Supports For Vessels : ‘Type of support to be provided to a vessel depends upon its configuration, height to diameter ratio of the vessel, convenience of location, operating temperature and materials: ‘There are four types of supports commonly used. 1. Skirt support 2. Bracket or Lug support 3. Saddle support 4. Leg support Tall vertical columns and heat exchangers are often supported on skirts. Medium size process vessels having height to ‘diameter ratio 2-3 are provided with bracket or lug supports. Horizontal vessels are usually provided with saddle supports. Small vessels of capacity 1-2 m? are provided with leg supports. (Fig. 3.1)+1. Skirt Support : Tall columns such as distillation column, absorption column are provided with skirt support. From a designers point of view, skirt support is attractive because it Skirt is a cylindrical shell having diameter equal to outside diameter of the vessel Fig.(3.2 [a]) or more than the outer diameter of the vessel Fig. (3.2 [b]). It is welded at the bottom of the vessel and rests over a bearing plate which rests over concrete foundation.Bracket Or Lug Support : Bracket supports are very common for process equipments. Vertical vessels with height to diameter ratio 2-3 are generally provided with bracket supports. These are fabricated from plates and attached to the vessel with minimum possible weld length. Brackets rest on columns or structural beams. A vessel with bracket support is shown in Fig. (3.6). There are many advantages of the bracket supports.i) Cost is less. ii) Can be easily attached to the vessel with minimum weld length. iii) Can be easily levelled. iv) Can absorb diametrical expan-sions if sliding arrangement is provided. v) Most suitable for thick wall vessels because of their ability to absorb bending stresses due to eccent-rically of loads There are some disadvantages also. These are: Brackets are eccentric to the vessel. This results in bending moment and compressive, tensile, shear stresses are induced in the vessel wall. Therefore these are not suitable for thin wall vessels unless the vessel wall _is reinforced with backing plate.Skirt support is designed by considering the following loads : i) Dead weight of the vessel. ii) Operating weight of the vessel. iii) Lateral loads by restrained thermal growth of interconnecting pipes. iv) Wind load acting over the vessel. vy) Seismic load. : To calculate the skirt thickness all these loads are required to be considered. 3.01.2 “Stress Due To Dead Weight : + (Total weight of the column is the sum of its empty weight, internals, insulation, and the contents of process fluid. Stresses due to dead weight can be calculated as : f= __=W 4 =D. Datu ». (3.1) D,, — outside diameter of skirt support t,, ~ thickness of cylindrical skirt =W - total weight of the vessel including attachments. It is a vertical thrust acting downward.3.01.3 Stress Due To Wind Load : Wind force acts horizontally on the vessel. It results in an overturning moment. Intensity of wind force depends upon height from the ground level. It increases along the height. In order to assess the overturning moment, it is considered in two parts. The wind force acting over the lower region of the column. Pw = k,k,p,h,D,. (upto a height of 20 m) + (3.2) The wind force acting over the upper region of the column. Pw = k,k,p,h,D, (above a height of 20 m) + (3.3) P, — wind pressure acting over the lower region of the vessel upto a height of 20m. Itis upto 100 kg/m. P3~ wind pressure acting over the upper region of the vessel above a height of 20m. It is upto 200 kg/m?.h, ~ height of the lower region of the column. Maximum h,= 20m. hy ~height of the upper region of the column above 20 m. e.g. If a column has a total height of 35 m. then h,= 20m;h, = 15 m. D, outer diameter of the column. If it is insulated, thickness of insulation also has to be considered. k, — It depends upon the shape factor of the column. = 0.7 for cylindrical surface . = 1.4 for flat plate, perpendicillar to wind load. k, — Coefficient. It depends upon the period of one cycle of vibration of the vessel. k, = 1 (ifperiod of vibration is less than 0.5 sec.) ., = 2 (if period of vibration is more than 0.5 sec.)bi Bending moment (overturning moment) at the junction of the column and the skirt. i) For the vessels having height less than or equal to 20m H Mw = Paw > (B.A) ii) For the vessels having height more than 20m h h Mw = Paw ott Pae( hs +4); hy =20m. ; we (3.5) Stress Due To Bending Moment : Stress induced due to bending moment in the axial direction is calculated by the relation: --- (3.6) ecto) Z —section modulus of the skirt cross section. D, — outside diameter of the vessel, m. t,, — thickness of the skirt. £,, ~axial stress due to bending moment, kg/cm”. M —pending moment, kg ~m.3.01.4 Stress Due To Seismic Load : 2/3H Fig. 3.3 Load F=C,W C,- Seismic coefficient. It induces vibrations in the column. The stresses induced can be tensile or compressive in nature. Seismic conditions depend upon the geographical location. If the region is prone to earthquakes (seismic activities high), stress induced at the bottom of the vessel will be high. Seismic load produces shear force in the vessel. This load is considered as distributed in triangular fashion with minimum at the base and maximum at the top of the column as shown in Fig. (3.3). The load can be considered as acting at a height 2/3 from the base of the column. ++ (3.7)It depends upon period of vibration. Minimum value of the coefficient is 0.05 while the maximum value is 0.08. Maximum value should be considered for estimation of the stress induced at the junction of the column and skirt. Bending moment induced upto height x measured from the top of the column. C,Wx? (3H~x) = « 3.8) 3 H? 8) Maximum bending moment is at the base of the column, where x = H. Mgx = My = 2 cWH = 3.9) Stress induced due to seismic bending moment at the junction of the column and skirt. M. “"_4My, > " he a a -»- (3.10) SZ Rpg wDE ta Possibility of wind load and seismic load acting simultaneously over the vessel is remote. So, whichever is more severe is considered for the calculation of the maximum resultant stress.Maximum tensile stress in the skirt wall Fenste = (Ey OF fy) — fay « (B.11) Maximum compressive stress in the skirt wall Feompressive = Fb" fy,) + fay ~- G.12) These stresses should be less than the permissible stress value of the material. Since the skirt is cylindrical, welded joint efficiency has also be considered. If the skirt is conical, half the top angle (maximum 10°) be considered while deciding the permissible stress. frensile ~~ (3.16) 1— (outer radius of bearing plate - outer radius of skirt). b— circumferential width of bearing plate. Stress induced in the bearing plate 6M f= OMmax te = B17) t,- thickness of bearing plate. Stress induced in the bearing plate should be less than the permissible stress of the base plate material.3.01.6 Base Plate Radial Stre: Maximum radial stress occurs at the junction of the base plate with the skirt iF fe = kta .» (3.18) £,, - maximum pressure on concrete due to bending moment. t, — thickness of bearing plate. 1, ~ outer radius of bearing plate. 1 2A; (l- 12 (1+ k - 3 [seen +2A, Genpp MaG=w, 20-4)] -G.19) B B Poisson's ratio of material. B —Ratio of outer radius of skirt to outside radius of bearing plate. _-2h@+n + (1-1) 6? (3 +54 = (3.20) A\= : (3+n)+ @-n) 8 _ 7-24 @+n) 6% @+n)B? +84) + (8.21) A,= > G+u)+ (Q-y)p Skirt supports are advantageous because they produce minimum amount of local stresses induced due to mechanical loads at its junction with the vessel. Skirt support is more convenient to analyze than the lug supports. The maximum interfacial concrete pressure p and the maximum bolt tensile stress can be estimated by the combined action of axial thrust w and overturning moment M.Design Of Saddle Supports : Horizontal vessels are generally provided saddle supports. Ifthe underside of the vessel is to be located only a short distance above the ground line, steel saddles resting on the top of concrete piers can be used.Horizontal vessels resting on saddle support is shown in Fig. (3.7). The vessel behaves like a beam. Number of saddles are generally two. It can be more if unavoidable. Supports in the form ofring are preferred if it is required at more than two positions. In selecting the location of saddle supports, advantage of stiffening effect offered by the head is taken into account. 