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You may know some fabrication tolerances have not been addressed in
ASME Code Section VIII.
So you need to refer to other sources for inspection. This article provides
you the most important dimensional inspection requirements.
• Weld mismatch
• Weld reinforcement
For example, if you have SA 516 Gr.70 plate with a 0.625 inch nominal
thickness, and the actual thickness is 0.615, it is acceptable, and you may
use this plate without any specific design consideration.
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But if the same plate has an actual thickness of 0.595 inches, you need to
consider mill undertolarence in your design calculation.
Contrary to the plate material, your pipe and tube mill undertolrances
need to be taken into account for design consideration.
Pipe and tube undertolrances are almost -12.5 % of the nominal wall
thickness, but sometimes there are differences for different materials, so
for any specific material, it shall be referred to the suggested pipe or tube
material specification to obtain the exact amount of mill undertolrances.
Assume that external loading is not a design controlling factor (is not
governor), so as our minimum, nozzle thickness will be the same as the
shell thickness.
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Pressure Vessel Dimension Inspection - Tolerances for Formed
Head:
You may know that there is a specific rule for dimensional checking of
formed heads, based the fact that the UG-81 inner surface shall not
deviate outside of the specified shape more than 11⁄4% of D and inside
the shape more than 5⁄8%.
You can use sweep boards, which are made by cutting a thin steel sheet
or piece of wood for checking your crown and knuckle radius.
For your skirt, the difference between the maximum and minimum inside
diameter, should not be more than 1%, and you can use a tape measure
or laser measure for dimensional control of the skirt.
Head ID = 3364 mm
So we check the depth, and the drawing is 656.3 mm and the actual is
672 mm, so it is outside of the shape. We need to check if it is in the
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range of tolerance, so the maximum outside of the shape will be 42.05 +
656.3 = 698.35 so our actual value is 672 mm. 672<698.35, so it is OK.
We cut a sweep board equal to the head drawing crown radius (3400 mm)
and other one for the knuckle radius equal to 204 mm, so we try to fit the
sweep boards in the heads for the above example of the sweep boards.
The edge distance to the head surface should not be deviate from the
above limited values.
Skirt max and min ID should not be more than 1% of the ID, which is
33.64 mm. So, in the above example skirt is also is OK. Our nominal
thickness is 20 mm, so up to 19.746 is acceptable then for the above
example. The thickness dimension is also OK.
ASME Code SEC VIII Div 1 has not specified the orientation tolerances
for nozzles and attachments, so you need refer to the pressure vessel
handbook.
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It is almost +/- 1 degree. The orientation check can be done by a simple
calculation by using a measuring tape in the actual measurement work on
the vessel.
Vessel OD = 97.875”
Nozzle and attachment projection is the length from the nozzle or the
attachment face to the vessel shell centerline.
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700 – 6.35 = 693.65
For levelness checking, a level gage is used. If the bubble is in the middle
of the designated lines, the nozzle is level.
But if the bubble intersects the designated limit lines, you need to run a
simple calculation and see if your deflection is within the tolerance limit.
You need to move one end of the level gage up to the bubble to be placed
in middle. Then measure the distance between the level gage end and the
flange face. The measured value is the X in the figure.
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Then obtain α, if α is less than 0.5˚, the deflection falls within the
tolerances. And it is OK otherwise it will require cutting out and re-
welding.
ASME Code SEC VIII Div. 1 specified tolerances for weld mismatch in
UW-33. It is important to know that the limit for weld mismatch is stringent
for a category A weld (Longitudinal joint and circumferential shell to
hemispherical head).
The concept behind this is that the longitudinal joint bears double the
amount of stress, and inspectors should precisely check these joints.
The permissible weld mismatch in the longitudinal joint for your case is
0.125 of an inch, and for the circumferential joint, it is 0.1875 of an inch.
Your weld mismatches for both longitudinal and circumferential joints are
0.143, so your circumferential joint is OK, but your longitudinal joint should
be repaired.
The same concept for weld mismatch exists for weld reinforcement
tolerances. The longitudinal joint weld reinforcement limit is more stringent
than that for circumferential joints.
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In the same example, assume that there are 0.150 of an inch welds
reinforcement for both category A and B welds. Do you want to review
your weld acceptance?
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