Chinese air separation plants engineering

Special pressure-bearing equipment generally bears internal pressure, that will cause tensile stress inside the shell, which is called working stress. The working stress is directly proportional to the pressure and diameter, and inversely proportional to the vessel wall thickness. The axial stress is half of the circumferential stress. Therefore, for cylindrical vessels, the stress of longitudinal weld is twice that of girth weld. Because the geometric shape of the spherical shell is symmetrical to the spherical center, and the axial stress is equal to the circumferential stress in numerical value. Therefore, the wall thickness of the spherical vessel can be reduced by half as much as that of the cylindrical vessel under the same pressure and diameter.