LOAD FACTOR BASED CALCULATION FOR GASKETED FLANGE CONNECTION WITH COVER PLATE SUBJECTED TO INTERNAL PRESSURE

摘要

This paper deals with the behavior of a gasketed flange connection with a cover plate subjected to internal pressure. A calculation method to obtain the bolt force and the gasket reaction changes due to internal pressure using a load factor is introduced and the equations to obtain the load factor for the gasketed flange connection with cover plate using a simplified model are shown. By using 3 inch flange connection with cover plate a spiral gasket inserted, an experimental test is carried out and bolt force changes are measured due to internal pressure. The changes of the bolt force and the gasket reaction due to internal pressure are estimated by the load factor based calculation. Finite element analysis is also performed. The calculation results and the experimental ones are compared one another. It is demonstrated that the calculated bolt force change shows fairly good agreement with the experimental test results. This shows the proposed method may be applicable for the design calculation considering the sealing performance of the connection. When the required gasket stress is given to achieve the target tightness in the operating condition, the appropriate initial bolt preload can be determined by using the proposed method.