Polycarbonate Plastic Inserts for Spherical Acrylic Plastic Shells Under Hydrostatic Loading

1981 ◽  
Vol 103 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Stachiw ◽  
R. B. Dolan ◽  
D. L. Clayton

An acrylic plastic spherical pressure hull incorporating polycarbonate inserts for mounting of penetrators has been built and pressure tested. The transparent hull will serve as one atmosphere cockpit in Johnson-Sea-Link #3 submersible for 2500 ft. service. Tests have been conducted with model scale polycarbonate inserts in acrylic plastic spherical pressure hulls and windows to evaluate the structural integrity and cyclic fatigue life of polycarbonate plastic inserts and acrylic shells in which they are mounted under repeated hydrostatic pressurizations. Test results indicate that the short term, long term and cyclic fatigue life of a polycarbonate insert, serving as a bulkhead for electric or hydraulic penetrators in spherical acrylic plastic pressure hulls or windows, exceeds that of the acrylic plastic shell in which it is mounted. Structural parameters of polycarbonate inserts are discussed and design criteria formulated for their utilization in manned submersibles and pressure vessels for human occupancy. Particular emphasis is placed on selection of material, seal configuration, and retainment design.

1976 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 537-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Stachiw

NEMO Mod 2000 acrylic plastic pressure hull assembly represents the latest addition to the NEMO hull series represented by NEMO Mod 600 and 1000 hull assemblies. The 66 in. OD × 58 in. ID spherical acrylic hull with aluminum hatches has successfully withstood 24 hr long external hydrostatic pressurizations to 450, 900, 1350, and 1800 psi. Pressure cycling and short term destructive testing of 15 in. OD × 13 in. ID scale models has shown that the crackfree fatigue life is in excess of 1000 pressure cycles to 1500 psi and the short term implosion pressure is in the range of 4750–5000 psi. Stress wave emissions have been found to be a good indicator of incipient failure. NEMO Mod 2000 spherical pressure hulls with panoramic visibility are considered to be acceptable for manned submersibles with 3000 ft operational depth capability. The cyclic fatigue life of such hulls is conservatively predicted to be at least 12 × 106 ft hr.


1978 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-260
Author(s):  
J. D. Stachiw ◽  
R. Sletten

Over 25 acrylic plastic windows with t/Ri = 0.364 in the shape of hemispherical domes with equatorial flanges have been thermoformed from flat sheets and tested under short term, long term, and cyclic pressure loading at 65–75°F ambient temperature. Two kinds of flanges with O-ring grooves on the bearing surfaces were experimented with: Type 1, a flat lip with a rounded heel and instep, and Type II, a conical lip with a rounded heel. The 14,500 psi short term critical pressure of hemispherical windows with t/Ri = 0.364 was found to be independent of the equatorial flange configuration. Both the static and cyclic fatigue lives of the windows were also found to be independent of equatorial flange configuration. In either case, the maximum acceptable working pressure for 65–75°F temperature range was found to be 1000 psi. Only by elimination of the O-ring groove in the bearing surface of the window flange and the use of a thin neoprene bearing gasket between the arylic flange and the steel is it possible to extend the working pressure to 2000 psi for 65–75°F temperature range. Operating the flanged windows at pressures in excess of the safe working pressures shown above will generate fatigue cracks in the bearing surface of the flange in less than 1000 pressure cycles; at 5000 psi pressure the cyclic fatigue life decreases to less than 100 cycles.


2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph K. Asahina ◽  
Robert E. Nickell ◽  
Edward A. Rodriguez ◽  
Takao Shirakura

Hydrostatic or pneumatic overpressure testing prior to actual service provides a number of purposes related to structural integrity of pressure vessels, including some degree of confirmation of both the design and fabrication processes. For detonation chambers designed to control impulsive pressure loadings, preservice hydrostatic testing at impulses greater than those expected during normal operation can provide an added benefit—the ability to reduce cyclic fatigue damage caused by long-term, high-throughput operation, where the chamber may be use to control hundreds or even thousands of detonations without compromising structural integrity through excessive fatigue crack initiation and growth. This paper illustrates the favorable characteristics of controlled detonation chamber operation following an initial preservice impulsive over-testing program that demonstrates shakedown and satisfaction of strain ratcheting criteria, leading to favorable cyclic fatigue behavior during subsequent long-term, high-throughput operation.


