Day 2

Design of Flanges
 Flanges
Flanges are used to provide leak proof connections between two pieces of pipe, pipes and nozzles.

They can be either welded or flanged. First method gives permanent joints. Flange joint on the

other hand permits disassembly and removal or cleaning of internal parts.

• Flanged joints are used for connecting pipes and

instruments to vessels, for manhole covers and for
removal vessel heads when ease of access is required.
Flanges may also be used on the vessel body, when it is
necessary to divide the vessel into sections for transport
or maintenance.

• Flange range in size from a few millimeters diameter for

small pipes to several meters diameter for those used
as body or head flanges on vessels
 Gasket and its Selection
• Gaskets are used to make a leak tight
joint between two surfaces. It is
impractical to machine flanges to the
degree of surface finish that would be
required to make a satisfactory seal under
pressure without a gasket.

• Gaskets are made from semi plastic

materials that will deform and flow under
load to fill the surface irregulaties
between the flange faces.
Terms related to Gasket

• The amount of force that must be applied to the gasket to seal the surface
irregularities is known as the yield or seating force.

• This force is usually expressed as a force per unit area and is independent of the
pressure inside the vessel. Thus, this yield stress represents the minimum load that
must be applied to the gasket to seat it even though very low pressure is used in the
vessel

• The minimum seating stress (y) is the force per unit area (pressure) on the gasket that
is required to cause the material to flow and fill the surface irregularities in the gasket
face
• The gasket factor (m) is the ratio of the gasket stress (pressure)
under the operating conditions to the internal pressure in the vessel
or pipe.

• The internal pressure will force the flanges faces apart, so the
pressure on the gasket under operating conditions will be lower
than the initial tightening up pressure

• The gasket factor gives the minimum pressure that must be

maintained on the gasket to ensure a satisfactory seal.
Gasket and its Selection
Gasket and its selection

The force which work on a gasket are

1. Compression load
2. Fluid pressure
3. Hydrostatic end thrust
Gasket Dimensions
• If the gasket is made too narrow the unit stress on it will be excessive.

• If gasket is made too wide the bolt load will be unnecessarily increased.

• The residual gasket force can not less than that required to prevent leakage of the
internal fluid under operating pressure, then

• (Gasket seating force) – (Hydrostatic pressure force) = (residual gasket force)

• Let d0 and di are the outer and inner diameters of the gasket and y, p and m are
minimum design yield stress, internal stress, internal pressure and gasket factor
respectively. Then,

𝜋 2 2 𝜋 2 𝜋 2
𝑑0 − 𝑑𝑖 𝑦 − 𝑑0 𝑝 = 𝑑0 − 𝑑𝑖2 𝑝𝑚
4 4 4
Gasket Dimensions
1
𝑑0 𝑦 − 𝑝𝑚 2
=
𝑑𝑖 𝑦−𝑝 𝑚+1

The product ‘pm’ is the unit load required to compress the gasket under operating
condition. Generally, a gasket seating stress larger than y should not be used, as this
may lead to the crushing of the gasket
Gasket Dimension
1. Ratio of gasket internal diameter to shell outside diameter = (di/D0)

2. Compute di
1
𝑑0 𝑦−𝑝𝑚 2
3. Determination of gasket width : =
𝑑𝑖 𝑦−𝑝 𝑚+1

4. Compute d0

5. Minimum gasket width (N) : N = ((d0 – di)/2)

Gasket Dimensions
• Actual gasket outside diameter : (d0) = d0 +2N

• Basic gasket seating width (b0)= b0= N/2

• Effective gasket width (b) b = b0 if b0≤ 6.3 𝑚𝑚

b = 2.5 𝑏0 if b0> 6.3 𝑚𝑚

Type of Flange facing Basic gasket seating width, Effective gasket seating
b0 width,b
Plain face N/2 (N = actual gasket b = b0 if b0≤ 6.3 𝑚𝑚
width)
b = 2.5 𝑏0 if b0 < 6.3 𝑚𝑚
Raised face N/2
Male & Female N/2
Tongue and Groove (N+W)/4 (W = width of
tongue, N = width of
groove)
Ring type W/8 (W = width of ring
gasket)
Diameter at location of gasket load reaction (G)

G = di + N if b0≤ 6.3 𝑚𝑚
G = d0 – 2b if b0> 6.3 𝑚𝑚
 Flange Design
The thickness of flanges shall be determined as the greater required either by:
A) Operating Condition
B) Bolting up Condition

Operating Condition
The operating conditions are the conditions required to resist the hydrostatic end force of the design
pressure tending to apart the joint, and to maintain on the gasket or joint contact surface sufficient
compression to assure a tight joint, all at the design temperature

Bolting up condition
The bolting up conditions are the conditions existing when the gasket or joint contact surface is seated by
applying an initial load with the bolts when assembling the joints, at atmospheric temperature and pressure.
 Flange Design
• Estimation of bolt load
• Flange stresses

