Finite Element Analysis of Reactor Pressure Vessel under Different Loading Conditions

Reactor Pressure Vessel is a closed container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure above 0.10 MPa, higher than atmospheric pressure. Due to operating conditions, high stresses are developed in Pressure vessel which results in cracking and bursting of vessel. Analytical and experimental techniques have some limitations such as cost associated with multiple prototypes and experimental iterations. In this work an approximate stresses that exist in cylindrical pressure vessels supported on two saddles support are calculated under the different boundary conditions by using Finite Element tool. Different load cases are considered and static structural analysis is done in order to calculate stresses in vessel. The thickness of vessel components are varied till the maximum von-misses stress is within the limits. As the thickness of components increases, maximum stress reduces within certain limits.