Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol.

621 (2014) pp 107-112 Submitted: 2014-06-12

© (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Accepted: 2014-06-12
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.621.107 Online: 2014-08-18

Numerical Analysis and Optimization of Flat Ends Parameters in

Pressure Vessels with Rectangular Shape

Bogdan Szybińskia, Paweł Romanowiczb

Institute of Machine Design, Cracow University of Technology, ul. Warszawska 24, 31-155
KRAKÓW, POLAND
a b
boszyb@mech.pk.edu.pl, promek@mech.pk.edu.pl

Keywords: Pressure vessels with non-circular cross section; Flat ends, Finite element analysis;
Numerical optimization

Abstract. Cylindrical pressure vessels with circular cross section are commonly used in the
construction of various pressure apparatus; however in certain cases other cross sections are applied.
The vessels with rectangular and elliptical perpendicular cross section are of the main interest and
certain formulas for their calculations are stated in the respective codes [1, 2]. In these appliances flat
ends of various shapes are usually used as the vessels caps. Similarly, as for the cylindrical boilers, flat
end plates with stress relieve grooves are recommended. Like in the flat ends for cylindrical pipes
certain variation of the groove parameters is possible but again no clear suggestion is given how to
choose the optimal groove parameters providing the minimum stress concentration [3]. In this paper
the numerical analysis and optimization of the admitted by code [1] groove parameters is presented
for the pipe with the rectangular cross section subjected to the internal pressure.

Introduction
Pressure boilers, pipes and chambers with non-circular, perpendicular cross section are used since
many years and the structures with rectangular and elliptical cross sections are the most commonly
used besides the cylindrical ones. Undoubtedly, the cylindrical shape of the boiler is the best one,
which provides the maximum strength and the maximum applied internal pressure for the structure.
This is attributed to the absence of bending stresses in the cylindrical shell wall. In the non-cylindrical
shells subjected only to the internal pressure both bending and membrane stresses are present, and
bending stresses visibly influence the strength of the analyzed structure. In that case, the calculated
internal pressure for the structures with the same cross section inner area and the same wall thickness
is several times lower for the shells with elliptic or rectangular cross section than for the cylindrical
tube. The presented below considerations concentrate on the chambers with the rectangular
cross-section closed with flat ends. Here, the flat end plates closing the chamber are the most natural
caps for the vessel closures. The existing codes [1, 2] offer several design solution for the flat ends.
The common feature of all admitted shapes is the presence of the notch in the vicinity of the shell –
end plate junction, which results in the stress concentration. The flat end with the circumferentially
cut-out stress relieve groove is one of the recommended design proposals (Fig. 1a). In this case, the
recommended circular stress relieve groove shape is defined by means of three parameters: the radius
of the groove rik, the location of the groove centre h (measured with respect to the inner edge of the
end plate) and the chamfer angle α. The influence of all these parameters in case of the circular cross
section is not the same [4, 6, 7], which was confirmed both in numerical calculations and in
experimental tests performed for optimal, in the sense of minimum stress concentration, and
non-optimal configuration of the admissible groove parameters [5]. It has been also numerically
proven that the chamfer angle α exceeding 60º results in lower stress peaks and its change influences
negligibly on the results. In several calculations that angle is usually set to 90º. The observed stress
concentration mainly depends on the value of the radius of the cut-out and the position of its centre.
The minimum stress concentration is usually observed for the biggest admissible values for the
groove radius rik with its centre positioned on the edge defining the inner edge of the endplate

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108 Applied Research in Materials and Mechanics Engineering

