Pressure vessel joints operating at high temperature are often very difficult to seal. The existing flange design methods do not address thermal effects other than the variation of flange material mechanical properties with temperature. It is possible to include the effects of temperature loading in joint analysis, however, presently very few guidelines exist for this type of analysis. This paper outlines the theoretical analysis used for the determination of the steady state operating temperature and deflections in bolted flange joints. It details the theoretical equations necessary to predict the temperature profiles and thermal expansion difference between the joint components necessary for the evaluation of the load redistribution for the two cases of a flange pair and a flange with a cover plate. The results from the theoretical models are verified by comparison to finite element results.

Issue Section:
Research Papers
Keywords:
pressure vessels, flanges, fasteners, thermal expansion, temperature distribution, finite element analysis
Topics:
Flanges, Temperature, Temperature profiles
1.
Payne
,
J. R.
, 1985, “
PVRC Flanged Joint User’s Survey
,” Bulletin No. 306, Welding Research Council.
2.
Winter
,
J. R.
, 1988, “
Use of an Ultrasonic Extensometer to Determine the Variations in the Assembly Bolt Loads of a Problem Industrial Flange
,”
Exp. Tech.
0732-8818,
12
, No.
11
, pp.
6
–
11
.
3.
Winter
,
J. R.
, 1990, “
Gasket Selection Flowchart
,” in
Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Fluid Sealing
, La Baule, France, pp.
267
–
310
.
4.
Bickford
,
J. H.
,
Hsu
,
K. H.
, and
Winter
,
R. J.
, 1989, “
A Progress Report of the US PVRC Joint Task Group on Elevated Temperature Behavior of Bolted Flanges
,”
Pressure Vessel Technology
,
Permagon
, Oxford, Vol.
1
, pp.
249
–
266
.
5.
Bazergui
A.
, 1984, “
Short Term Creep Relaxation Behaviour of Gaskets
,” Welding Research Council Bulletin No. 294, pp.
2
–
22
.
6.
Marchand
,
L.
,
Derenne
,
M.
, and
Bazergui
,
A.
, 1994, “
Weight Loss Correlation for Sheet Gasket Materials
,”
ASME J. Pressure Vessel Technol.
0094-9930,
114
, pp.
1
–
7
.
Crossref
Search ADS
 
7.
Derenne
,
M.
,
Marchand
,
L.
,
Bouzid
,
A.
, and
Payne
,
J. R.
, 2000, “
Long Term Elevated Temperature Performance of Reinforced Flexible Graphite Sheet Gaskets
,” in
Proceedings of the ICPVT-9 Conference, 2, Operation, NDE, Failure Analysis, Codes, Standards and Regulations
, Sydney, Australia, pp.
229
–
247
.
8.
Bouzid
,
A.
,
Derenne
,
M.
,
Marchand
,
L.
, and
Payne
J. R.
, 2001, “
Service Temperature Characterization of Polytetrafluoroethylene Based Gaskets
,”
J. Test. Eval.
0090-3973,
29
, No.
5
, pp.
442
–
452
.
9.
Bouzid
,
A.
,
Chaaban
,
A.
, and
Bazergui
,
A.
, 1995, “
The Effect of Gasket Creep Relaxation on the Leakage Tightness of Bolted Flanged Joints
,”
ASME J. Pressure Vessel Technol.
0094-9930,
117
, pp.
71
–
78
.
Crossref
Search ADS
 
10.
Bouzid
,
A.
, and
Chaaban
,
A.
, 1997, “
An Accurate Method of Evaluating Relaxation in Bolted Flanged Connections
,”
ASME J. Pressure Vessel Technol.
0094-9930,
119
, No.
1
, pp.
10
–
17
.
Crossref
Search ADS
 
11.
Nagy
,
A.
, 1997, “
Time Dependent Characteristics of Gaskets at Flange Joints
,”
Int. J. Pressure Vessels Piping
0308-0161,
72
, No.
3
, pp.
219
–
229
.
Crossref
Search ADS
 
12.
Carslaw
,
H. S.
, and
Jaeger
,
J. C.
 1959,
Conduction of Heat in Solids
, 2nd ed.,
Oxford
, Clarendon, U.K.
13.
Boley
,
B. A.
, and
Weiner
,
J. H.
, 1960,
Theory of Thermal Stresses
,
Wiley
, New York.
14.
Dudley
,
W. M.
, 1961, “
Deflection of Heat Exchanger Flanged Joints as affected by Barreling and Warping
,”
Trans. ASME
0097-6822,
83
, No.
4
, pp.
460
–
466
.
15.
Sawa
,
T.
,
Hirose
,
T.
, and
Nakagomi
,
Y.
, 1996, “
Behavior of a Tapered Hub Flange With a Bolted Flat Cover in Transient Temperature Field
,”
ASME J. Pressure Vessel Technol.
0094-9930,
118
, pp.
115
–
120
.
Crossref
Search ADS
 
16.
Spaas
,
H. A. C. M
,
Latzko
,
D. G. H.
, and
Bakker
,
A.
, 1977, “
High-Pressure Vessel Flange Behaviour Under Transient Thermal Loadings
,” in
Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Pressure Vessel Technology
, Vol.
1
, pp.
293
–
309
.
17.
Andresso
,
S.
, 1984, “
Calculation of the Initial Load of a Closure Tightening Taking Into Account the Deformation of the Parts Submitted to Pressure
,” in
Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Pressure Vessel Technology
, San Francisco.
18.
Brown
,
W.
,
Derenne
,
M.
, and
Bouzid
,
A.
, 2000, “
Determination of the Steady State Operating Temperature of Pressure Vessel Flange Components: Part 1-Analytical Methods
,” in
Proceedings of the ASME∕PVP Conference
, Seattle, PVP-Vol.
405
, Analysis of Bolted Joints, pp.
95
–
104
.
19.
ANSYS
, 2001, ANSYS inc. Standard Manual, Version 7.1.
Copyright © 2005
 by American Society of Mechanical Engineers
You do not currently have access to this content.