Stress Analysis of Bolted Flange Joints With Different Shell Connections

Abstract

Bolted flange joints are widely implemented in various pressure vessel applications of different industries due to their simplicity in installation and operation. However, the most challenging concern during their operation is the level of leakage tightness that they can maintain over time. In addition, the performance of the different flange connection configurations is not well established. Unfortunately, the current ASME BPV Code flange design is not based on a leakage criterion nor a flexibility analysis to give a precise evaluation of the different parameters. This study deals with an evaluation of the integrity and leakage tightness of different types of shells connected to the flange ring. The proposed study is to use the different shell theories to analyze the different parameters such as flange rotation, gasket contact stress and stress distribution at the flange to shell junction. Several types of shell connections, namely cylindrical, spherical, dish and conical are compared. All these types of shells are connected to the raised-face flange ring without the hub. Moreover, to support the analytical approach and validate the study, these shell connections are modelled using a general-purpose finite element software. It is worth noting that, the gasket nonlinear behavior is considered in the FE analysis but not in the analytical modeling.