Contact UsASME BPVC Consulting & Analysis Services
Section VIII Divisions 2 and 3 of the ASME BPVC (Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code) provide standard procedures for the design of pressurized systems using analysis. SimuTech Group engineers are equipped to consult throughout all stages of the design standards validation process, primarily utilizing Ansys’ suite of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software to assess structural and thermal environments. For complex thermal environments, they leverage Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to achieve increased resolution.
Prescribed Procedures & Analyses
Typical procedures SimuTech Group engineers conduct include Protection Against Plastic Collapse, Protection Against Local Failure, and Protection Against Cyclic Loading. These procedures often incorporate the following analyses:
- Steady-State and/or Transient Thermal analysis to determine temperature distributions
- Linear Elastic Static Structural analyses to determine operating, design, and thermal stresses
- Nonlinear Elastic-Plastic analyses to determine safety factors on design pressure, inputs for local damage calculations, residual stresses following hydrostatic testing, and behavior due to cyclic loading
- Linear and Nonlinear Buckling analyses to determine safety factors on buckling loads
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Recent ASME BPVC Consulting Projects
Section VIII Div 2 FEA
3D analysis of a pressure vessel assembly (linear stress, thermal stress, hydrostatic test residual stress, plastic collapse with nonlinear materials)
Section VIII Div 3 FEA
2D axisymmetric analysis of a pressure vessel assembly (linear stress, hydrostatic test residual stress, plastic collapse with nonlinear materials)
Section VIII Div 3 Fracture Mechanics
Failure assessment diagrams, critical/allowable crack sizes, and number of cycles for initial flaw growth to critical/allowable crack sizes
Section VIII Div 2 Weld Fatigue Analysis
Steady-state thermal and thermal stress analyses of two heat exchangers for fatigue analysis of nozzle/shell and tubesheet/shell welds
CFD Analysis of Heat Exchanger
Predicting temperature and pressure maps due to complex fluid flow through a heat exchanger
Process Piping for ASME Validation
Detailed FEA analysis for system validation to ASME B31.3, “Process Piping”
Other ASME Related Capabilities & Analysis Types
Seismic response of pressure vessels and their mounting systems
Fatigue of structure to ASME code requirements
Elastic-plastic material properties for predicting plastic collapse safety factors
Stress linearization for code checking
Temperature-dependent properties for improved system characterization
Bolt preload for flange validation
SimuTech Group engineers routinely use the methodologies noted above to help customers understand the performance of their vessel designs compared to Section VIII, Division II and Division III requirements.
Using the design-by-analysis approach, including assessment by FEA, typically results in designs that meet higher performance requirements versus the more limited design-by-rule approach (Section VIII, Division I).
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Our team of experienced engineers can assist you at any step of your process.
