Sealing Performance Evaluation in Bolted Flange Connections With Ring Joint Gasket Subjected to Internal Pressure

Author(s):  
Koji Kondo ◽  
Koji Sato ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Shota Tsubaki ◽  
Yuya Omiya

Bolted flange connections with ring type joint gaskets have been used to seal the inner fluid under higher pressure and higher temperature conditions when soft gaskets cannot be used in the connections. However, few researches on the characteristics and the sealing performance evaluation for the bolted flange connections with metal ring gasket have been conducted. Therefore, assembly procedures and tightening methods of the connection with ring type joint gaskets is empirically and not fully elucidated. It is important to know the characteristics such as the contact gasket stress distribution which governs the sealing performance prediction, the sealing performance and the sealing mechanism in the bolted flange connections for determining optimum tightening methods and the bolt preload. In this paper, the differences of the sealing performance for the bolted flange connections (3″) by the re-use octagonal and oval type ring gaskets are examined. In the FEM calculations the contact gasket stress distributions and the range of plastic deformation are examined and the sealing mechanism is discussed. It is found that the basic sealing mechanism is caused by the plastic deformation at the contact area of the gasket. In addition, the leakage tests for the bolted flange connections with the nominal diameter of 20″ with the octagonal ring type joint gaskets being inserted are conducted, where the bolt tightening for the connection is carried out according to both ASME PCC-1 and JIS B2251, respectively. Using these results, the optimum tightening methods for the connection with ring type joint gaskets are discussed.

Author(s):  
Koji Kondo ◽  
Shota Tsubaki ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Koji Sato ◽  
Yuya Omiya

Bolted flange connections with ring joint gaskets have been used to seal the inner fluid under higher pressure and higher temperature condition when soft gasket cannot be used in the connection. The ring joint gaskets are assumed that they can seal inner fluid by the metal-metal contact between the ring joint gasket and the grooves of flanges under higher pressure condition. However, no research on the characteristics and sealing performance evaluation for the bolted flange connections with metal ring gasket has been conducted. Therefore, assembly procedures and tightening methods of the connection with ring joint gaskets is empirically. It is important to know the characteristics such as the contact gasket stress distribution, the sealing performance and the sealing mechanism in the bolted flange connections for determining optimum tightening methods and the bolt preload. In this paper, the leakage tests for the bolted flange connections (3″) with the octagonal ring joint gaskets are conducted. Measuring the leak rate of inner fluid from the connections using the pressure drop method, the sealing performance of the connections with the ring joint gaskets is evaluated. In addition, using the 3-D FEM stress calculations, the gasket contact stress distributions for the connections with the octagonal ring joint gaskets are examined. Using these results, the optimum bolt preload of the connection with octagonal ring joint gaskets are discussed. Furthermore, the leakage tests for the bolted flange connections (20″) with the octagonal ring joint gaskets are conducted in the case where the bolt tightening is carried out according to both ASME PCC-1 and JIS B 2251, respectively. The optimum tightening methods for the connection with octagonal ring joint gaskets are discussed.


Author(s):  
Koji Kondo ◽  
Yuya Omiya ◽  
Shota Tsubaki ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa

Bolted flange connections with metal gasket have been used at higher pressure under higher temperature condition. Assembly procedures and tightening methods the connections including some types of metal gasket is empirically. Generally, it is known that the bolt preload which is required for satisfying an indicated leak rate in the connections including the metal gasket is not higher than that of the connections including sheet gaskets and spiral wound gaskets. However, no research for the evaluating the sealing performance in the bolted flange connections with metal gaskets has been conducted. In this paper, the leakage tests for the bolted flange connections with the metal flat gasket were conducted in the case where the maximum internal pressure of 7MPa and a bending moment are applied, where the leak rate is measured using the pressure drop method. Then, the sealing performance of the connections with the metal flat gasket was evaluated. In addition, using the FEM stress calculations, the flange stress distributions between the flange surface and the gasket were examined as the evaluation. As the result, it is found that the stress distribution at the contact surfaces between the metal flat gasket and the flange surface under the bending moment and the internal pressure. In the leakage tests, it was observed that the amount of the leakage (He gas) depends on the stress distributions and the plastic deformation of the gasket.


