Table of Contents

1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 2

2.0

OBJECTIVE ..................................................................................................................................... 2

3.0

PRESSURE VESSEL ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION FORMULATION ............................. 3

3.1

Pressure Vessel Analysis .............................................................................................................. 3

3.2

Optimization Formulation ............................................................................................................. 7

4.0

MATLAB PROGRAMMING AND EXECUTION ......................................................................... 8

4.1

Objective Function ........................................................................................................................ 8

4.2

Constraint Function ....................................................................................................................... 8

4.3

MATLAB Execution .................................................................................................................... 9

5.0

RESULT AND DISCUSSION ....................................................................................................... 11

5.1

Result .......................................................................................................................................... 11

5.2

Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 11

6.0

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 12

7.0

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................... 12

8.0

APPENDIX13

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1.0

INTRODUCTION

Figure 1.1: A Pressure Vessel

A pressure vessel of a cylinder with hemispherical caps is designed to sustain an internal

design pressure of 600 bar without plasticity. Material used is A286 steel alloy. The total
(longitudinal) elongation of the vessel shall be not more than 1mm. The vessel shall have
minimum internal volume of 10 m3. Due to space and transportation constraints, the outer
diameter and total length of vessel cannot be more than 2 m and 7 m respectively. It is required to
have a vessel design of minimum weight.

7m maximum

2m max.

Figure 1.2: Cylindrical pressure vessel with hemispherical caps.

2.0

OBJECTIVE
The objectives of this project are as follow:

To find the minimum mass of a pressure vessel.

To identify the design constraints so that the design meets the design requirement.

To do the analysis by doing the mathematical representation of the design or system and
solve it using MATLAB.

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3.0

PRESSURE VESSEL ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION FORMULATION

3.1

Pressure Vessel Analysis

Thick wall stress for cylinder
From http://courses.washington.edu/me354a/Thick%20Walled%20Cylinders.pdf,
Stress in thick-wall (cylindrical) internal pressure equation;

Where

Substitute the value of

and internal pressure of

into equation;

+
*

From Von-Mises yield criterion http://www.engineersedge.com/strength_of_materials.htm,

Stress results is

Where

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Thick wall stress for hemisphere

From;
http://www.codecogs.com/reference/engineering/materials/cylinders_and_spheres/thick_walled_c
ylinders_and_spheres.php,
Stress in thick wall for hemisphere equation;

*(

value

of

*(

Where

Substitute

the

and

internal

pressure

of

into equation;

*(

)+

From Von-Mises yield criterion; http://www.engineersedge.com/strength_of_materials.htm,

Stress results is

Where

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Thus, stress for sphere is equal to twice of stress hemisphere,

Longitudinal elongation for cylinder

Where

Substitute the value into equation;

Longitudinal elongation for hemisphere

Where

Substitute the value into equation;

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Total Elongation

Internal volume of pressure vessel

( (

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3.2

Optimization Formulation

Design variables
1.
Outer radius
2.

Thickness

3.

Cylinder Length

Objective function
*(

)+

Design Constraints
1.
Thick wall stress for cylinder
2.

Thick wall stress for hemisphere

3.

Total Elongation

4.

Minimum Internal Volume

5.

Maximum Outer Diameter

6.

Maximum Total Length

7.

Outer Radius must be positive values

8.

Thickness must be positive values

9.

Cylinder Length must be positive values

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4.0

MATLAB PROGRAMMING AND EXECUTION

4.1

Objective Function

function f = objfunmini(x)
f = 7920*((4/3*3.142*(x(1)^3-(x(1)-x(2))^3))+(3.142*(x(3))*(x(1)^2-(x(1)-x(2))^2)));

4.2

Constraint Function

function [c,ceq] = confunminix(x)

