STRESS ON THIN-WALLED PRESSURE VESSELS

A tank or pipe carrying a fluid or gas under a pressure is subjected to tensile forces, which resist
bursting, developed across longitudinal and transverse sections.
A.TANGENTIAL STRESS (CIRCUMFERENTIAL STRESS)
Consider the tank shown being subjected to an internal pressure p. The length of the tank is L
and the wall thickness is t. Isolating the right half of the tank,
FH=0
F = 2T
*where:

F = pressure(Area)
F = pDL
T = Tension
T = Tensile Stress(Area)
T=(

t tL)

pDL=2(

t=

t tL)

pD
2t

*where: p

=pressure
t = thickness
D = diameter
If there exist an external pressure po and an internal
pressure pi, the formula may be expressed as:

t=

( pipo) D
2t

LONGITUDINAL STRESS, L
Consider the free body ` section of the tank:
The total force acting at the rear of the tank F must equal
to the total longitudinal stress on the wall PT = LAwall.
Since t is so small compared to D, the area of the wall is
close to Dt

If there exist an external pressure po and an internal pressure pi, the formula may be expressed
as:

L=

( pipo) D
2t

Ex. 1.)
A cylindrical steel pressure vessel 400 mm in diameter with a wall thickness of 20 mm, is
subjected to an internal pressure of 4.5 MN/m2. (a) Calculate the tangential and longitudinal
stresses in the steel. (b) To what value may the internal pressure be increased if the stress in the
steel is limited to 120 MN/m2? (c) If the internal pressure were increased until the vessel burst,
sketch the type of fracture that would occur.
SOLUTION:
a.) Tangential Stress(Longitudinal Section)

b.) Longitudinal Stress(Tangential Section)

c.)

Ex. 2.) A cylindrical pressure vessel is fabricated from steel plating that has a thickness of 20
mm. The diameter of the pressure vessel is 450 mm and its length is 2.0 m. Determine the
maximum internal pressure that can be applied if the tensile stress is limited to 60 MPa.
SOLUTION:

t=

pD
2t

3.) Calculate the minimum wall thickness for a cylindrical vessel that is to carry a gas at a
pressure of 1400 psi. The diameter of the vessel is 2 ft, and the stress is limited to 12 ksi.
SOLUTION:

Republic of the Philippines

Aurora State College of Technology
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
FINAL TERM QUIZ
CE 411: Mechanics of Fluid
Name: ____________________________________
Section: ______________________

Date: ______________

SEATWORK:
I.

BUOYANCY

1.) An object having a sp.gr. of 0.60 floats in a liquid having a sp.gr. of 0.80.
a.) What is the percentage of the volume below the liquid surface to the total volume of
the body?
b.) If the total volume above the liquid surface is 0.024m, what is the weight of the
object?
c.) What is the total load that will cause the object to be fully submerged?
2.) A block with a horizontal square section 30cm x 30cm has a depth of 25cm. It is allowed to
float on a body of liquid which consist of 20cm. of layer of water above a layer of mercury.
The specific weight of the block is 18850 N/m. Determine the position of the block.
II.

HYDROSTATIC FORCE ACTING ON PLANE SURFACES

1.) A rectangular plate submerged in water is 1.5m by 1.8m, the 1.5m side being horizontal
and the 1.8m side being vertical. Determine the magnitude of the force on one side of the
plate and the depth to its center of pressure if the top edge is 0.3m below the water
surface.