(h = 0.0). In some papers, like in [3,4], for calculation purposes the minimum thickness of the
endplate in the groove area eh1 is used instead of variable h . Then the groove parameters values are
set by the system of inequalities as follow [1]:
 eh1 ≥ es
 eh1 + rik ≤ eh

rik ≥ max{0.2 ⋅ es , 5mm} (1)
 d  p
 eh1 ≥ 1.3 i − rik  ⋅ c
 2  f
here pc is the internal pressure assumed for the considered vessel, es is the wall thickness (Fig. 1b),
f stands for the admissible stress, and eh is the endplate thickness calculated as follow:
pc
eh = C1 ⋅ C2 ⋅ C3 ⋅ d i ⋅ , (2)
f
here, d i = min{2m,2n} (see Fig. 1b), the constant C2 is equal to 1.0 for the end plates without holes,
the constant C1 is taken from the respective plot in [1] or calculated with the use of the analytical
formula given in [1] (its value varies between 0.41÷0.83). For the rectangular pipes the constant C3 is
calculated from the formulae:
m
C3 = 1.1 ⋅ 3,4 − 2,4 , (3)
n
Where 2m, 2n are the inner dimensions of the rectangular cross section. The code [1] introduces
also the limits for the ratio between the lengths of both sides as follow (assumption: m ≤ n ):
m
0.535 ≤ ≤ 1 .0 (4)
n
The above restrictions give the range for the values of C3 ∈ 1.1; 1.6 . In Fig. 1b only symmetric
quadrant of the boiler cross section is shown. The additional attention demands the value of the
thickness in the corner of the rectangle. This thickness is not the same as the shell thickness. In order
to reduce the severe stress concentration in the corner the value of the wall thickness es is increased in
the corner to ec .Such manipulation leads to the different positions of centers of inner arc - ric and
outer arc - roc of fillets applied in each rectangle corners.
c
e
es

ric roc
m

a) b)
n es

Fig.1 Shape of corner part of pressure boiler with flat end plate with circular stress relieve groove (a),
shape and dimensions of pressure boiler with rectangular perpendicular cross-section
The dependency between the arc radii can be established for the various rectangle side proportions.
In case of the square cross section (m = n) it takes the following form:
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 621 109

roc = ric +
(2 − κ 2 ) ⋅ e (5)
(2 − 2 ) s

where roc , ric are the radii shown in Fig. 1b and κ = ec es (the ratio between the corner thickness and
the shell thickness). Using the code [1] formulas for calculations of both thickness the value of κ is
bigger than 1.0, and does not reach the value 2 2 , so that always roc ≥ ric . Additionally, it is
recommended that the inner radius should be taken at least: ric ≥ min{es 3, 8mm} . In general the value
of both radii should be set in such a way that the maximum stress in the corner is as close as possible
to the value of the admissible stress f but still does not exceed it. In the considered case the
expression (5) helps to reduce the number of design variables to only one for the set values of
thickness ( es , ec ).

Numerical model and results for circular stress relieve groove

The numerical model and calculations are performed in the FEM ANSYS [10] code in two stages. In
the first stage the geometry of the cross section of symmetric quadrant of the rectangle is defined and
optimized. For calculations purposes the following assumption are accommodated. To observe
differences or similarities with boilers with the cylindrical shape the tube ∅406.4×20 made from the
linearly elastic material (steel) with f = 180 MPa was taken as a basis. In the first step the inner area
of the cylindrical tube was calculated and after assuming the same inner area for the tube with the
square perpendicular cross section the side dimensions were established: 2m = 2n = 324.71 mm. Next,
the wall thickness was set: es = 20 mm (as for the cylindrical tube) and the pressure for the considered
set of variables was calculated: pc = 3.05 MPa. It is worth mentioning that the pressure calculated for
the cylindrical tube [6] was much higher and was equal to: pi = 18.63 MPa. After that the corner
thickness was calculated using the formulae given in [1]: ec = 27.15 mm. Following the Eq. 5 the
relationship between ric and roc takes the form: roc = ric + 0.137 ⋅ es . For such set of data the plane
model (plane strain state assumption is used, which corresponds to the cross section of tube with the
infinite length) of the symmetric quadrant of the cross section of the rectangle is proposed and the
optimal value of ric is searched using the approach described in the last two sentences of the previous
section.
1 1
ELEMENTS NODAL SOLUTION
TYPE NUM STEP=1
SUB =1 MN
U
TIME=1
SEQV (AVG)
DMX =.352137
SMN =.623298 MX
SMNB=.615535
SMX =179.973
SMXB=180.009