Author(s):  
Kentaro Tenma ◽  
Tsutomu Kikuchi ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Kazuhide Horiuchi

The bolted flange connections with ring joint gasket have been used to seal the inner fluid at higher pressure under higher temperature condition. Assembly procedures and tightening methods for the type of gasket have typically been empirically determined. Generally, it is known that the bolt preload which is required to seal the inner fluid in the connections using the ring joint gasket is not higher than that of the connections using sheet gaskets and spiral wound gaskets. However, no research for the evaluation of sealing performance in the bolted flange connections with metal ring gasket has been conducted. In this paper, the leakage tests for the bolted flange connections with the ring joint gasket were conducted in the case where the maximum pressure is 10MPa. Measuring the leak rate of inner fluid using the pressure drop method, the sealing performance of the connections with the ring joint gasket was evaluated. In addition, using the FEM stress calculations, the flange hub stress distributions and the flange groove stress distributions were examined as the evaluation for the flange strength. As the result, it is found that the stress distribution at the contact surfaces between the ring joint gasket and the flange groove depends on the bolt tightening procedure. In the leakage tests, it was observed that the amount of the leakage (He gas) depends on the stress distributions at the groove stress which is affected due to the bolt tightening method.


Author(s):  
Koji Kondo ◽  
Koji Sato ◽  
Satomi Takahashi ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa

Bolted pipe flange connections with metallic gaskets have been used under higher pressure as well as higher temperature. However, a few researches on the mechanical characteristics in connections with metallic gaskets have been carried out. It is necessary to examine the mechanical characteristics such as the contact gasket stress distributions which govern the sealing performance, the deformation of the metallic gaskets, changes in axial bolt forces and the hub stress under higher pressure and temperature. In the present paper, the objectives are to examine the changes in axial bolt forces, the hub stress and the contact gasket stress distributions and the sealing performance of the pipe flange connections with metallic flat gaskets. Firstly, the mechanical characteristics of the connections under higher pressure are analyzed using FEA. Then, experiments were carried out to measure the load factor, the hub stress and the leak rate (the sealing performance). The relationship between the average contact gasket stress and the leak rate was measured using platen device at room temperature. The FEA results are fairly coincided with the experimental results. It is shown that the leak rate decreases as the contact gasket stress increases and when the plastic deformation of gaskets occurs, the sealing performance increases. The leak rate was measured in the range of 10−4∼10−7 [Pa·m3/s]. It is found that the sealing performance increases as the gasket width increase in the elastic deformation range while it is independent of the gasket width when the plastic deformation occurs. The effect of temperature on the mechanical characteristics of the connection is also examined. The FEA results are in a fairly good agreement with the experimental results. It is found that the sealing performance increases as the temperature increases. In addition, a method how to determine the bolt preload for increasing the sealing performance is proposed.


Author(s):  
Koji Kondo ◽  
Shota Tsubaki ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Tsutomu Kikuchi ◽  
Yuya Omiya

Bolted flange connections with ring joint gaskets have been used to seal the inner fluid under higher internal pressure and higher temperature conditions where soft gaskets such as compressed sheet gaskets cannot be applied. Bolted flange connections are frequently tightened using torque wrench, and it is known that the values of bolt preloads are scattered. The effect of the scatter on the sealing performance for bolted flange connections with compressed sheet gasket or semi-metal gasket has been examined. However, no research on the characteristics for the bolted flange connections with ring joint gasket has been found. It is necessary to know the effect of the scattered bolt preloads on the sealing performance and mechanical behavior of the connection with ring joint gasket. In addition, it is important to know an optimum method for determining the bolt preloads taking account of the scatter in bolt preloads. In this paper, leakage tests for bolted flange connections with octagonal ring joint gaskets were conducted for cases where the bolt preloads are uniform and scattered. The sealing performance of these connections with ring joint gaskets was measured and evaluated. In addition, the leak rate was estimated using the contact gasket stress distributions of the connections when the bolt preloads were uniform and scattered using 3-D FEM. Finally, the measured leak rate for the connection using helium gas was compared with the estimated results. The estimated results are in fairly good agreement with the measured values. It is found that the sealing performance of the connections tightened with the uniform bolt methods is better than that with scattered bolt preloads.