To determine stresses flanges are categorized as loose type flange and integral type flange

Operating Condition
𝜋𝐺 2
Loads due to design pressure (H): 𝐻= 𝑝
4

Load to keep joint tight under operation (Hp) 𝐻𝑝 = 𝜋 𝐺 𝑋 2𝑏 𝑥 𝑚𝑝

Total operating load (W0): 𝑊0 = 𝐻 + 𝐻𝑝

If allowable stress of bolt (fbolt ) or s0

𝑊0
Bolt area required under operating condition (A0) : A0 =
𝑆0
Bolting up condition
Load on gasket under bolting up operation (Wg) 𝑊𝑔 = 𝜋 𝑥 𝐺 𝑥 𝑏 𝑥 𝑦
𝑊𝑔
Bolt area required under bolting up condition (Abc): 𝐴𝑏𝑐 =
𝑆𝑔

Minimum bolting area required (Am) = Max of A0 & Abc

BC Bhattacharya - Chemical Equipment Design
Estimation of bolt load
𝜋 2
Root area (m2) = 𝐵𝑜𝑙𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑎 − 2𝑡
4
𝐴𝑚𝑖𝑛
Actua; no of bolts =
𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎

Actual no of bolts (Multiple of 4)

Now from table R and Bs are calculated

𝑛𝐵𝑠
𝐶1 =
𝜋
𝐶2 = 𝐼𝐷 + 2(𝑔1 + 𝑅)

𝑔1 = 1.415 𝑔0
Difference of C1 and C2 must be +ve and least

Bolt circle diameter (C) = C2 of the bolt for which difference is +ve and minimum

Flange outside diameter : A = C + 2 x bolt radius + 0.02 (minimum)

Checking for gasket width condition:

𝐴𝑏 𝑥𝑆𝑔
< 2𝑦
𝜋𝐺𝑁

If this condition is not satisfied, gasket material should be changed

 Flange Moments
Flange moments are to be calculated for both the operating and
the bolting up conditions. Larger of the two is to be used for
determining the flange stresses

Operating Condition: The load W0 comprises of 3 load

components such as
W0 = W1+ W2+W3
Where,
𝜋𝐵2
W1 = hydrostatic end force on area inside of flange = 𝑝
4
𝜋 2
𝑊2 = 𝐻 − 𝑊1 = 𝐺 − 𝐵2 𝑝
4

W3 = gasket load = 𝐻𝑝
Operating Condition:

Total flange moments 𝑀0 = 𝑊1 𝑎1 + 𝑊2 𝑎2 + 𝑊3 𝑎3

(𝐶 − 𝐵)
𝑎1 =
2
(𝑎1 + 𝑎3 )
𝑎2 =
2
(𝐶 − 𝐺)
𝑎3 =
2
Bolting up condition

In this case the total flange moments

𝑀𝑔 = 𝑊𝑎3
𝐴𝑚 + 𝐴𝑏
𝑊= 𝑆𝑔
2

Controlling moment (M) = Max of (M0 & Mg)

 Flange thickness
Loose type ring flanges
𝑴𝑪𝑭
𝒕𝟐 = 𝒀
𝑩𝑺𝑭𝟎
Where, SFO = allowable flange stress at design temperature

𝟎. 𝟗𝟓𝟓 𝑲𝟐 𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝑲 𝐴
𝒀= [ 𝟏 − 𝝁 + 𝟏 + 𝝁 𝟒. 𝟔𝟎𝟓 𝟐 ] 𝐾=
𝑲−𝟏 𝑲 −𝟏 𝐵
Where , A = flange outside diameter Bolt correction factor (CF)
B = inside diameter of flange
𝜋𝐶 𝐵𝑆
Actual Bolt spacing (Bs) 𝐵𝑆 = 𝐶𝐹 =
𝑛 (2𝑑 + 𝑡)
Design a loose type flange with a plain face for a reactor shell with 1.8 m
outside diameter and 0.018 thickness (g0). Other specifications are : design
temperature = 200 0C Design pressure = 2.2 MN/m2 ; allowable stress of
flange material = 120 MN/m2 Allowable stress of bolting material = 120
MN/m2; gasket material: Corrugated soft AI matal, asbestos filled (Min
design seating stress (y) = 20 MN/m2; Ratio of gasket internal diameter to
shell outside diameter is 1.01; corrosion allowance = zero; weld joint
efficiency factor = 1

a) Calculate effective gasket seating width

b) Calculate minimum bolting area
I. Which amongst the following bolts will be used for bolting the flange:
M 36 X 3, M 39 X 3,M 42X 3 and M 45 X 3 ? Given: g1 = 1.415 g0
I. Estimate bolt circle diameter
II. Estimate flange outside diameter after addition of 2 cm assumed gap
between end of bolt circle and end of the flange
III. Estimate various loads and moments under operating as well as bolting
up conditions
IV. Estimate flange thickness (Poison’s ratio = 0.3)