Y Y
Z X Z X

Fig.2 Finite element mesh of the plane model (a), the distribution of equivalent stress for optimal
value ric = 2.838 ⋅ es (b)
The respective finite element mesh of the model is shown in Fig. 2a while the Fig. 2b presents the
distribution of the equivalent stress in the model obtained for the optimal value of ric = 2.838 ⋅ es . To
get this value the built-in procedure of ANSYS system was used.
110 Applied Research in Materials and Mechanics Engineering

Using the Eq. 1÷Eq. 3 the parameters of the endplate are established: the endplate thickness
eh1 = 36.35mm ; the range for the groove radius and the minimum endplate thickness in the groove
respectively: rik ∈ 5.0, 16.35 mm; eh1 ∈ 20.0, 31.35 mm. The admissible combinations of
(rik eh1 ) can be plotted in analogous way as for the endplate parameters of the cylindrical pipe and
here takes the form of the triangular area defined by the edges l1, l2, l3, (Fig. 3a).

35 A ( 5.00; 31.35)
B ( 5.00; 20.00)
C (16.35; 20.00)
A
30

l2
eh1

25 l3

C
20
B l1
Z
Y X

15
0 4 8 12 16 20
rrikd

a b c

Fig.3 Admissible area for groove parameters - (rik er ) (a); general view of numerically analyzed
symmetric part (b); part of finite element mesh – groove vicinity for optimal combination of (rik er )
(c).
On the base of the geometrical data and the results obtained for 2D model the 3D finite element
model was created, which is shown in Fig. 3b and Fig. 3c. The proposed model covers the symmetric
octant of the structure. The half length of the boiler is equal to 400 mm. The generated mesh fills the
structure volume with regular elements of only hexahedral shape, which are preferred in use. The size
of the finite elements is chosen to provide the smooth transition between the regions with relatively
high stress gradients (denser mesh) and the volumes with rather smooth stress distribution (coarser
mesh). Additionally, the energetic error is monitored in analysis and kept below 5%, which seems to
be reasonable for numerous engineering calculations. This results in relatively high, but to a certain
extent, optimized number of equation to solve. Depending on the groove size and shape this number
varies from 860000 to 960000 approximately. Similarly to the results obtained for the cylindrical
boilers the minimum stress concentration is observed for larger admissible values of the groove radius
and when the groove centre is located on the inner plane of the end plate. It corresponds to the choice
of the pairs (rik eh1 ) located on the line AC (Fig. 3a). Finally the minimum stress concentration is
observed in point C, which means that the radius of the groove reaches the maximum admissible
max
value. Then the value of the maximum equivalent stress is equal to: σ eqv = 179.99 MPa (Fig. 4) and
appears on inner edge of the structure corner. The maximum equivalent stress in the groove is slightly
smaller (Fig. 4b).
 Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 621 111

1 1
NODAL SOLUTION NODAL SOLUTION
MX
STEP=1 STEP=1
SUB =1 SUB =1
TIME=1 TIME=1
SEQV (AVG) SEQV (AVG)
DMX =.352652 .437991 DMX =.352652 .437991
SMN =.437991 SMN =.437991
SMX =179.991 20.388 SMX =179.991 20.388
SMXB=186.429 SMXB=186.429
40.339 40.339

60.289 60.289

80.239 80.239
MN
100.189 100.189

120.14 120.14

140.09 140.09

160.04 Z 160.04
Y X
MN
179.991 179.991
Z
Y
a X
b
pc = 3.05 MPa, rd = 16.35, ed = 20.0 pc = 3.05 MPa, rd = 16.35, ed = 20.0

Fig.4 Distribution of equivalent stress in rectangular tube for optimal values of (rik er ) for circular
groove.

