Analyses of Saddle Supported Large Horizontal Cylindrical Pressure Vessels

Literature search reveals that for design of saddle supported pressure vessels there are no codified design procedures analogous to Zick's analysis. Thus a detailed study of the pressure vessel in terms of stress distribution in the cylindrical vessel and in the vicinity of the saddle-vessel intersection will lead to an alternate design procedure. A finite element code has thus been developed which will pave way in achieving this goal. Finite element analyses have been performed on several geometries of the vessel under different loading conditions and the results presented in this paper.