Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Home
Products
Contact
Blog
More
CALCSTRESS
A way to be more knowledgeable
Disclaimer
Shell course of a storage tank tends to expand due to temperature difference and head pressure.
The tank base is not possible to move freely because of the base restriction. So the displacement
of that location can’t reach to its free movement. This takes part in a discontinuity area which
is extended about , from tank base. Apparently all nozzles in that area are affected
as follows:
Nozzle Rotation: The rotation of shell in the discontinuity area makes all nozzles rotate.
Depending on the attached piping flexibility, some loads are developed at the nozzle
and shell junction.
Radial Displacement: As mentioned earlier, due to chocking effects in the discontinuity
area, the nozzles tend to move in radial direction due to thermal expansion and head
pressure. At the bottom of tank where the chocking exists, some parts of circumferential
membrane stress capacity go to the corresponding local stresses. This increased
capacity can be calculated as a new allowable stress which is used when a local tensile
membrane stress exists. It does not give credit to a compression membrane stress
because the tank may be empty or half.
Figure 1 shows two extreme scenarios which may exist: fully restrained and semi-restrained.
API 650 Requirements for Bottom Nozzles of Storage Tanks: Nozzle Movements, Local
Stresses on Nozzles and Allowable Nozzle Loads
In a fully restrained boundary condition a bending moment is created in such a way it leads to
a smaller rotation comparing to a semi-restrained system. The real one is somewhere between
them. The big rotation is our main concern because it leads to big nozzle loads.
Figure 2 demonstrates final nozzle location stemming from thermal and head pressure of tank.
These movements are input of CAESAR II.
It is assumed the tank has a different thickness at each shell courses. So the free pressure
displacement along tank is uniform unless at discontinuity area. Free pressure and thermal
movement can be calculated as follows:
(1)
(2)
If each shell courses is designed based on its head pressure, so has nearly the same value
along the tank height. A friction force between tank bottom and the ground prevents it
expanding freely. In reality it expands a percent of the free expansion. The expansion can be
assumed as in which .
(3)
Where
(4)
1-1-Calculation of
Tank shell is chocked at its bottom. So similar to the chocking model in which an infinite beam
on an elastic foundation is used to simulate pipe shell, a semi-infinite beam on an elastic
foundation is used to develop beam deflection and slope functions. Referring to case 8 in table
8 of [7], the following functions for are calculated as follows:
(5)
(6)
(8)
From substituting factors, equations (8) and (10), in equations (5) and (6):
(11)
Referring to figure 2:
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
(17)
(18)
(19)
(20)
For calculation of w and θ, the shell profile should be considered in equations (15) and (16).
Figure 5 is used for the calculation:
Figure 5: Radial and rotational movement of nozzle of tank with uniform shell thickness
(21)
(22)
In API 650, B is assumed 1, so equations (21) and (22) are reduced to:
(23)
(24)
(25)
(26)
(27)
In piping stress softwares which are based on beam elements, flexibility of pipe nozzle
connection to tank shell cannot be calculated. If the connection is modeled as rigid, the resulting
nozzle loads increase significantly which is not realistic. So a piping stress engineer should
consider flexibility of the connection in the softwares. In CAESAR II the stiffness can be
defined as restraints stiffness at proper nodes. Literally stiffness is expressed as a relation
between loads and their corresponding deformations. API 650 introduces a method to calculate
stiffnesses of nozzle connections for radial force, longitudinal and circumferential bending
moments. For a tank nozzles placed in a discontinuity area, radial and longitudinal
deformations are correlated in such a way any radial force ends up not only a radial
deformation, but a rotation and vice versa.
Referring to figure 6, the relation between loads and deformations are as follows:
(28)
(29)
(30)
are extracted by using figures P-2A to P-2L shown in appendix of API 650 for
reinforcement on neck and reinforcement on shell. A stress engineer must be aware that tank
shell has usually less stiffness related to a pressure vessel. Although this less stiffness leads to
a less nozzle loads but it has some adverse effects: one is low allowable stresses and another is
follow-up strain in which strain concentration at nozzles grows even in a stress range which is
confirmed by ASME codes. Some finite element softwares such as FE Pipe give the strain
concentration factor in results.
Passing a storage tank nozzle loads has been a nightmare for the most stress engineers. Low
allowable tank nozzle loads as well as tank settlements make the task challenging. If a tank is
designed based on API 650 the allowable nozzle loads in a discontinuity area can be calculated
by the formula mentioned in appendix P of API 650. For a better understanding of concepts
behind the formula which may help engineers to deal with a problem coming up in the nozzle
loads analysis, basis of the allowable nozzle loads calculations are mentioned as follows.