1 Stresses Induced Due To Saddles : With this view, the location of saddle support is done at a distance of 0.4 R from the tangent line of vessel shell. This distance should not exceed 20% of the tangent to tangent length of the vessel. The angle 0, of saddle supports is minimum 120°.In order to calculate the reaction at the two saddle supports, weight of vessel with contents has to be calculated, For a hemispherical or elliptical head vessel, it can be 4 treated as an equivalent cylinder having length equal to (. t 3 i), L =length of cylindrical shell. H- depth of dished head. The weight of vessel is assumed to act through the centre of the vessel by considering it as a uniformly loaded beam. Reaction at each saddle support : w(, 4 Q -F(usd u) «» (3.68) W- uniformly distributed load. The bending momentinduced at the supports and the centre of the vessel is calculated by the correlation as follows :Atthe centre: 142 R? -H? QL 4A M, = 2 atk (3.69) 4 (14 #) 5 3.1L Atthe supports : (A, R=? L 2AL M,=Q.A 1-—~ ahh +. (3.70) 1+ (31) Longitudinal bending stress induced in the shell of the vessel can be estimated as : At the highest point of cross section : fves—Me_ __ M3 ry "Tat -- 3.71) [« xt] LEDD- diameter of vessel, m t- thickness of vessel, m. Longitudinal bending stress at the bottom most fibre of cross section : - My k, x D*t For shell stiffened by heads or ring k, = k, = 1.0 and A<05R. For shell not stiffened by heads or rings. For shell not stiffened by heads or rings and A > 0.5 R. k, = 0.107 for @ = 120° k, = 0.16 for @ = 150° k, = 0.19 for ® = 120° k, = 0.28 for @ = 150° Stress induced at the mid span of the vessel : & w= 8.72) i - 4M += (3.73) xD?t Supports also have to carry tangential shear stress arising from the supported part ifthe shell. When A > 0.5R (i.e. shell not stiffened by heads) k,Q ita) R.t L+H fs sx (3.74)k, = 1.17 for @ = 120° k,=0.8 for@ = 150° Maximum tangential stress arising from the unsupported part of the shell. When A <0.5R (shell stiffened by heads) ks Q f, = Ks SR in the cylindrical shell) +» (3.75) fe me (in the head) +» (3.76) ).880 for @ = 120° [20° k, = 0.485 for 6 = 150° .3 for@ = 150° 0.40 for @ =2 Ring Stiffeners : Astiffener plate is welded to the shell over the saddle. This alleviate the load on the shell stress. Ring stiffener is under compressive stress. Stressinduced f. = xky-Q, ks -O.R (8.77) A ~ z r z —modulus of section of the cross section. A,— cross sectional area of stiffening ring. A, = width of plate x thickness of plate. k, = 0.056 for@ = 120° k,=0.021 for @ = 150° k, = 0.053 for @ = 120° k,= 0.032 for @ = 150° Value of f, should be less than the permissible compressive stress of material. Fig. (3.8) shows saddle support arrangement for small diameter vessel while Fig. (3.9) shows saddle support arrangement for large diameter vessel. Values of various notations are mentioned in table 3.3.Table 3.3 Standard Dimensions Of saddye Maximum set | operating Jaiasn} weight Kv te [eu 20 | 460 1.18]0.20 |1.77 | 0.80 3.0_| 1750 1.7 jo2s |265 | 1.2 0.45 Jo.14 |12 }10 |24 | 30 0.665 |o.1s_|12 ]12 |30 | 36 06 [35 ae fois [oss [024 |oas |o.oss|e |s [20 [as os |so osa}ors |o70 |0.29 |0.225]0.095|8 |s |20 | 25 1.0 | 90 oss }os Jos |o39|o.31 Joovs|i2 |» | 2a | 30 12 | 180 0.78} 020 }1.09 |0.45 |0.36 }o.140|12 |10 | 24 | 30 16 | 330 0.98 | 0.20 | 1.41 rks 0.140 } 12 | 10 | 24 | 30i) Selection of supports The support is referred to as skirt because it resembles a skirt. Since larger pressure vessels are subjected to high intensity loads, it is important to transmit them effectively. Symmetry of supports is critical which is achieved in smaller pressure vessels by equidistant placing of legs. However, since skirts are continuous in profile, they have better load distribution on the shell/bottom head, act better in cyclic services and less local stresses. They also have Higher moment of inertia along horizontal and help in reducing vibrations produced due to incoming wind loads.Skirts also pseudo-support as fins for heat transfer mm case thermal gradients exist. The can be efficiently optimized to reduce this gradient if the storage requires so.Saddle supports ére commonly used to support Horizontal pressure vessels. A Pressure vessel is aclosedcylindrical vessel, widely used in process industry, power, oil and gas industries, and also for the storage of fluid or gaseous products, Pressure vessels are subjected to pressure loading ie, intemal or extemal operaiing pressure different from ambient pressure, The pressure vessels are of horizontal or vertical type. For horizontal vessel the saddle supporting system plays an important role in the per‘omance of the equipment. A proper saddle supporting system improves safety and facilitate to operate the pressure vessel at higher pressure conditions which finally leads to higher efficiency. The optimized designs parameters reduce the material cost,ih hele at Goeth ina prodlad”