Pressure Vessel Design

Pressure vessels are widely used in industries such as oil and gas, petrochemical, refining, brewery, pharmaceutical and offshore industries. There are high safety requirements for pressure equipment. Pressure vessels have to be designed and manufactured following specific design codes. The commonly used pressure vessel codes are ASME VIII Division 1, ASME VIII Division 2, PD5500, BS EN13445.

There are two approaches in pressure vessel designs: Design by code and design by analysis.

The vessel can be sized and design based on the rules and formula specified in the standards. The design following the relevant codes provide a vessel which is safe to work under the design pressure.
More recent development in pressure vessel design is design by analysis, which is often used in the cases where the structure involved not covered by the design codes.

TriVista’s engineers have experience in design pressure vessel following design code and more often provide consulting service on pressure vessel is linked to design by analysis. Generally speaking, the pressure vessel design codes are conservative. When the engineer want to push the limit set by the design code, the design by analysis approach also be used as design by analysis is carried out using FE analysis which will give more accurate stress results. The relevant stress components (membrane stress, bending stress or membrane stress intensity, bending stress intensity) are assessed by the criteria set by relevant standards (Hopper Diagram).