Author(s):  
John H. Underwood

Engineering mechanics analysis of cannon pressure vessels is described with special emphasis on the work of the late US Army Benet Laboratories engineer David P. Kendall. His work encompassed a broad range of design and analysis of high pressure vessels for use as cannons, including analysis of the limiting yield pressure for vessels, the autofrettage process applied to thick vessels, and the fatigue life of autofrettaged cannon vessels. Mr. Kendall’s work has become the standard approach used to analyze the structural integrity of cannon pressure vessels at the US Army Benet Laboratories. The methods used by Kendall in analysis of pressure vessels were simple and direct. He used classic results from research in engineering mechanics to develop descriptive expressions for limiting pressure, autofrettage residual stresses and fatigue life of cannon pressure vessels. Then he checked the expressions against the results of full-scale cannon pressure vessel tests in the proving grounds and the laboratory. Three types of analysis are described: [i] Yield pressure tests of cannon sections compared with a yield pressure expression, including in the comparison post-test yield strength measurements from appropriate locations of the cannon sections; [ii] Autofrettage hoop residual stress measurements by neutron diffraction in cannon sections compared with expressions, including Bauschinger corrections in the expressions to account for the reduction in compressive yield strength near the bore of an autofrettaged vessel; [iii] Fatigue life tests of cannons following proving ground firing and subsequent laboratory simulated firing compared with Paris-based fatigue life expressions that include post-test metallographic determination of the initial crack size due to firing. Procedures are proposed for Paris life calculations for bore-initiated fatigue affected by crack-face pressure and notch-initiated cracking in which notch tip stresses are significantly above the material yield strength. The expressions developed by Kendall and compared with full-scale cannon pressure vessel tests provide useful first-order design and safety checks for pressure vessels, to be followed by further engineering analysis and service simulation testing as appropriate for the application. Expressions are summarized that are intended for initial design calculations of yield pressure, autofrettage stresses and fatigue life for pressure vessels. Example calculations with these expressions are described for a hypothetical pressure vessel.


Author(s):  
Kang Xu ◽  
Mahendra Rana ◽  
Maan Jawad

Abstract Layered pressure vessels provide a cost-effective solution for high pressure gas storage. Several types of designs and constructions of layered pressure vessels are included in ASME BPV Section VIII Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3. Compared with conventional pressure vessels, there are two unique features in layered construction that may affect the structural integrity of the layered vessels especially in cyclic service: (1) Gaps may exist between the layers due to fabrication tolerances and an excessive gap height introduces additional stresses in the shell that need to be considered in design. The ASME Codes provide rules on the maximum permissible number and size of these gaps. The fatigue life of the vessel may be governed by the gap height due to the additional bending stress. The rules on gap height requirements have been updated recently in Section VIII Division 2. (2) ASME code rules require vent holes in the layers to detect leaks from inner shell and to prevent pressure buildup between the layers. The fatigue life may be limited by the presence of stress concentration at vent holes. This paper reviews the background of the recent code update and presents the technical basis of the fatigue design and maximum permissible gap height calculations. Discussions are made in design and fabrication to improve the fatigue life of layered pressure vessels in cyclic service.


