3.

design Of Heads And Closures

 The ends of cylindrical process vessels are to be closed to avoid the accidents before putting them into operation. The closing job is done by means of different shaped heads and closures.

The various types of heads used are : (a) Flat head (b) Standard dished or torispherical head (c) Ellipsoidal head (d) Hemispherical head and (e) Conical or toriconical head

Flat heads:
Fabrication: This is the simplest type of head to construct just by cutting a circular piece from a flat plate. Applications: i) Flat heads are generally used for closing manholes in low pressure vessels or to blind any flanged opening of the vessel. ii) Also can be used as closures for small diameter vessels operating at low pressure. Advantages & Disadvantages: For a particular diameter and operating conditions, material cost for flat head is maximum, but fabrication cost is very low.

Flanged-only heads:
Fabrication: This is also a type of flat head in which the gradual change in the shape at the corner results in reduced local stresses. This head is very economical to fabricate Applications: i) Used for closing the ends of horizontal storage vessels. ii) Used as bottom heads of vertical cylindrical vessels that rest on concrete slab.

Flanged shallow dished and flanged standard dished (torispherical) heads:

and

Dished shape heads consist of two radii, namely Crown radius (Ri) Radius at the curvature Knuckle radius (ri) Radius at the corner If the crown radius is greater than the shell outer diameter, the head is known as a flanged and shallow dished head

If the crown radius is equal or less than the outside diameter, the head is known as flanged and standard dished head

Elliptical dished heads:

Fabrication: Elliptical dished heads are formed on dies in which the diametrical cross-section is an ellipse. Most of the standard elliptical dished heads are manufactured on the basis of 2:1 ratio of major to minor axis. Applications: These type of heads are generally recommended in the pressure range of 0.7 MN/m2 and preferably for the vessels designed to operate above 1.5 MN/m2.

Hemispherical heads:
Fabrication: Small heads are made by spinning, but large hemi-spherical heads are fabricated by welding or by forging Applications: i) This type of head is the most expensive but it is widely used in heavy duty high pressure vessels. Ii) These heads can be used to resist approximately twice the pressure rating of an ellipsoidal dished head or cylindrical shell of the same thickness and diameter.

Conical Heads and Reducers:

Applications: Conical heads are used as bottom closures for a variety of process equipment like evaporators, spray driers, crystallizers, settling tanks, soils, etc,. Can be used as a reducer Advantage: Accumulation and removal of solids from the equipment.

Analysis and Design of the Heads

Flat cover head:
Two cases are considered for deriving the general expression for head thickness. They are Case a: Edges of the plate are assumed to be clamped preventing it from rotating only and not otherwise restrained, i.e. there is no strain in the neutral plane of the plate. Case b: Edges are considered to be freely supported, thus eliminating the edge bending moment. For uniformly loaded circular plate, general deflection equation is given by w = (Px4 / 64D) C1 x2/4 C2 lnx + C3 (1)

 Where, P = load intensity (pressure) x = distance of any part of the plate under consideration from the centre D = flexural rigidity of the plate = Et3 / 12(1-2) t = thickness of the plate = Poissons ratio E = modulus of elasticity C1, C2, C3 = constants of integration The constants of integration are determined in each case of loading by the edge conditions of the plate

(a) For circular plate with clamped edges, the equation of deflection (1) becomes w = p (R2 x2)2 / 64D (2) Where R is the radius of the plate at the point of support. The maximum deflection is at the centre of the plate (x=0) equal to = PR4 / 64D (3) If Mr and M are bending moments per unit length caused by pressure and Mr acts along cylindrical sections and M along diametrical sections of the plate, then Mr = (P/16) [R2(1+) x2(3+)] (4) M = (P/16) [R2(1+) x2(1+3)]
(5)

Moment at the edge of the plate is obtained by substituting x = R This gives the expressions, Mr = - PR2 / 8 (6) and M = - PR2 / 8 (7)

Similarly, by substituting x = 0 in eqns. (4) and (5) , the moments at the centre are obtained as follows: M = Mr = (1+)PR2 / 16 (8) From eqns. (6),(7) and (8) it is evident that the expression for maximum moment is given by (6).
This indicates that the maximum stress is at the edge of the plate and equal to max = r = Mr / (t2/6) = 6PR2 / 8t2 = 3PR2 / 4t2

(b) When the edges of a uniformly loaded circular plate is simply supported, the deflection equation becomes:
w = p(R2 x2) / 64D [((5+)R2 / (1+)) x2] (9) At x = 0, maximum deflection at the centre becomes, = (5+)pR4 / 64(1+)D (10) Bending moments equations are: Mr = p(3+)(R2 x2) / 16 (11) M = (p/16) [R2(3+) x2(1+3)] (12) The maximum bending moment occurs at the centre where, Mr = M = (3+)pR2 / 16 (13) and corresponding maximum stress is max = r = = 6M/t2 = (6/t2) [(3+)pR2 / 16] (14) In eqs. (8) and (14), if max = f and R = De / 2 then, t = C De sqrt(p/f) where C is a factor depending upon the method of attachment to shell

