The company Corteva Agriscience requests the elaboration of a finite element analysis of the axis

of a rotative vacuum dryer present in the packaging area, with the purpose of verifying if it is
possible to increase the vapor pressure that circulates by the axis of the dryer without the threat
of a mechanical failure. Nonetheless, throughout the development of the project and with help of
a thorough analysis of the characteristics of a rotative vacuum dryer, other sources of error related
with the current welding practices in the company and it is desirable to mitigate these sources of
error with solutions that differ in approach. This results as a necessity to improve the efficiency
of the process, increasing the production capacity and avoiding possible failures in the most
critical spots in the dryer. The methodology practiced in this project with the purpose of achieving
the objectives proposed by Corteva Agriscience consisted in the inquiry and elaboration of a state
of the art with the purpose of familiarizing with the machine and obtaining the necessary
parameters for a static stress simulation with a finite element analysis. Concluded the simulation
of the dryer in its current state under the standard norms and requirements of the ASME code for
boilers and pressure vessels IX, meaning, before the implementation of the final solution to the
problem, three alternatives were proposed with three different approaches. The first alternative
consisted on the structural redesign for the dryer, specifically, the critical zones, highlighted by
the simulation, where welding is applied and how the employed methods of welding (or their bad
practice) could be changed in case of contributing to the failures at the critical points, which they
would be in this case the tubes holding the agitator ribbons. The second alternative had as its focus
the control of the thermodynamic properties and phenomena prevalent in the dryer, specifically
speaking, the condensation and failures associated with this, such as erosion, due to the
condensate flowing at high speeds, thus debilitating the internal walls of any vessel or pipeline,
or the high pressure surges that occur when a vapor-liquid flow of water is found near its
compressed liquid state and the last fraction of vapor condensates generating a pressure vacuum
due to the sudden reduction of the specific volume in the vapor fraction of the water flow, which
drives the water upwards toward the upper wall of the pipe where the vapor fraction used to be
located. Essentially, the second alternative constitutes the implementation of a control loop that
would regulate the vapor quality and consequently the quantity of condensate in the flow. The
third and last proposed alternative consists on a redesign focused on elongating the RVD dryer
and its axis for a more tolerant design towards stresses and increasing the agrochemical
production at the factory. After comparing the alternatives, checking on client requirements and
later a decision process with the hierarchical analysis method it was concluded that the best
alternative was the structural redesign of the critical points of the welding. The structural redesign
of the dryer requires a computational modeling process as well as a finite element analysis from
which it is determined that the dryer requires: welding process modifications, construction of
support rings for the tubes that hold the agitation ribbon and the change in orientation of the plates.
Modifications to the welding process imply finding the points on the dryer on which two totally
incompatible materials meet, in this case, said mishap is found on the welding between the edge
of the dryer’s axis and the drum, because at this point A516 Gr. 70 steel and stainless steel are
welded together. It is also necessary to trace new weld laces that bring on better structural security
and are implemented according to the norms of the ASME code for welding, these weld laces are
currently made with point welding, probably to save on materials, nonetheless, it would be a much
optimal solution to implement groove type welding that is characterized for having deeper
welding material penetration and a much more resilient joint. This groove type welding would be
applied towards the whole structure, including the tubes that hold the agitation ribbons. Part of
the solution also involves the removal of components that do not contribute or even menace the
structural integrity of the dryer, thus would be the case for the ribbon holding tubes that could
represent a stress concentration point due to the precarious locations that these possessed on the
old design. Another important modification is the inclusion of a protective ring around the base
of the ribbon holding tubes which would contribute to structural integrity and would prevent
failures by superposition of welds, meaning, that the old welds and the new welds would have
enough space to expand in cases of thermal energy exposition thus preventing these two welds to
compress each other increasing the catastrophic failure potential. It can be concluded that the
structural redesign is ideal not only to prevent failures but allow the machine to increase its
production potential far beyond its original design limits and under high temperature and pressure
conditions. Finalizing, in this project, other than demonstrating the process and results of said
analysis, also the alternatives are proposed with the purpose of improving the resiliency of the
axis to the pressures it will be subject to, or to improve the productivity of the process by other
means. It was determined that other modifications would be proposed to the agitator axis,
including the elimination of some elements, and as such the redistribution of welding laces,
changes were necessary to accomplish the ASME norm for welding. The new design presents a
noticeable improvement in comparison to the current design, in stress dissipation because of the
suppression of load concentrators. This improvement is evidenced on the obtained results of the
finite element analysis where the changes allow for a better load distribution along the structure
avoiding critical points and allowing the dryer system to increase its parameters above the design
limit increasing in turn the production.