Reactor pressure vessel is a closed container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure. Most of the pressure vessels are designed according to the rules of the ASME Code. The Section VIII, Division 1 and Division 2 are normally used in design. The Divsion 1 corresponds to ‘design by rule’ whereas the Division 2 corresponds to ‘design by analysis’. In this paper, the horizontal pressure vessel supported on saddles is designed and analyzed according to the guidelines given in Div 1 and Div 2. The finite element analysis for different configurations of pressure vessel on saddle supports is done using ANSYS. The stress intensities in various cases are analyzed and the optimal location when the saddles are placed away from heads is considered as the most suitable design for the large horizontal vessels. The effect of stiffening is also considered in three cases. The reduction in stress intensity is found for one of the cases. For this the optimization of thickness was done which resulted huge reduction of weight.
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