THIN-WALLED

PRESSURE VESSEL
ENGR. DANIELLE RUTHIE I. GALIT
Thin-Walled Pressure Vessels
 A pressure vessel is a pressurized container, often cylindrical or spherical. The
pressure acting on the inner surface is resisted by tensile stresses in the walls
of the vessel.
 There are two types of vessels:
 CYLINDRICAL VESSEL
 SPHERICAL VESSEL
CYLINDRICAL VESSEL
SPHERICAL VESSEL
EXAMPLE 1
A cylindrical steel pressure vessel 400 mm inside diameter with a wall thickness of 20 mm
is subjected to an internal pressure of 4.5 N/mm2. a) Calculate the circumferential and
longitudinal stresses in the steel. b) To what value may the internal pressure be increased
if the stress is limited to 120 N/mm2.
EXAMPLE 2
A cylindrical steel pressure vessel has hemispherical end-caps. The inner radius of the vessel
is 24 in and the wall thickness is constant at 0.25 in. When the vessel is pressurized to 25
psi, determine the stresses.
PRACTICE PROBLEMS
1. A spherical shell with 70-in. outer diameter and 67-in. inner diameter
contains helium at a pressure of 1200 psi. Compute the stress in the shell.
2. The cylindrical portion of the propane tank has an outer diameter of 12 in.
and a wall thickness of 0.125 in. Calculate the longitudinal and
circumferential stresses in the wall of the cylinder when the tank is
pressurized to 200 psi.
3. The scuba tank has a cylindrical body and a spherical end-cap, each of 7.5
in. outer diameter. The wall thickness of the tank is 0.5 in. The tank is made
of an aluminum alloy which has an ultimate tensile strength of 56 ksi.
Determine the factor of safety against bursting when the tank is pressurized
to 3000 psi.
4. A spherical weather balloon is made of 0.2-mm-thick fabric that has a tensile
strength of 10 MPa. The balloon is designed to reach an altitude where the
interior pressure is 1500 Pa above the atmospheric pressure. Find the largest
allowable diameter of the balloon, using 1.2 as the factor of safety.

5. The thin-walled pressure vessel has an elliptical cross section with the
dimensions shown in the figure. Assuming that a > b and that the wall thickness
t is constant, derive the expressions for the maximum and minimum
circumferential stresses in the vessel caused by an internal pressure p