Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of conical components in pressure vessels emphasizing their significance when utilized to transition between different diameters or slopes. It aims to propose enhancements to the European Pressure Vessel Codes concerning conical components under internal pressure focused on improving safety, reliability, and compliance with industry regulations. The influence of cone apex angles, shell geometries and design pressure on cone plate thickness calculations is presented. Cylinder diameters between 1000 and 2500 mm and cone angles between 30° and 60° are inputs used to quantify the difference in cone thickness for a design pressure between 10 and 200 barg. The proposed method leads to increased cone thickness compared to AD2000 up to 2.2 mm for the selected range of applications resulting in safer pressure vessel design. Moreover, the proposed approach leads to thinner cones (up to 22 mm for studied range) resulting in significant material savings during manufacturing.

Keywords

Pressure vessels, internal pressure, cone junction, EN13445, AD2000, cone thickness optimizationn