Dynamic Burst Pressure Simulation of Cylinder-Cylinder Intersections

Abstract

In this study, the determination of the burst pressure of a series of cylinder-cylinder intersections representing vessels of diameter D and wall thickness T, and nozzles of diameter d and wall thickness t subjected to short-term dynamic loading is investigated. Dynamic simulations via the use of the finite element method are carried out to determine the effects of dimensionless parameters d/D, D/T, and t/T, as well as pressure versus time history. The LS-DYNA (1998, LS-DYNA Theoretical Manual, Livermore Software Technology Corporation) software is employed to model and analyze various intersections for the geometric parameter ranges 0.1≤d/D<1.0, 0.1≤t/T≤3, and 50≤D/T≤250. The use of both solid and shell elements is investigated and applied in this study. A correlation equation to predict the dynamic burst pressure of cylinder-cylinder intersections is proposed based on the parametric finite element analyses. Static test data are used to verify the dynamic correlation equation by applying a relatively long pressure pulse duration.