Technical Basis for Flawed Cylinder Test Specification to Assure Adequate Fracture Resistance of ISO High-Strength Steel Cylinder

Abstract

High-pressure industrial gases (such as oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen, etc.) are stored and transported in portable cylinders. ISO TC58 SC3 has developed a draft specification 9809 for design and fabrication of high-pressure cylinders with maximum tensile strength limitation of 1100 N/mm2 . In order to extend the ISO 9809 rules for higher than 1100 N/mm2 strength level cylinders, a working group WG14 was formed in 1989 to develop new rules to assure adequate fracture resistance. In 1994, WG14 recommended a simple, but unique flawed cylinder test method for design qualification of the cylinder and acceptance criteria to assure adequate fracture resistance. WG14 also recommended Charpy-V-notch impact tests to control the required fracture resistance on production cylinders. This paper presents the technical basis that was employed in developing the flawed cylinder test method and acceptance criteria. The specification was developed for seamless steel cylinders having actual strength in the range of 1100 to 1400 N/mm2 and cylindrical section wall thickness in the range of 3 to 10 mm. Flawed cylinder tests were conducted on several hundred cylinders of varying sizes and strength levels. The specification requires to demonstrate LEAK-BEFORE-BREAK performance of the cylinder having flaw length equal to 1.6 (o.d. × tdesign )0.5 at failure pressure = (tdesign /tactual ) × Design Pressure.