As mentioned before, all nozzles in discontinuity area tends to rotate and they are checked
based on their locations (height): closer to tank bottom, more being chocked and rotated. The
chocked area can sustain more local stresses comparing to an area which is out of the
discontinuity area. The reason is a circumferential membrane stress due to chocking balances
a part of hoop stress. This balanced stress named as can be calculated as following (figure 7):
3-1-Calculation
Figure 8: Pipe radius change under internal pressure and internal-external pressure
(31)
As shown in figure 8, shell radius reaches to its maximum value in absence of external
pressure: . When external pressure applies, the radius decreases to a middle state shown in
figure 8. produce respectively.
(32)
So,
(33)
In state 1:
(34)
In state 2:
(35)
(36)
(37)
(38)
(39)
(40)
(41)
Regarding Kellogg’s model: for radial force and for bending moments. is the
nozzle radius. The equation (41) changes to the following formula:
(43)
(42)
(44)
(45)
(46)
In which
(47)
(48)
(49)
(50)
(51)
The above formulas are very similar to equations (42) and (43). Only some coefficients are
different. Therefore the formulas in API 650 are based on circumferential local membrane
stress achieved in Kellogg’s method.
As mentioned earlier, equation (39), chocking effect results in an increase in allowable load
which is function of nozzle height. It doesn’t give any credit to circumferential compressive
stresses because tank may be empty or half. Referring to figure (9), stresses should be
cautiously studied separately in different points A, B, C and C'.
Figure 10: Stresses on an element at point A
API 650 uses old revision of ASME BPVC section VIII Div 2 in which the stress criteria as
mentioned as follows:
(52)
As mentioned before, K’ is assumed 1.1 by API 650 instead of 1.5. It leads to a safer design.
In equation (52) only primary membrane stress is incorporated.
(53)
can be estimated by the way explained bellow instead of using its precise value given by
equation (45) where reaches to . Figure 11 shows how is calculated. The
curve can be assumed as a straight line.
(54)
(55)
(56)
The above equation is extracted and valid for stresses at point A. Applying a similar method
for points B, C and C’ result in the following equations:
(59)
(58)
(57)
(60)
Piping stress engineers may use the nomograms which are mentioned on figures P-5A and P-
5B in appendix P of API 650.
4-Tank settlement
4-1-Solutions
4-1-1-Reducing of settlement
One of the best solutions is settlement reduction which can be achieved by connecting pipes
after hydro test when the tank is not empty, preferably half-full tank. Therefore only settlement
that the pipes incorporate is long term settlement. Civil engineers are expected to give the long
term settlement to stress engineers.
4-1-2-Supporting
Obviously type of supports which are placed at near nozzles affects stresses caused by
settlement in following ways:
Common foundation: Pipes which are supported on tank foundation have the same
displacement as the tank settlement has. Consequently it results in a lower stress.
Adjusting support: If settlement profiles versus time are available, some adjustable
supports can be used. The supports should be adjusted in field.
Spring Hangers: Spring hangers make the connected pipes more flexible and
consequently it leads to lower stresses at nozzles. Most of the time it is considered the
best way because it sustains the heavy valve weight.
4-1-3-Piping Routes
Stress engineers may resort to this method to make the piping system more flexible. The
solution may bring up two problems: firstly this method requires enough room especially for
large bore pipes. Moreover it makes the pipe more vulnerable to vibration and dynamic loads
by reducing natural frequency of the piping system. Secondly this solution leads to an increase
in sustained stress because rout change implies adding some piping components. As said
before, heavy isolating valves deteriorate the situation more.
To sum up, stress engineers should be aware of the solutions and select the best one depending
on the situation.
It is important to know which stress category should be assigned for stresses caused by
settlement. Generally primary stress is more dangerous and critical than secondary stress
because the primary one is not reduced after going beyond yielding points. So primary stresses
should be checked against lower allowable stresses. Regarding the mentioned explanation,
putting settlement stress in primary category makes intensity stress more difficult to satisfy its
stress criteria. The nature of settlement loading is similar to secondary loading because it
disappears after reaching to yielding point. It points out settlement stress is not as dangerous
as a primary load such as weight. However it is not cyclic, it may be considered in a secondary
loading category. Depending on the situation and mentioned items stress engineer may make
the best decision.
The boundary condition:
(7)
(10)
(12)
Quick Links
Home
Contact
Your Success
About Us
Our Mission
Blog
Useful Links
Privacy Policy
Follow Us
Our Team
Products