Pressure vessel design rules:

Pressure vessels hold liquids or gases at a pressure higher than the ambient.
Some of its functions are: Fluid Storage, Knock out (gas/liquid separation), and
Reactor vessel. Storage and Knock out drums can be designed as vertical or
horizontal vessels. As a rule of thumb, liquid storage drums are usually horizontal
and gas/liquid separation drums are usually vertically designed with the
exception of reflux drums for distillation columns which are horizontal. Reactor
vessels are usually vertically designed.
Vessel Volume:
The minimum vessel volume above the high level is 20% of the drum diameter or
12 inches whichever is higher. The length to diameter (L/D) ratio of vessels is in
the range of 2.5-5.0. An optimal L/D ratio is 3. A rough dependency between L/D
and pressure is shown below:
Pressure (barg)
L/D

0-17
3

17-35
4

>35
5

When the calculated L/D ratio lies between 3-5, and the liquid load is relatively
small; a vertical configuration is preferred. If the liquid load is significant or if the
L/D ratio is higher than 5; a horizontal configuration is preferred.

Agitated reactor vessels usually have an L/D of 1.

Inlet fluid velocity:

For a liquid phase inlet, vessels are designed for a settling velocity of 2 -3 inch/m
The Nozzle velocities: v_max = 100/(rho)^0.5 ; v_min = 60//(rho)^0.5
For a 2 phase inlet, vessels are designed for 75% of the allowable settling
velocity defined by the following relation : v_allowable = k.((rho_l-rho_v)/
rho_v)^0.5 ft/sec ; where k=0.35 for vessels with mesh entrainer and k=0.1 for
vessels without mesh entrainer
Residence time:
Typical residence times for knock out drums are 5 minutes and for continuous
storage drums in the range of 5-10 minutes on a half-filled vessel volume basis.
Typical Piping connections in a vessel:

Inlet and outlet liquid line sizing

The inlet and outlet liquid lines are of the same size.
Inlet and outlet gas line sizing
Relief line sizing
The relief line
Blowdown line sizing
Blowdown refers to the intentional wastage of liquid to avoid concentration of
impurities during operation. These lines are sized based on the assumption that
10% of the liquid is discharged as blowdown. Blowdown lines are most common
in heat exchangers and boilers, a similar approach can be followed for vessels:
the following rules are specified:
-

The nominal size of the blowdown line is between 1 and 2 inch

If the vessel operating pressure is higher than 7 bar, the wall thickness
should be schedule 80 or higher. For operating pressures lesser than 7 bar,
schedule STD can be used.

Jacket connections
Instrument connections sizing

Auxiliary components
-

Vessel Supports
Inlet and outlet pipes
Connections to vents and drains
Flow, temperature and pressure instruments
Electrical cables
Check valves