Numerical Simulation and Measurements of Reaction Load for an Impulsively Loaded Pressure Vessel

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Fister ◽  
Kevin Fehlmann ◽  
Dusan Spernjak

Abstract Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) designs and utilizes impulsively loaded pressure vessels for the confinement of experimental configurations involving explosives. For physics experiments with hazardous materials, a two-barrier containment system is needed, where an impulsively (or, explosively) loaded pressure vessel is assembled as an inner confinement vessel, inside an outer containment vessel (subject to quasi-static load in the event of confinement vessel breach). Design of the inner and outer vessels and support structure must account for any directional loads imparted by the blast loading on the inner vessel. Typically there is a shock-attenuating assembly between the inner confinement and outer containment pressure barriers, which serves to mitigate any dynamic load transfer from inner to outer vessel. Depending on the shock-attenuating approach, numerical predictions of these reaction loads can come with high levels of uncertainty due to model sensitivities. Present work here focuses on the numerical predictions and measurements of the reaction loads due to detonating 30 g of TNT equivalent in the Inner Pressure Confinement Vessel (IPCV) for proton imaging of small-scale shock physics experiments at LANL. Direct reaction load measurements from IPCV testing is presented alongside numerical predictions. Using the experimental measurements from the firing site, we refine the tools and methodology utilized for reaction load predictions and explore the primary model sensitivities which contribute to uncertainties. The numerical tools, modeling methodology, and primary drivers of model uncertainty identified here will improve the capability to model detonation experiments and enable design load calculations of other impulsively loaded pressure vessels with higher accuracy.

Author(s):  
Dusan Spernjak ◽  
Kevin Fehlmann ◽  
Devin Cardon ◽  
Nathan Yost ◽  
Dallas Hill ◽  
...  

Abstract A containment system is being developed to expand the capability of proton radiography of small-scale shock physics experiments at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The detonation of high explosives (HE) drives materials to extreme loading conditions, which are imaged using a proton beam and an imaging system. A qualified confinement and containment boundary needs to exist between a high-explosive experiment and the environment, and is comprised of the Inner Pressure Confinement Vessel (IPCV) and the Outer Pressure Containment Vessel (OPCV). The Inner Vessel is designed to the criteria of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section VIII, Division 3, Code Case 2564. The vessel contains an Experimental Physics Package, fragment mitigation structure, and radiographic windows. The windows need to minimize radiographic blur contribution (thin, radiographically transparent material such as Beryllium) over the field of view for imaging, but also need to maintain the pressure boundary during and after the dynamic event. Further, the vessel covers need to seal before, during, and after the experiment . In addition, the covers have miscellaneous feedthroughs, to enable high-voltage signal (for HE detonator), instrumentation and control signals (e.g. valves, pressure and vacuum gauge, optical fibers). We present the preliminary design, analyses, and testing of the Inner Vessel components.


Author(s):  
Pin-Chiun Huang ◽  
Hsoung-Wei Chou ◽  
Yuh-Ming Ferng

This paper is to study the effects of copper and nickel content variations on the fracture probability of the pressurized water reactor (PWR) pressure vessel subjected to pressurized-thermal-shock (PTS) transients. The probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) code, FAVOR, which was developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States, is employed to perform the analyses. A Taiwan domestic PWR pressure vessel with varied copper and nickel contents of beltline region welds and plates is investigated in the study. Some PTS transients analyzed from Beaver Valley Unit 1 for establishing the USNRC’s new PTS rule are applied as the loading conditions. It is found that the content variation of copper and nickel will significantly affect the radiation embrittlement and the fracture probability of PWR pressure vessels. The results can be regarded as the risk incremental factors for comparison with the safety regulation requirements on vessel degradation as well as a reference for the operation of PWR plants in Taiwan.


Author(s):  
John Bernardin ◽  
David Hathcoat ◽  
David Sattler ◽  
Dusan Spernjak ◽  
Erik Swensen ◽  
...  

Abstract A nested confinement (inner) and containment (outer) vessel system is under development to conduct small shock-physics experiments in a high-speed proton imaging facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The dual vessel system is necessary to serve as a qualified confinement system and containment buffer boundary between a high explosives experiment and the environment. The paper describes the preliminary engineering design and analyses that have been performed on the outer containment pressure vessel, following ASME BPVC Sect. VIII Div. 1, for both pressure and vacuum conditions. Other engineering attributes which will be presented include an internal support structure for a nested inner vessel, an external integrated support and alignment structure for the complete vessel system, and the vacuum and gas handling equipment.


Author(s):  
Erik Garrido ◽  
Euro Casanova

It is a regular practice in the oil industry to modify mechanical equipment to incorporate new technologies and to optimize production. In the case of pressure vessels, it is occasionally required to cut large openings in their walls in order to have access to the interior part of the equipment for executing modifications. This cutting process produces temporary loads, which were obviously not considered in the original mechanical design. Up to now, there is not a general purpose specification for approaching the assessments of stress levels once a large opening in a vertical pressure vessel has been made. Therefore stress distributions around large openings are analyzed on a case-by-case basis without a reference scheme. This work studies the distribution of the von Mises equivalent stresses around a large opening in FCC Regenerators during internal cyclone replacement, which is a frequently required practice for this kind of equipment. A finite element parametric model was developed in ANSYS, and both numerical results and illustrating figures are presented.


Author(s):  
Yian Wang ◽  
Guoshan Xie ◽  
Zheng Zhang ◽  
Xiaolong Qian ◽  
Yufeng Zhou ◽  
...  

