Pressure vessels are punished on a daily basis after they're installed. Fastened to a static metal frame or welded onto a toughened mounting platform, the exactingly engineered vessels are then exposed to great pressures. Tortuous temperatures also persist in many processing environments.

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The fundamentals of pressure vessel engineering are taking a break today as we turn our attention towards fracture mechanics. The theme of this entry targets crack stress analysis, a discipline that studies the permissible dimensions of a pressure vessel crack. In order to fully comprehend this science-based field of study, we need to understand some relatively complex metallurgical attributes, including the following theoretical concepts.

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What exactly are external floating roof storage tanks? To a novice, the term conjures up an image of a lightweight tank, one that floats like a ship's metal hull. In point of fact, these tanks don't float. Rather, it's the floating roof above and inside the tank that's buoyed by a stored fluid. Typically speaking, an EFRST will contain a petroleum product.

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Let's pull back from the exhaustively conducted manufacturing sequences that were carried out during the fabrication of a high-functioning pressure vessel. That's right, instead of scrutinizing the continuity of a sheet metal container or repeatedly inspecting the integrity of weld seam for the umpteenth time, the goal today is to consider the factors that guide the design and manufacturing process.

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It's time to fill up a blank sheet of draughting paper with some thoughts on structural engineering, which means we're about to occupy our minds with pressure vessel design considerations.

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It's important that the following fact is understood. Pressure equipment serviceability is influenced by dynamic forces, by stored energies and dynamic state changing events. Granted, other engineering structures are subjected to damaging forces, but so are pressure vessels.

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As we've mentioned on numerous occasions, gas leaks from pressure vessels are either immediately destructive or slowly poisonous. Inimical to public safety, the gaseous compounds starve respiratory systems of oxygen. They combust or act as corrosive airborne poisons.

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The adherence to a specific set of design codes ensures an installed pressure vessel fulfils its purpose as a capable containment unit. What a bitter pill it is to swallow, then, if that superbly designed engineering asset is placed under a second rate maintenance program. Imagine a worst case scenario. A leak is developing in the unmaintained pressure vessel.

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Mathematically established circumstances spell bad news for pressure vessels if a rupture event becomes likely. On account of the stress placed on the vessel, any energy released by a rupture will cause a catastrophic release of the contained fluid medium, a release that could develop into a combustible incident.

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Hoop stress is a circumferential fluid load variable that all thin-walled pressure cylinders must be designed to handle. Pushing outward, that internal stress factor forces the curving walls of the alloy-strengthened cylinder to bulge and expand outward. If the internal strain wasn't counterbalanced, the seams of the cylinder could burst due to the inexorable expansion effect.

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Liquefied petroleum gas equipment is responsible for the storage and handling of a number of combustible hydrocarbons. Classed as high-demand fuel containers, LP gas pressure vessels are found in industrial parks, as you'd expect, but they're also installed in domestic premises.

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Debutanizer columns (de-butaniser) are part of the fractional distillation family, but more on this family later. The target fraction, as the vessel descriptor implies, is butane. If you picture the natural gas stream entering the tall column, you can perhaps follow the fractionation process as it chemically separates the desired petroleum product.

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Ammonia synthesis plants cover one end of an industrial park. Over in another corner, there's a chemical processing facility. It overlooks the coast, so you can see all the way down to the oil refinery that's being built over there. As you can see from all of these giant facilities, chemical processing technology exists everywhere.

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Nitrogen and hydrogen are thrust together by chemically induced processes to produce large quantities of ammonia. Used as a fertiliser, the synthetically manufactured compound is also present in refrigerant gases and many other useful chemical products, including metal treatment reagents. The role of an ammonia plant condensate blowdown vessel in this processing chain is to supply these large quantities of liquid ammonia, so let's talk about this special vessel type.

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An oil refinery is a little like a chemist's laboratory, except the test tubes and boiling mixes have been enlarged until they straddle massive areas of land. The chemical reactions are also similarly amplified, so the fragile glass beakers are gone. Instead, towering pressure vessels contain the catalysing chemicals.

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Everyone's heard of the chemical distillation process, although most of us are only familiar with a few "still" applications. Distilled water and alcohol distillation probably come to mind when the general populace first hears the term. However, commercial vacuum distillation stills are built for more specialised applications, instances where high boiling temperatures would damage the process medium.

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Let's take a walk through tankless water heater territory. As the term implies, the design ousts its storage tank in favour of an advanced engineering solution. In its place, a heat exchanger and coiled pipes establish a thermal transaction effect. It's obviously an innovative design, one that increases operational efficiency.

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Ultrasonic technology plays an important role in countless inspection-oriented fields. Essentially, these high-frequency sound waves easily pass through soft or hard materials. Then, as they're reflected, a detailed picture of the material's innermost properties is electronically reproduced.

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Last time around, we covered the primary functions of these system-essential separators. They're designed to split crude oil discharge, to send liquid oil down one channel and a clean stream of gas down a second line. That's a fairly accurate but simplified description of a two-phase hydrocarbon separation system.

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Oil well streams require separation. Granted, the crude black stuff is a prized commodity, but it has to be split into two fundamental states before it can be properly processed. Oil and gas separators are required to carry out this processing magic. It's not some kind of mysterious sorcery.

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There's very little leeway when an engineer is conducting a pressure vessel testing and inspection assignment. Ideally, there's just no room for gray areas and ambiguous results. The test and inspection procedure should yield a simple binary result, an informed "YES" or "NO" that imparts unbiased operability data.

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Systemic design practices are essential if fuel and chemical storage complexes are to operate safely. That means the storage units must be geometrically reliable, obviously, and expertly rated to tolerate pressure changes, temperature variations, and chemical reactions.

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Subsurface storage vessels are expected to deliver peak performance characteristics in all imaginable condition. No matter how wet, acidic, or physically oppressive the underground terrain becomes, the below ground fluid depot must securely contain its potentially hazardous load.

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Engineering expertise swings into action when underground fuel tanks are incorporated into known flood areas. There are drainage conduits to mitigate the effects of the muddy water. The location of each buried vessel receives planning, including a feasibility study that accounts for annual rainfall data.

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