Parametric Study and Comparative Analysis of Flanges in Heat Exchanger Applications

Abstract

In today’s world, due to constantly depleting resources and cut- throat competition, it becomes very much essential to optimize our resources in best possible way, such that not only the manufactured object can satisfy all its operational parameter and have long life but also it should be manufactured with right quantity of material. In a pressure vessel, the flange plays an important role in providing leak- proof joints as well as connections between two pieces of pipe, pipes and nozzles. Flange joint permits disassembly and removal for maintenance purposes. So, the design of Flanges must be very accurate in order to avoid leakages or failure of joints during the operation of the equipment. Appropriate guidelines for the design of Flanges are provided in the ASME codes (The American Society of Mechanical Engineers). The purpose of this project is to design a Flange which has very critical design parameters and to ensure that while in operation, the flange doesn’t encounter leakages or any other types of failure. Along with the safety factors, the flange should ensure correct structural strength and also withstand high stresses generated during the processes which are taking place in the pressure vessel. For this, the target flange in the equipment is designed according to ASME Section VIII Div.1 Mandatory Appendix 2 and ASME PCC-1. In addition to that, Finite Element Analysis and Parametric study is conducted in order to get the optimized flange design.