Author(s):  
Kenshiro Nakade ◽  
Koji Sato ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa

Abstract Bolted pipe flange connections with metallic flat gaskets or ring type joint (RTJ) gaskets are used under higher pressure and higher temperature. However, a sealing mechanism is not known and a design method is not established how to determine bolt preload for preventing leakage from the connection with metallic gaskets. In addition, the characteristics of the connection are not known when oval and octagonal gaskets are used. In previous paper, when the contact stress of metallic flat gasket reaches the stress at plastic deformation inflection point, the leak rate is decreased rapidly. However, the leak rate could be measured up to 1.0 × 10−5 Pa · m3/s level. The objectives of the paper are to measure the leak rate of the metallic flat gasket of which the contact stress is over the stress at plastic deformation inflection point, and to measure the leak rate of 1.0 × 10−9∼10 Pa · m3/s level in the flat metallic gasket in the platen tests and the connection with RTJ gaskets. In addition, the characteristics of the connection are examined when oval and octagonal gaskets are used. As a result, it is found that the leak rate for the metallic flat gasket can be measured around 1.0 × 10−9∼10 Pa · m3/s in the platen tests when the contact stress of aluminum gasket reaches the stress at plastic deformation inflection point and more while the leak rate of SUS 304 flat gasket is around 1.0 × 10−7∼8 Pa · m3/s even if the contact stress is over 1.3 times of the stress at plastic deformation inflection point. In addition, the sealing characteristics of the connection with oval gasket are shown to be better than that with octagonal gasket. From a laser microscope observation, it is found that the contact area of oval gasket in the connection is smaller than that of octagonal gasket in the connection.


2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Ryo Kurosawa ◽  
Wataru Maezaki

The contact gasket stress distributions in a rectangular box-shape bolted flange connection with a compressed sheet gasket subjected to internal pressure were analyzed using the finite element method. Leakage tests were also conducted for an actual rectangular box-shape bolted flange connection with a compressed sheet gasket under internal pressure. Using the obtained contact gasket stress distributions and the results of the leakage tests, the new gasket constants were calculated. The difference in the new gasket constants between the values obtained from the present study and those from the Pressure Vessel Research Council (PVRC) procedure was substantial. In addition, a method to determine the bolt preload for a given tightness parameter was demonstrated and the difference in the determined bolt preload was shown between the present study and the PVRC procedure. The characteristics of the rectangular box-shape bolted flange connection were demonstrated by comparing those of circular bolted flange connections.


Author(s):  
Satoshi Nagata ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa ◽  
Seiichi Hamamoto

It has been well known that the scatter in axial bolt forces of bolted flange connections tightened by torque control methods is substantial. In evaluating the sealing performance of a bolted flange connection with a gasket subjected to internal pressure, it is necessary to know the contact gasket stress distributions due to the scatter of the axial bolt forces in the flange connections tightened by torque control methods. This paper deals with the leakage of a bolted flange connection with a cover of pressure vessel including a spiral wound gasket tightened by a torque wrench. The scatter in the axial bolt forces was measured using strain gauges attached at the shank of bolts. The amount of leakage from the bolted flange connection with cover of pressure vessel was measured by so-called pressure decay method. The gas employed was Helium. From the measured leakage, the actual assembly efficiency is examined. The eight bolts and nuts were tightened according to the ASME PCC-1 method and Japanese method developed by High Pressure Institute (HPI). The difference in the bolt preload was shown between the ASME method and the HPI method. The contact gasket stress distributions at the interface of the flange connection with the gasket were calculated under the measured axial bolt forces by means of finite element analysis. Using the calculated gasket contact stress distribution, the amount of gas leakage was estimated. The estimated gas leakage was compared with the measured results.


Author(s):  
Wataru Maezaki ◽  
Toshiyuki Sawa

The contact gasket stress distributions of a non-circular flange connection with a compressed asbestos sheet gasket subjected to internal pressure were analyzed taking into account of the hysteresis behaviors of the gasket by using the finite element method (FEM). Leakage tests were also conducted using an actual non-circular flange connection with a compressed asbestos sheet gasket under internal pressure. Using the contact gasket stress distributions and the results of the leakage tests, the new gasket constants were calculated. The difference in the new gasket constants between the values obtained from the present study and those by the PVRC procedure was substantial. In addition, a method to determine the initial clamping bolt force (bolt preload) for a given tightness parameter was demonstrated.


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