Conical head:
The cylindrical shell equations may also be applied in the case of a cone From the consideration of stress analysis, a cone is divided into two regions, they are: (a) region around knuckle or junction not exceeding a distance of (De t/cos )0.5 from the junction or knuckle, where De is the outer diameter of the conical section or end (b) region away from knuckle or junction, t = P Dk /(2fJ-p)cos is applicable

At the junction of the conical head and the cylindrical shell, a compressive force is exerted by the cone on the cylinder

If P is the axial tension in the shell per unit of shell circumference, then D P = D2 /4 or P = p D / 4 If T is the axial tension in the cone due to internal pressure, at equilibrium P = T cos , and C = T sin = P tan = (p D tan ) /4 As a result of this compressive force, it is impossible to design a conical head to eliminate moment and shear at the junction, since cone is always tends to deflect inward and the shell under the influence of internal pressure If Z be the factor of discontinuity, then t = P De Z / 2fJ

Torispherical and ellipsoidal dished head:

Any dished head consists of 3 integral parts, namely central dishing, corner torus and straight flange. All the three parts are having different meridional radius of curvature. As a result two junctions of discontinuity existi in a formed head: first one is between knuckle (torus) and crown (dish) second one between knuckle and straight flange Due to differential dilations at the junction under pressure loading, bending moments and shear stresses are induced to maintain the continuity between adjacent parts

 IS has given the following simplified relationship to evaluate the head thickness t = P Do C / 2fJ here, the shape factor depends on hE / Do and t/Do for the head without any opening or openings completely reinforced C will depend on hE / Do and d / sqrt(t Do), if the heads containing unreinforced opening, where hE is the effective external height of the head One is to make a careful note in selecting weld-joint efficiency factor J for the heads If the head is made from one plate and attached to the shell with a straight flange, J is taken as unity A large diameter formed end is usually fabricated by welding, J is to be chosen considering the nature of the weld and whether the steam is radiographed.

PROBLEMS
1. A process vessel is to be designed for the maximum operating pressure of 500 kN/m2. The vessel has the nominal diameter of 1.2m and tangent to tangent length of 2.4m. The vessel is made of IS: 2002-1962 Grade 2B quality having allowable design stress value of 118 MN/m2 at working temperature. The corrosion allowance is suggested to be 2mm for the life span expected for the vessel. The vessel is to be fabricated according to class 2 of Indian standard specifications which stipulate the weld joint efficiency of 0.85.Iif the thickness of the vessel is 5 mm. Determine the thickness of the flanged flat cover for the process vessel?. Data: C=0.45, Solution: The thickness of flanged flat head is given by t=CDe sqrt(p/f) Where, De is the effective diameter of flat head and is equal to Di for cylinder. De= Di=Do- 2 x t =1200 mm-2 x 5=1190 mm P= design pressure=0.525MN/m2 ; f= 118MN/m2.

Substituting the values in the above equation we get, t= 0.45x1190x(0.525/118)1/2 = 35.9mm This is the minimum thickness calculated. To this 2mm corrosion allowance is to be added and another 6% is to be added to take care of the reduction in thickness at the torus section. Hence, t=1.06(35.9+2)=40.2mm The standard plate thickness is 45mm for the head.

2. If the previous process vessel is to be provided with a conical head having the half apex angle 30, determine the thickness of the head?. Data: Z= 1.35, Dk= 1138 mm Solution: a) The thickness of the head at the junction of the head is t=PD eZ/2fJ Where, P=0.525MN/m2 ;D=1.2m;f=118MN/m2 ; J=0.85;Z=1.35 Substituting; t=(0.525*1.2*1.35)/(2*118*0.85)=4.24mm

 b)Thickness of the head away from the junction is determined from, t= PDk / (2fJ-p) cos ; t=0.525*1138/(2*118*0.85-0.525*0.866) mm = 3.45mm Note: The larger of the two is to be chosen.

3. For the process vessel of 10mm thick 2:1 ellipsoidal head with an uncompensated opening is to be fabricated. What maximum diameter opening will be permissible. Data: J=1.0 Solution : Neglecting thinning effect, corroded thickness is, t=10-2=8mm C= (2*f*J*t)/P*Do Where f=118MN/m^2 ,J=1.0,t=8*10-3m ,P=0.525MN/m^2 ,Do=1.2m Substituting the values we get C=3.0

 For 2:1 ellipsoidal head ,hE=h0=0.25Do, Therefore ,hE/Do=0.25 By linear interpolation for hE/Do=0.25 and C=3.0 we get d/(t*Do)0.5=5.11 We know t=8mm and Do=1200mm, substituting in above equation . We get d=500mm. END