Process Equipment Design

Head or Cover
End caps on a cylindrically shaped pressure vessel
Can be attached to shell by welded, riveted or bolted
construction
Must be capable of withstanding the working pressure

Common types:
(a) Flat Plate:

mainly used for horizontal vessel at atm

pressure
(b) Flanged & dished head: Used for low P vessels
(i) Flared & dished head
(ii) Shallow dished head

(iii) Torispherical head: used for pressure range between (1-15)

kg/cm2
(iv) Elliptical head: used for pressure over 15 kg/cm2
(v) Hemispherical head: strongest formed head, expensive,
used only in a few cases
(vi) Conical head: widely used as bottom head where removal or
draining of material is facilitated.

Shallow dished & torispherical head

R1 = knuckle radius or corner

[Transition between the cylinder & dish is called Knuckle]
6% of Di
Rc dished radius or crown radius

Rc Di

Head thickness
th

pRcW

2 fJ

1
W
3
4

Rc

R1

p internal design pressure

Rc crown radius
W stress intensification factor
R1 knuckle radius
W:
fatigue factor
nominal stress for typically bend and
intersection components

 Nozzles:
Provide certain requirements such as inlet or outlet

connections, manholes, vent, drain etc

Circular or elliptical
Flange joints:
When heads, nozzles, pipes are to be of the detachable /

removable, they must be provided with flanges with bolt.

Consists of a pair of flanges
A gasket (narrow gasket & extended gasket) is interposed

between the two adjoining flange faces.

 materials of gasket: paper, cloth, rubber, asbestos etc.

prevent leakage
Gasket : 0.5 to 3 mm thickness
> 20 mm width
The sizing of gasket & no. & dia. of bolts necessary to create the
tightening action, it is essential to evaluate the forces due to
gasket reaction, both under atm. Condition & also under
operating pressure conditions.

Types of flange joints

Welding Neck Flange
Slip On Flange
Socket Weld Flange
Lap Joint Flange
Threaded Flange
Blind Flange
Materials for Flanges: stainless steel, cast iron, aluminium,
brass, bronze, plastic etc.

Flange joint

PCD
pitch circle dia.
OD outer dia.of flange

Under atm. Condition:

(i) Under atm. Condition:

Bolt load due to gasket reaction,
Wa Ag Ya bGYa Wm
Ag area of gasket under compression
b effective gasket contact surface width (taken from table/literature)
G dia. of gasket load reaction
Ya gasket seating stress
b 2.5 b0 , b0 basic gasket seating width (from table)
N
b0 , N=width of gasket
2

Operating condition:

(ii) Operating condition:

W p Wm2 Ag Yp An P (2b )GmP
m Gasket factor

G2P

P design pressure

The bolt load either

Wm or Wm will create a tensile
stress in the X-section of bolt.
1

Am1

Am1 & Am2 x-sectional area of bolt

Wm1

f a permissible tensile stress in

fa

& Am2

Wm2
fb

bolts under atm.

f b permissible stress in bolts under
operating condition

or Am be considered
Larger area ( A)mshould
1

Am1 or Am2 Am No. of bolts

No. of bolts should be multiple of 4

mean dia. of gasket (cm)

No. of bolt =
2.5
Calculate bolt dia. = ?
Let us bolt specification M75
Now pitch dia. = X1 mm
Minor dia. = X2 mm
[Pitch: measure distance between the thread]

Now,

X 12 X 2 2
Am
no. of bolts
4 2 100

= ----- cm 2
Actual bolt area,

2 Ya GN
Ab
, N width of gasket
fa

Ab Am for satisfying bolt area

Pitch of bolts = (3.5 to 5) X 75 (for this case)

Pb 2d b
db

6t f

m 0.5
bolt dia.

[75 = dia. of bolt.]

mm

t f thickness
Pitch circle dia. () = outside dia. of gasket + 2 x dia. of bolt + 12
mm
Outside dia. of flange = pitch circle dia. + 2 x dia. of bolt

Flange thickness

tf G

P
c
kf

f permissible stress for flange

P design pressure
c corrosion allowance
1
k
1.5Wm ha

0.3
HG

Flange thickness ..
Wm total bolt load (already calculated)

2
H= G P
4
B G
ha

G dia. of gasket load reaction

B P.C.D

Supports for vessel

This is external part of vessel design
Type of support depends on the height & dia. Of vessel,
available floor space, location, operating temperature &
material of construction
Should withstand all stresses created due to operating
pressure
Support for vertical vessel:
(a) Skirt support:
Resting on a reinforced concrete foundation

 suitable for tall vessel

forces subjected to dead weight, wind load, seismic load
(b) Lug or bracket support:
rest on leg or beam
welded to vessel wall

Advantage:
- inexpensive
- can absorb expansion
-eccentricity
-compressive, tensile (wind),
shear stresses are induced in
the vessel wall.

Saddle support
Horizontal vessel: Saddle support
- placed at two positions
- behave as beam

A ; (0.4 0.5) R

[distance from tangent line]

0.2 L

1200 total included angle

D
H Head of vessel H
6

Q total load per saddle (lb)

Saddle support

Forces
a) Longitudinal bending moment
b) Longitudinal stress (axial)
c) Circumferential stress (tangential)
d) Shear stress
(i) Bending moment at the support:
2
2

A
1

L
2 AL
M 1 QA 1
4H

3
L

(ii)

Bending moment at the centre:

1 2

QL
M2
4

2
2
R

L2
4H
1
3 L

4 A

Stress:
Longitudinal stress at support.
If the shell does not retain its round shape under load, a
portion of the upper part of its x-section is ineffective
against bending.

(a)at topmost of x-section:

M1
f1
, t shell thickness
2
K1 R t
(b) at bottom most of x-sections:

M1
f2
2
K 2 R t

If A 0.5 R, K1 K 2 1.0
If A 0.5R,

K1 0.107, 1200
= 0.161, =1500
K 2 0.192, 1200

= 0.279, =1500
Shear stress is generally of a small magnitude.

Stress at mid span:

M2
f3
2
R t
f p circumferential stress
Design condition:

fp &

f p permissible stress

Flared & dished head