FEA Design and Analysis – Pressure Vessel Components for Radioactive Waste

Design & Analysis of Nuclear Pressure Vessels

Finite Element Analysis and Computational Fluid Dynamics on Vessels & Components

FEA Design and (Thermal, Stress, Vibration and Fatigue) Analysis was Performed to ASME Code on Pressure Vessels and Components – as part of the Department of Energy’s Radioactive Waste Cleanup Effort.

These vessels were subjected to elevated temperatures (1400 oF), seismic loads and deflagration events. One of the vessels used an OCE-designed clamping system consisting of brackets and o-rings. We also designed a unique refractory insulating system on both vessels to thermally isolate the vessels from the support skids, which were not designed for elevated temperatures.

In order to perform the analysis of the vessels, we performed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to determine the temperature distributions and the hydrodynamic forces due to splashing of the media during operation – as well as sloshing during a seismic event.

Structural analysis and creep-fatigue damage calculations were performed using finite element analysis. In addition, all of the flanged connections were evaluated to ensure leak tightness of the connections in spite of significant loss of bolt preload due to creep relaxation.

 


 

O’Donnell Consulting Engineers Performs Design and (Thermal, Stress, Vibration and Fatigue) Finite Element Analysis & CFD Analysis on Equipment to Code including AWS, API and ASME.

(412) 835-5007

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