Temper embrittlement is a common damage mechanism of pressure vessels in the chemical and petrochemical industry serviced in high temperature, which results in the reduction of roughness due to metallurgical change in some low alloy steels. Pressure vessels that are temper embrittled may be susceptible to brittle fracture under certain operating conditions which cause high stress by thermal gradients, e.g., during start-up and shutdown. 2.25Cr1-Mo steel is widely used to make hydrogenation reactor due to its superior combination of high mechanical strength, good weldability, excellent high temperature hydrogen attack (HTHA) and oxidation-resistance. However, 2.25Cr-1Mo steel is particularly susceptible to temper embrittlement. In this paper, the effect of carbide on temper embrittlement of 2.25Cr-1Mo steel was investigated. Mechanical properties and the ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) of 2.25Cr-1Mo steel were measured by tensile test and impact test. The tests were performed at two positions (base metal and weld metal) and three states (original, step cooling treated and in-service for a hundred thousand hours). The content and distribution of carbides were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The content of Cr and Mo elements in carbide was measured by energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDS). The results showed that the embrittlement could increase the strength and reduce the plasticity. Higher carbide contents appear to be responsible for the higher DBTT. The in-service 2.25Cr-1Mo steel showed the highest DBTT and carbide content, followed by step cooling treated 2.25Cr-1Mo steel, while the as-received 2.25Cr-1Mo steel has the minimum DBTT and carbide content. At the same time, the Cr and Mo contents in carbide increased with the increasing of DBTT. It is well known that the specimen analyzed by SEM is very small in size, sampling SEM specimen is convenient and nondestructive to pressure vessel. Therefore, the relationship between DBTT and the content of carbide offers a feasible nondestructive method for quantitative measuring the temper embrittlement of 2.25Cr-1Mo steel pressure vessel.


2019 ◽  
Vol 893 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eui Soo Kim

Pressure vessels are subjected to repeated loads during use and charging, which can causefine physical damage even in the elastic region. If the load is repeated under stress conditions belowthe yield strength, internal damage accumulates. Fatigue life evaluation of the structure of thepressure vessel using finite element analysis (FEA) is used to evaluate the life cycle of the structuraldesign based on finite element method (FEM) technology. This technique is more advanced thanfatigue life prediction that uses relational equations. This study describes fatigue analysis to predictthe fatigue life of a pressure vessel using stress data obtained from FEA. The life prediction results areuseful for improving the component design at a very early development stage. The fatigue life of thepressure vessel is calculated for each node on the model, and cumulative damage theory is used tocalculate the fatigue life. Then, the fatigue life is calculated from this information using the FEanalysis software ADINA and the fatigue life calculation program WINLIFE.


1970 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Barsom ◽  
S. T. Rolfe

Increasing use of high-strength steels in pressure-vessel design has resulted from emphasis on decreasing the weight of pressure vessels for certain applications. To demonstrate the suitability of a 140-ksi yield strength steel for use in unwelded pressure vessels, HY-140(T)—a quenched and tempered 5Ni-Cr-Mo-V steel—was fabricated and subjected to various burst and fatigue tests, as well as to various laboratory tests. In general, results of the investigation indicated very good tensile, Charpy, Nil Ductility Transition Temperature (NDT), low-cycle fatigue, and stress-corrosion properties of HY-140(T) steels, as well as very good burst tests results, in comparison with existing high-yield strength pressure-vessel steels. The results also indicate that the HY-140(T) steel should be an excellent material for its originally designed purpose, Naval hull applications.


Author(s):  
Hsoung-Wei Chou ◽  
Chin-Cheng Huang ◽  
Bo-Yi Chen ◽  
Hsien-Chou Lin ◽  
Ru-Feng Liu

The fracture probability of a boiling water reactor pressure vessel for a domestic nuclear power plant in Taiwan has been numerically analyzed using an advanced version of ORNL’s FAVOR code. First, a model of the vessel beltline region, which includes all shell welds and plates, is built for the FAVOR code based on the plant specific parameters of the reactor pressure vessel. Then, a novel flaw model which describes the flaw types of surface breaking flaws, embedded weld flaws and embedded plate flaws are simulated along both inner and outer vessel walls. When conducting the fracture probability analyses, a transient low temperature over-pressure event, which has previously been shown to be the most severe challenge to the integrity of boiling water reactor pressure vessels, is considered as the loading condition. It is found that the fracture occurs in the fusion-line area of axial welds, but with only an insignificant failure probability. The low through-wall cracking frequency indicates that the analyzed reactor pressure vessel maintains sufficient stability until either the end-of-license or for doubling of the present license of operation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 550-553 ◽  
pp. 3082-3087
Author(s):  
Xing Ye Su ◽  
Qin Li ◽  
Hong Mei Wang

With the rapid development of petrochemical industry, the operation condition of pressure vessels under the alternating load was increasing and the probability of fatigue failure was also on the rise. As a result, pressure vessel fatigue analysis is gaining the designer's attention. This paper describes the key steps and techniques of the fatigue analysis of pressure vessel based on Workbench platform using the lock hopper of the coal chemical industry as an example.


1967 ◽  
Vol 182 (1) ◽  
pp. 657-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Spence ◽  
W. B. Carlson

Nozzles in cylindrical vessels have been of special interest to designers for some time and have offered a field of activity for many research workers. This paper presents some static and fatigue tests on five designs of full size pressure vessel nozzles manufactured in two materials. Supporting and other published work is reviewed showing that on the basis of the same maximum stress mild steel vessels give the same fatigue life as low alloy vessels. When compared on the basis of current codes it is shown that mild steel vessels may have five to ten times the fatigue life of low alloy vessels unless special precautions are taken.


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