Publications – Pressure Vessels

This is a partial list of publications on the topic of Pressure Vessel Design & Analysis – written by Bill, Sr. and others.

(PDF) “Vessels for Elevated Temperature Service” by W. J. O’Donnell and J. S. Porowski, Chapter One, Developments in Pressure Vessel Technology:4, Book published by Applied Science Publishers Ltd., England, Edited by R. W. Nichols, 1983.

For decades, elastic analyses have been used to design steam boilers and pressure vessels. The design was considered acceptable provided that the stresses avaraged through the wall of the vessel did not exceed allowable limits. Simple formulae were given in the Codes to obtain these stresses by hand calculations. Corrective coefficients were also provided to include the effects of bending, as, for example, in the case of dished ends or plates. Since the major concern was focused on limiting average membrane stresses, the relations used to calculate stresses for comparison with the allowables were the same for elevated temperature service as for temperature service below the creep regime.

The need for additional checking of the effects of bending and thermal stresses was left to the individual judgement of the designer. In most cases, the calculations were simply restricted to mechanical load effects mainly related to pressure stresses. The allowable values of stress given in the Code were intended to provide sufficient safety margins to compensate for inaccuracies and omissions of such evaluations. These design-by-formula methods used used the maximum stress criteria still in common use. It is recognized that, even for vessels where creep can be ignored, the use of such design methods should be restricted to thin wall structures where thermal stresses are of negligible importance and where the assumption of quasi-steady loading provides a good engineering approximation.

The critical importance of fatigue as the limiting failure mode of most pressure vessels has only recently been fully recognized. The design-by-formula approach does not control fatigue damage since such damage is caused by local stress and strain conditions not considered in the membrane stress formula. The local maximum range of von Mises shear strain is the most important determinant of low cycle fatigue damage, with the local stress conditions contributing to a mean stress effect.

“Theory of Free Coiled Pressure Vessels” J. S. Porowski, W. J. O’Donnell, and A.S. Roberts, presented at the ASME/CSME Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference, Montreal, Canada, June 1978. 39. “Plastic Design of Ligaments,” by W. J. O’Donnell and J. S. Porowski, ASME Pressure Vessels Piping Conference, San Francisco, California, ASME 79:PVP Vol. 37, June 1979.

“Generalized Yield Surfaces for Plates and Shells” D.B. Peterson, W.C. Kroenke, W.F. Stokey, and W.J. O’Donnell, WRC Bulletin 250, July 1979
Complete expressions are derived for the lower bound loads which cause yielding of general plate and shell elements subjected to membrane, bending, and shear loads. The analyses are based on the Tresca Yield criterion and statically admissable stress distributions are used to obtain lower bound yield loads. These generalized yield surfaces are not restricted to shells of revolution subjected to axisymmetric loads. Stress limits based on these yield surface equations are proposed herein to evaluate elastically calculated primary stresses obtained using finite element or other methods. The proposed evaluation method provides a consistent and nearly uniform margin of safety against gross plastic yielding.

“Operating Nuclear Plant Feedback to ASME and French Codes” J. Journet and William J. O’Donnell, presented at the ASME Pressure Vessel and Piping Conference, Montreal, Canada, July 21-28, 1996, Pressure Vessel and Piping Codes and Standards, PVP Vol. 339-2, pp. 3-12.

“Weight-Saving Plastic Design of Pressure Vessels” by J.S. Porowski, William J. O’Donnell and R.H. Reid, ASME Transactions, Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology, Vol. 119, Feb. 1997.

“Development of Inelastic Design Criteria and Codes”  W. J. O’Donnell and J. S. Porowski, invited lecture, Fifth International Conference on Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology, Berlin, Germany, SMIRT Transactions, Vol. L 6/1, August 1979.

 

O’Donnell Consulting performs Pressure Vessel Design & Analysis.
Looking for our help?  Have Questions, Comments, or have a Technical Issue you’d like to Discuss?

We love a challenge! Reach out to us via our Contact Form or call (412) 835-5007

(412) 835-5007

Scroll to Top