% Nonlinear inequality constraints
s(1) = (60*(10^6))*((x(1)^2)+((x(1)-x(2))^2))/((x(1)^2)-((x(1)-x(2))^2)); % radial stress for cylinder
s(2) = (-60*(10^6)); % circumferential stress for cylinder
s(3) = ((60*(10^6))*(x(1)-x(2))^2)/((x(1)^2)*((x(1)-x(2))^2)); % tangential stress for cylinder
k(1) = 60*(10^6); % radial stress for sphere
k(2) = ((60*(10^6))/((2*x(1)^3)-(2*(x(1)-x(2))^3)))*(((2*x(1)^3)-(4*(x(1)-x(2))^3))/2); %
circumferential stress for sphere
d(1) = ((60*(10^6))*(x(3)))/((3.142*((x(1)^2)-((x(1)-x(2))^2)))*(201*(10^9))); % elongation for cylinder
d(2) = (60*(10^6)*2*x(1))/(3.142*((x(1)^2)-(x(1)-x(2))^2)*(201*(10^9))); % elongation for sphere
v = ((4/3)*3.142*(x(1)-x(2))^3)+(3.142*x(3)*(x(1)-x(2))^2); % internal volume
c = [(((1/2)*(((s(1)-s(2))^2)+((s(2)-s(3))^2)+((s(1)-s(3))^2)))^(1/2))-(275*10^6);% stress cylinder
(2*(((1/2)*(((k(1)-k(2))^2)+((k(1))^2)+((k(2))^2)))^(1/2)))-(275*10^6);% stress sphere
d(1)+d(2)-0.001; % total elongation
10-v; % maximum internal volume
(x(3)+2*x(1))-7; % total length
2*x(1)-2; % total outer diameter
-x(1); % positive outer radius
-x(2); % positive thickness
-x(3)]; % positive total length
% Nonlinear equality constraints
ceq = [];

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4.3

MATLAB Execution

>> x0 = [1,0.05,6];

% Make a starting guess at the solution

>> options = optimset('Largescale','off');

>> [x, fval] = ...
fmincon(@objfunmini,x0,[],[],[],[],[],[],@confunminix,options)
Warning: Options LargeScale = 'off' and Algorithm = 'trust-region-reflective' conflict.
Ignoring Algorithm and running active-set algorithm. To run trust-region-reflective, set
LargeScale = 'on'. To run active-set without this warning, use Algorithm = 'active-set'.
> In fmincon at 445
Solver stopped prematurely.
fmincon stopped because it exceeded the function evaluation limit,
options.MaxFunEvals = 300 (the default value).
x=
1.0000 0.2720 4.7101
fval =
5.2082e+004

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To check if the constraint functions are satisfied;

>> [c,ceq] = confunminix(x)

c=

1.0e+008 *

-0.5380
-1.6446
0.0000
0.0000
-0.0000
-0.0000
-0.0000
-0.0000
-0.0000

ceq =
[]

Since, all the constraint function values are less than 0; the values for

and

obtained are

acceptable.

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5.0

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

5.1

Result
From the MATLAB programming execution gives optimum submarine mass,

Where;

Therefore, total pressure vessel length;

5.2

Discussion
The objective of this study is to have a thick walled pressure vessel design with a
minimum mass which can be achieved by minimizing the volume of the vessel.
Material used to design this pressure vessel is A286 steel alloy which has high yield
strength, 275 MPa and a density of 7920 kg/m3.
By considering the design requirements, the right optimizing formulation is prepared.
The objective function of the optimizing formulation is to get the minimum volume of the vessel
which consists of three (3) design variables which are; outer radius (x1), thickness (x2) and length
of the cylindrical vessel body (x3).
Based on the calculation by using MATLAB, the optimum mass for the vessel obtained is
52082 kg. The value of outer radius, thickness and cylindrical length of vessel body obtained are
1 m, 0.2720 m, and 6.7101 m. The values of the design variables are acceptable since they satisfy
the constraint functions values which are less than 0.

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6.0

CONCLUSION
Based on the result obtained, the objectives of the study have been achieved. The design
objective and constraints of the pressure vessel design have been successfully translated into
optimization formulas to obtain a thick walled pressure vessel design of minimum mass. The
optimization step is then performed by using MATLAB which utilize all the optimization
formulas where the objective function and constraint functions are clearly defined. The minimum
mass of the thick walled pressure vessel obtained is 52082 kg.

7.0
i.

REFERENCES
http://www.codecogs.com/reference/engineering/materials/cylinders_and_spheres/thick_walled_c
ylinders_and_spheres.php

ii.

http://www.engineersedge.com/strength_of_materials.htm

iii.

http://courses.washington.edu/me354a/Thick%20Walled%20Cylinders.pdf

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APPENDIX

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