INVESTIGATION ON FAILURE BEHAVIOR OF UNFLAWED STEEL CYLINDRICAL PRESSURE VESSELS USING FEA

Finite element analysis (FEA) has been carried out utilizing the ANSYS software package to assess the failure of thick and thin-walled steel cylindrical pressure vessels. A simple experimental stress analysis (ESA) procedure is described to evaluate the stress components on inner and outer surfaces of the vessels under internal pressure from the measured surface strains. The procedure is validated considering the strain values of FEA for the applied pressure as measured quantities and obtained the corresponding stress components considering the stress-strain data of the material from ESA and compared with those of FEA results. Failure pressure estimates from FEA (based on the global plastic deformation) were found to be in good agreement with test results of thin as well as thick-walled cylindrical vessels made of ductile steel materials.