Author(s):  
Pattaramon Tantichattanont ◽  
Seshu Adluri ◽  
Rangaswamy Seshadri

Corrosion damage and hot spots are typical of damages that can occur in ageing pressure vessels and pipelines used in industrial processes. Internal and external corrosion could be the result of corrosive products stored inside or harsh environmental conditions on the outside. Hot spots are caused by damage due to loss of refractory lining on the inside wall of pressure components or due to maldistribution of flow containing catalyst and reactive fluids. The structural integrity of such ageing components needs to be evaluated periodically to establish the continued suitability of the vessels under operating conditions. The present paper develops a method for Level 2 (as categorized by API 579) structural integrity evaluations of spherical pressure vessels containing local corrosion damage or hot spot. The decay lengths for spherical shells subject to local damages have been studied based on stretching and bending effects using elastic shell theories so as to identify the reference volume participating in plastic action. A limit for “local” corroded spot or hot spot is defined by the size of damage that an onset of pure membrane action occurs inside the damaged area. The size of damage indicating the crossover from dominance of stretching effects on the damage behavior to that of bending effects is also presented. The lower bound recommended “remaining strength factors” for spherical pressure vessels containing corrosion or hot spot are formulated by application of Mura’s integral mean of yield criterion and the improved lower bound mα-multiplier. Three alternative recommendations are proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is evaluated and demonstrated through illustrative examples and comparison with inelastic finite element analyses.


Author(s):  
Daniel T. Peters ◽  
Kevin M. Haley

Long term asset management is a key issue in the high pressure industry, but only limited and somewhat fragmented guidelines exist in the form of various “New-Construction” Design Codes and Standards. The high pressure industry is a niche industry and many applications are not covered completely by existing codes and standards. The paper will cover an overview of various ASME and API documents and provide an overall methodology for the implementation of an effective and logical asset management protocol including Fitness for Service guidelines which can be referenced in lieu of a comprehensive document being available. ASME discontinued publication and distribution of the High Pressure Systems Standard (HPS-2003) [6] in September 2009. One of the most common uses for this document was the section on vessel requalification. The paper here will discuss the application of this requalification methodology, and its use in an overall high pressure asset management plan. API 510 [5] and the National Board Inspection Code (NBIC) [13] cover the in-service inspection, repair, alteration, and rerating activities for pressure vessels-including vessels constructed and approved as jurisdictional special based upon jurisdiction acceptance of particular design, fabrication, inspection, testing, and installation. However those documents reference most of the technical requirements in the ASME construction codes for design, welding, NDE, and materials as being applicable for in-service pressure vessels. Also, API 510 and NBIC recognize FFS assessments for evaluating the structural integrity of in-service damage of pressure-containing components. This paper will discuss the use of those construction codes for use in a Fitness for Service assessment and the development of a comprehensive strategy for long term asset management using these guidance documents in conjunction with the ASME/API Inspection Planning guidelines.


1986 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 326-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Stachiw ◽  
M. A. Stachiw

Acrylic plastic viewports have been used for over 40 yr in pressure vessels for human occupancy without any catastrophic failure resulting in a loss of life. However, there are special applications, such as for example in hyperbaric chambers for medical purposes, where the susceptibility of flexure stressed acrylic plastic to surface crazing and cracking in the presence of common organic solvents contained in antibacterial sprays is a distinct disadvantage. To solve this problem, a search has been initiated for transparent plastics that are not attacked by organic solvents and can be cast economically in thick sections. Allyl diglycol carbonate plastic appears not only to satisfy the foregoing requirement, but also to provide better resistance to abrasion, pitting, and X-ray or gamma irradiation than acrylic plastic. Short-term, long-term, and cyclic pressure testing has been conducted on over one hundred allyl diglycol carbonate plane disk viewports with t/D0 ratio in the 0.06 to 0.4 range and temperature in the 4°C to + 52°C (+40F to 125°F) range. It appears that plane disks cast from allyl diglycol carbonate plastic can perform safely as pressure-resistant viewports in pressure vessels for human occupancy. It is recommended that for such an application their design temperature be limited to under 52°C (125°F), and that their design pressure at 52°C (125°F) design temperature not exceed 4 percent of their (STCP) short-term critical pressure at 24°C (75°F).


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