Pressure Part Design (see also Stresses, Allowable or Permissible in Pressure Parts)

Establishing thickness requirement of all parts subjected to either internal or external pressure of steam
and water is the aim of the PP design in a boiler. It is no way connected with the sizing of the equipment
which is done by the thermal design. Boiler codes deal elaborately and exclusively with PPs as they are
concerned with safety of operators and equipment.
PPs constitute 30–40% cost of a total boiler including auxiliaries and take the maximum time to
manufacture. As the p & t of the boiler increase the PP materials and manufacturing becomes more
sophisticated. Even though the PP design is relatively simple in concept it becomes very elaborate and
involved as it has to meet the conflicting requirements of safety, reliability and cost competitiveness.
When related aspects like materials, welding, fabrication quality, attachments, strength compensation and
so on are all taken into account, PP design becomes an elaborate and structured subject. The PPs of a
boiler consist essentially of rounds of three types and can be divided into

 Drums
 Headers
 Tubes
 Pipes
The PP design of the boiler parts is primarily built around the thin shell design of the component where
the thickness is derived from the formula
𝑝𝑑
where 𝑡 = 2𝑓
+𝑐

p = calculation pressure of the component

d = mean diameter
f = allowable stress at the design temperature
c = design allowance to cover for effects such as corrosion, erosion and so on
Pressure
The highest SVLP is usually the design pressure of the boiler. Some codes

 Demand that all the components be designed uniformly to a single pressure, namely, the boiler
design pressure. In such a case the design and calculation pressures are the same.
 Permit adjustments to the design pressure to take into account the pressure drops in the steam
pipes and tubes and also the effects of the static head. The design pressure, in such case, will be
adjusted to arrive at the calculation pressure which will be slightly different for each component.
The pressure that a component can safely withstand without exceeding the safe permissible limits at the
specified design temperature is the maximum working pressure of the component.
Temperature
The maximum temperature to which a component can be subjected during the upset conditions is the
design temperature. These upsets can occur typically when there are

 Load ramp ups

 Peak loads
  Unbalance in steam and gas flows and temperatures
 Operation with slagging and fouling and so on
For different components the margins to be added for arriving at the design temperature over the
maximum operating temperature are different and the codes specify the values.
Mean Metal Temperature
This is the arithmetic mean of the inside and outside metal temperature of a tube, pipe or plate subject to
heat across its thickness. Whenever the metal temperature is mentioned it refers to this mean temperature
unless specifically indicated as inside or outside.
Codes indicate limiting operating temperatures for all materials, which invariably means the mean
temperature, unless qualified specifically otherwise.
For thick-walled components, the temperature drop across the thickness can be quite large, particularly in
SH tubes. The inside, outside and mean temperatures can vary significantly and the design limits have to
be applied suitably lest there should be failures due to overheating.
Allowable Stresses
The allowable stress values to be used in the design are temperature dependent. The following is based on
ASME Section I:

 UTS governs the stress values up to a temperature of about 300–350°C (~570–660°F). Drums and
all headers, except for SH and RH, are therefore decided by tensile strength considerations. Eco
and Evap tubes also fall in this category in most cases. ASME Section I specifies, since 1998, a
safety factor of 3.5 over room temperature tensile strength. European codes are less conservative
as they adopt a lower factor of 2.5–2.7 in this range.
 YS governs the stress values between ~300°C and 500°C (~570–930°F) depending upon the
metallurgy. The safety factor adopted by ASME is 1.5 which is the same as European practice.
Bulk of the lower end SH and RH tubes and headers fall in this range.
 Creep strength or stress to rupture, whichever is lower, governs the stress values to be adopted for
high end tubes and headers of the SH and RH. Stress to rupture is considered for 100,000 h. It is
the lower of 80% for minimum stress and 67% for average stress
 Creep strength is the average stress to produce 0.01% creep rate in 1000 h as per ASME and is
considered as such for design with a safety factor of 1.
Many other codes do not specify the allowable stresses but provide the ultimate strength values
and the formulae from where the stress values are to be derived.
As PP designing is extensively codified, the real complexity of the subject is kept out when a
designer deals with the coded calculations. There are a set of design rules to be followed and a set
of manufacturing norms to be observed to achieve good results in PP making. This serves well,
because the PP design affects the safety.

ASME Sec I- Power Boilers: Types, Design Fabrication, Inspection and Repair:
ASME Sec I- Boiler Tubes up to and including 5 inches O.D. (125 mm):
1. The minimum required thickness use equation below:
𝑃𝐷
𝑡= + 0.005𝐷 + 𝑒
2𝑆 + 𝑃
2. To calculate the Maximum Allowable Working Pressure (MAWP):
2𝑡 − 0.01𝐷 − 2𝑒
𝑃 = 𝑆[ ]
𝐷 − (𝑡 − 0.005 − 𝑒)
Where,
t= Minimum Design Wall Thickness (in)
P= Design Pressure (psi)
D= Tube Outside Diameter (in)
e= Thickness Factor (0.04 for expanding tubes; 0 for strength welded tubes)
S= Maximum Allowable Stress