II.SOFTWARE ANALYSIS
For nozzle loading analysis, design data and nozzle input
loadings are described as shown in the tables I and II.
TABLE I
DESIGN DATA
Sr. Description Values
No
.
1 Design Pressure 5 Kgf/cm2
2 Design Temperature 80 c
3 Material of Shell SA516GR 70
4 Material of Nozzle SA106 GR.B
5 Allowable stress for 1406.1 Kgf/cm2
Shell Fig. 3. WRC 107 calculations for nozzle on flat head
6 Allowable stress for 1202.25
Nozzle Kgf/cm2 Therefore an attempt is made by considering the circular
7 Vessel Inside Diameter 600 mm surface and increasing maximum radius from R= 4 m to
(D) R=12 m so that the nozzle will remain on circular surface,
8 Nozzle Inside Diameter 100 mm but the opening of 100 NB will become almost flat as
(d) shown in Fig. 4.

TABLE III
INPUT NOZZLES LOADING
Nozzle MX, M Y, M Z,
FX, N FY, N FZ, N
Loads N-m N-m N-m
Value 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000

Fig. 3. shows that the PVELITE software is unable to

perform WRC 107 analysis when nozzle is located on a flat
surface showing incorrect element type, local stress
analysis not possible.
Fig. 4. Comparison of circular and flat surface

2015, IERJ All Rights Reserved Page 2

 www.ierjournal.org International Engineering Research Journal (IERJ) Special Issue 2 Page 1191-1194, 2015, ISSN 2395-1621

Maximum Allowable
Using PVELITE software, membrane (Pm), bending Type of Stress Stress Stress Result
(Pm+Pl) and total stresses (Pm+Pl+Q) are calculated at (kgf/cm) (kgf/cm)
radius R=4 m to R=12 m as tabulated in the tables III, IV, Pm (SUS) 775.03 1406.14 Passed
V respectively. Pm+Pl (SUS) 774.41 2109.21 Passed
TABLE IIIII Pm+Pl+Q
825.02 4218.42 Passed
(Total)
STRESS INTENSITY AT R= 4 M
Maximum Allowable TABLE V
Type of Stress Stress Stress Result
(kgf/cm) (kgf/cm) STRESS INTENSITY AT R= 12 M
Pm (SUS) 556.83 1406.14 Passed Maximum Allowable
Pm+Pl (SUS) 556.90 2109.21 Passed Type of Stress Stress Stress Result
Pm+Pl+Q (kgf/cm) (kgf/cm)
660.97 4218.42 Passed
(Total) Pm (SUS) 918.39 1406.14 Passed
Pm+Pl (SUS) 918.04 2109.21 Passed
TABLE IV Pm+Pl+Q
949.25 4218.42 Passed
(Total)
STRESS INTENSITY AT R= 8 M

III.THEORETICAL CALCULATIONS LONGITUDINAL AND TRANSVERSE STRESS USING WRC 107

During the theoretical calculations, all the applied loads Longitudinal Stress Transverse Stress
and moments are resolved in x, y and z direction. It Type of
(kgf/cm) (kgf/cm)
consists of resolved components P, VL, VC, ML, MC and MT stress
Actual Allowable Actual Allowable
to find membrane, bending and total stresses at the junction. Pm
All the nozzle loads and moments are supposed to act at the 0.19 2109.15 0.34 2109.15
(SUS)
same time. For manual calculations, WRC 107 assumes
Pm+Pl
=0.01 to analyze the circular opening on the flat surface of 0.18 2109.15 0.33 2109.15
(SUS)
the vessel so the area of the cylinder becomes almost flat.
Pm+Pl+Q
The longitudinal and transverse stresses are calculated and 0.53 4218.3 0.51 4218.3
(Total)
tabulated as shown in Table VI.
TABLE VI
directions. Six strain gauges are pasted at the nozzle -
IV.EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS vessel junction. Three of them are pasted at various
An overall view of the experimental set-up is presented positions in such a way to acquire strains developed in x, y
in Fig. 5. A pipe of NB 100 mm and 150 mm length is and z directions. Set of strain gauges is attached to form
welded to the flat surface of a vessel to form the nozzle. In node one and node two at two different locations. Nozzle
order to apply various dead weights on the nozzle, a inlet is connected to the hydro test rig to develop the
rectangular frame with pulleys is welded to the top of the internal pressure from 0 - 5 kgf/cm. A pressure gauge
vessel as shown in Fig. 5. indicator is installed to monitor the gauge pressure. The
strain gauges are connected to the strain gauge indicator.
Strain values are recorded by changing load, internal
pressure and probe combination. Considering the plane
stress conditions, the longitudinal and transverse stresses at
the junction are calculated and tabulated as shown in Table
VII.
TABLE VII
LONGITUDINAL AND TRANSVERSE STRESSES FROM
EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS

Type of stress Longitudinal Transverse

stress stress
Stress
Fig. 5. Experimental set up Intensity 0.1635 0.0687
(kgf/cm)
The arrangement of the frame along with the pulleys is
assembled such that the loads applied are in x, y and z

2015, IERJ All Rights Reserved Page 3

 V.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The stress intensity at the junction of the vessel and nozzle

is determined by manual calculation and validated with its
experimental analysis as tabulated in Table VIII.

REFERENCES

[1] M. Pradeep Kumar, K. Vanisree, Sindhuja Raj,

Design and Implementation of circular cross sectional
pressure vessel using Pro-e and Ansys, ISSN: 2249-
6645, Vol. 3, Issue 4, pp. 2350- 2355, Jul - Aug. 2013.

[2] Narale Pravin, Kachare, P. S., Structural Analysis of

Nozzle Attachment on Pressure Vessel Design,
International Journal of Engineering Research and
Applications (IJERA), ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 2,
Issue4, pp. 1353-1358, July-August 2012.

[3] Nayak, Hardik B., and Trivedi, R. R., Spherical and

cylindrical shell due to external loading in the
stress Analysis of Reactor Nozzle to Head Junction,
International Conference on Current Trends in
Technology, 2 NUiCONE 2011, Institute of
Technology, Nirma University, Ahmadabad
382481, 08-10, December 2011.

[4] Bhattacharya Anindya, Stress Analysis of Pipe

Support Attachments: A Comparison of analytical Methods
and Finite Element Analysis of Circular and Non-
Circular Attachments, Proc. of the ASME 2013 Pressure
Vessels & Piping Division Conference, PVP 2013,
July 14-18, 2013, Paris, France, pp. 1-17.