Results for elliptical stress relieve grooves

Several analytical and numerical studies performed for various shapes of notches and types of loads
confirmed the superiority of elliptical shapes over the circular ones [8, 9]. This was also observed in
the analysis performed for cylindrical boilers [4, 6]. Following that idea the numerical study for
elliptic grooves was made. Here, as a starting point the optimal configuration for the circular groove
parameters was used, so that eh1 = 20.00 mm and rik = 16.5 mm were assumed. In the performed
calculations the length of the vertical semi-axe was kept constant a = rik while the length of the
horizontal semi-axe was changed (Fig. 5a). Further, rather small reduction of the stress concentration
was observed (Fig. 5b and Fig. 5c). For the optimal ratio (a / b = 0.85) the maximum observed
equivalent stress in the groove was smaller by several MPa than the maximum stress on the inner edge
of the top part of the rectangular tube. This calculation confirmed the formerly performed results.
MX

280
.471491 .471491

260 20.418 20.028

40.364 39.584
b
max σeqv [MPa]

240
60.31 59.141

80.256 78.697
220 a
100.202 98.253

120.148 Z 117.81
200 MN
Y X
140.094 137.366

180 160.04 156.922

179.986 176.479
Z
160 Y MN
X
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
b/a
pc=3.05MPa, rik=a=16.35 mm, b/a=0.85 pc=3.05MPa, rik=a=16.35 mm, b/a=0.85

a b c

Fig.5 Results of numerical analysis for elliptic groove: maximum equivalent stress distribution for
different proportion of semi axes in elliptic groove (a); distribution of equivalent stress for optimal
ratio a/b = 0.85 (b), distribution of equivalent stress in groove and its vicinity for optimal ratio a/b =
0.85 (c)
112 Applied Research in Materials and Mechanics Engineering

Conclusions
The numerical analysis and optimization was performed for the boiler with the perpendicular
rectangular (square) cross section. This pipe was closed by two flat end plates with stress relieve
grooves applied in order to minimize the stress concentration appearing in the vicinity of the junction
shell – end plate. The optimal values for the circular groove configuration were found. In the step the
change of the groove shape from the circular to the elliptical one was proposed and numerically
studied. In this study the ellipse axes optimal proportion was established. Further reduction of the
stress concentration was observed. However this was not so spectacular like in the case of the
previously investigated cylindrical tube [4, 6].

References
[1] European Standard, EN 12952-3:2001. Water-tube boilers and auxiliary installations. Design
and calculation of pressure parts, (2001).
[2] European Standard, EN 13445-3, Unfired pressure vessels - Part 3: Design, CEN, (2002).
[3] R. Preiss: Stress concentration factors of flat end to cylindrical shell connection with a fillet or
stress relief groove subject to internal pressure. Intern. Journal for Pressure Vessels and Piping,
Vol. 73(3), (1997), p. 183-190.
[4] B. Szybiński, A. Wróblewski: Parametric optimization of stress relief groove shape in flat ends of
boilers. Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design, Vol.47(1), (2012), p. 55-63.
[5] Szybiński B., Romanowicz P., Zieliński A.P. Numerical and experimental analysis of stress and
strains in flat ends of high-pressure vessels. Key Engineering Materials, Vol.490, (2012),
p. 226-236.
[6] B. Szybiński: Design of flat ends in pressure boilers with circular and elliptical stress relieve
grooves. Applied Mechanics and Materials, Vol.477-478, (2014), p. 49-53.
[7] S. Schwaigerer: Festigkeitsberechnung im Dampfkessel-, Behaelter- und Rohrleitungsbau, (3rd
Ed. Springer, 1978).
[8] N.L. Pedersen, P. Pedersen: Design of notches and grooves by means of elliptic shapes. Journal of
Strain Analysis for Engineering Design, Vol.43(1), (2008), p. 1-14.
[9] A. Muc, M. Muc-Wierzgoń: An evolution strategy in structural optimization problems for plates
and shells, Composite Structures, Vol.94, (2012), p. 1461-1470.
[10] ANSYS, ver.12.1 Academic Research, Ansys Inc., (2009).
Applied Research in Materials and Mechanics Engineering
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.621

Numerical Analysis and Optimization of Flat Ends Parameters in Pressure Vessels with Rectangular
Shape
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.621.107