Fundamental study of failure mechanisms of pressure vessels under thermo-mechanical cycling in multiphase environments.

摘要

Cracking and bulging in welded and internally lined pressure vessels that work in thermal-mechanical cycling services have been well known problems in the petrochemical, power and nuclear industries. Published literature and industry surveys show that similar problems have been occurring during the last 50 years. Understanding the causes of cracking and bulging would lead to improvements in the reliability of these pressure vessels. This study attempts to add information required for improving the knowledge and fundamental understanding of these problems.; Cracking and bulging, most often in the weld areas, commonly experienced in delayed coking units (e.g. coke drums) in oil refineries are typical examples. The coke drum was selected for this study because of the existing field experience and past industrial investigation results that were available to serve as the baseline references for the analytical studies performed for this dissertation. Another reason for selecting the delayed coking units for this study was due to their high economical yields. Shutting down these units would cause a high negative economic impact on the refinery operations.; Several failure mechanisms were hypothesized. The finite element method was used to analyze these significant variables and to verify the hypotheses.; In conclusion, a fundamental explanation of the occurrence of bulging and cracking in pressure vessels in multiphase environments has been developed. Several important factors have been identified, including the high convection coefficient of the boiling layer during filling and quenching, the mismatch in physical, thermal and mechanical properties in the dissimilar weld of the clad plates and process conditions such as heating and quenching rate and warming time. Material selection for coke drums should consider not only fatigue strength but also corrosion resistance at high temperatures and low temperatures. Cracking occurs due to low cycle fatigue and corrosion. The FEA-subroutine process simulation was able to capture the important aspects of the thermo-mechanical cycle that influence the thermal and stress gradients in the shell.