Process industries often use B-ring self-tightening sealing structures and rely on interference assembly to meet the initial sealing requirements. Therefore, determining reasonable B-ring material, size and interference is crucial to ensure the sealing performance of the structure. In this paper, based on elastic deformation analysis, the deformation co-ordination equation of a B-ring sealing structure was established, and a sealing contact pressure calculation formula was obtained, with discussion of the main factors affecting sealing performance. With the finite element method, transient temperature field analysis was carried out for startup and shutdown load cases, and contact analysis was carried out for interference assembly, startup and shutdown. Based on the evaluation criteria of sealing performance with proposed sealing rate and leakage parameters, the effects of material properties, interference, B-ring size, etc., on sealing performance were investigated, revealing that although a B-ring with high material yield stress can meet the sealing requirements, both the B-ring and the sealing surface of a reactor body will yield plastic deformation. B-rings with a low material yield stress exhibit obvious plastic deformation during startup and leak during shutdown. However, leakage parameters can be minimized by smaller interference and moderate wave radius.

An important issue in engineering application of the “design by analysis” approach in pressure vessel design is how to decompose an overall stress field obtained by finite element analysis into different stress categories defined in the ASME B&PV Codes III and VIII-2. In many pressure vessel structures, it is difficult to obtain $PL+Pb$ due to the lack of information about primary bending stress. In this paper, a simple approach to derive the primary bending stress from the finite element analysis was proposed with application examples and verifications. According to the relationship of the bending stress and applied loads or the relationship of the bending stress and displacement agreement, it is possible to identify loads causing primary bending stress for typical pressure vessel structures. By applying the load inducing primary bending stress alone and necessary superposition, the primary bending stress and corresponding stress intensity $PL+Pb$ can be determined for vessel design, especially for axisymmetric problems.

The lightweight of liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker can reduce transportation cost and improve transportation efficiency. However, in lightweight design, the random vibration analysis based on fluid–structure interaction (FSI) is difficult, which demands to be effectively solved by simplifying the finite element model and load. The vibration test and fluid–structure interaction modal numerical analysis of a tanker model were carried out, respectively, and the results are in good agreement. Taking the DC18 LNG tanker as an example, the random vibration response analysis was carried out based on the fluid–structure interaction modal numerical analysis, and the random fatigue damage coefficient of the support region of the inner container was obtained, which was used as the benchmark for the model and load simplification. The finite element model of the LNG tanker was simplified by applying the equivalent liquid mass to the walls of the inner container in the form of density. It is found that when the equivalent liquid mass ratio is 40%, the random vibration response characteristics of the DC18 LNG tanker are close to the actual structure. In the static calculation of the simplified model, the stress response of the container support area is close to the actual structural when the equivalent road spectrum load is 0.95 g vertical acceleration. In this case, the stress result and the overall damage coefficient equivalent to the actual structure can be obtained just by static calculation, which greatly simplifies the solution process.

Leakages of bolted pipe flange connections of water-containing hydrofluoric acid pipelines were frequently reported by the extraction section in the fluorine chemical industry. Water-containing hydrofluoric acid can cause severe injuries to human beings due to its strong causticity. The water-containing hydrofluoric acid pipe was a short lined pipe, so a lot of flange connections and supports were adopted in the pipeline. In this paper, the finite element models of the pipeline were established to analyze the internal force of the pipeline under conditions including internal pressure, temperature, self-weight, and so on. Based on this, the equivalent design pressure of the flange connections was determined. The results of the stress analyses of the pipeline showed that leakages were mainly caused by a large bending moment, due to the unreasonable layout of the piping supports under self-weight. When the pipeline was supported on the beam of the pipe gallery, which is not necessarily beneficial to reduce the bending moment of the pipeline, and the flange connection was close to the supporting beam at the same time, leakages frequently occurred in this flange connection. To support the pipeline reasonably, the flange connection should be placed at zero bending moment positions. Therefore, the positions with zero bending moments of the pipeline with equal and unequal spacing supports were obtained under gravity load, to provide a basis for the rational support of lining piping.