All About Mechanical Engineering
A Post for those who are interested in Pressure Vessel Design, Process Design, thermal design of pressure equipments, Combustion analysis, Boiler Design, Pressure element design, Also those Software tools developed by me will be displayed here for review & trial! Will Talk upon my experience & Sharing my learning on my way in this industry
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Heads as per ASME : Quick overview
Monday, September 26, 2011
Project Management Performance Analysis
Good read for Project management performance analysis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_value_management
Keep reading!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Process Piping Pressure Calculation : B31-3
B 31.3 is an ASME code for Process piping, Multiple time we come across situation, where we need to calculate the design pressure for a pipe.
In such cases, ASME VIII-Div-1 seems helpless, and B 31-3 comes for rescue.
Clause 304.1.2 talks about Straight pipe under internal pressure,

Where,
P > Internal design pressure
D > Outside diameter of pipe
S > Stress value of material as per table A-1
E > Quality factor from Table A-1A & -1B
Y > Coefficient from table 304.1.1
Compare equation 3a with ASME VIII-1 Formula (UG-27)
The formula is completely same, except factor PY against 0.6 P!
Y factor varies from material & Temperature, which varies from 0.4 to 0.7
As I’m working on one of the project, where I’m manually doing calculation, I thought this will be fastest way to share!
Keep reading!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Code Comparison : Discussion:1
Scope & Responsibility:
Let’s start with comparing the scope & Responsibilities for various codes.
Following table will give an overview
| Characteristics | ASME VIII-Div-1 | EN 13445 | GB-150 |
| Scope | Ref ASME VIII-1 U-1 Pressure Not exceeding 20 MPa U-1(d) Design by Formula Minimum pressure 15 psi (g) [1 bar(g)] Minimum -ve pressure 15 psi (g) [1bar(g)] | Refer EN 13445-1: 2009 No limit on pressure Design by Formula & Design by Analysis Minimum pressure 0.5 bar(g) Minimum -ve pressure -0.5 bar(g) | Refer GB-150 : 1-1.1 Pressure not exceeding 35 MPa Design by Formula Minimum pressure 1 bar(g) Minimum -ve pressure 0.2 bar(g) |
| Responsibility | Ref VIII-1 U-2 (b), UG-90 Responsibility of Manufacturer to design complete vessel as per requirements of Code 19 responsibilities with Manufacturer, 14 with AI | Refer EN 13445-1: 2009 Responsibility of Manufacturer, counter signed by notified body (Independent agency) Annex - H to be filled & Signed | GB-150 : 3, Clause 3.2.2 Responsibility of Manufacturer & Designer to design complete vessel as per requirements of Code |
Next Topic Material & Properties!
Keep Watching!
Code Comparison : A Startup
With my next feeds, I’ll be comparing following Code on various aspects
European Code : EN 13445
American Code : ASME Section VIII Div. 1
German Code: AD : 2000
Chinese Code: GB: 150
Keep watching!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Pressure Vessel Codes & Comparisons
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Weld - Defects
Some weld defects are visible, some are visible with aide & some are invisible and need extra process to reveal them.
Before we go into process of different methods to see those defect, one must first know what are those defects?
Let me show you some defects & with their names
- Spatter
- Incomplete Fusion
- Incomplete Penetration
- Overlap
- Porosity
- Undercut
- Underfill
Thursday, February 3, 2011
weld Positions & Joints?
Followings are more important things selecting welding process :
1. What? What are we welding (Metal type, thickness, chemistry)
2. How ? How are we welding (Welding Position)
3. Where ? where are we welding (e.g in water, near sea shore, inside, outdoor)
We will discuss this in detail, but first we understand the definition & usage of these terms, to start with : Position
Position:
Generally as per ASME IX, following are the mentioned position for groove weld
Flat : 1G
Horizontal : 2G
Vertical Upward/Downward : 3G
Overhead : 4G
Pipe – Horizontal : 5G
Pipr 45º : 6G
For Fillet weld, replace G with F, and there is no 6F applicable!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Welding Process
welding noun /ˈwel.dɪŋ/ n [U] the activity of joining metal parts together
(Definition of welding noun from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)
Welding in industry has huge spectrum! it starts for arc welding, to fusion welding, to Laser and so on and so forth,
Generally, pressure vessel speaking, we use following three type of welding
- SMAW : Shielded Metal Arc Welding
- SAW : Submerged arc welding
- TIG : Tungsten Inert Gas welding
- GMAW : Gas Metal Arc Welding
Other types are
-Atomic Hydrogen Welding(AHW)
-Bare Metal ArcWelding(BMAW)
-Carbon ArcWelding(CAW)
-Electro Gas Welding(EGW)
-Electro Slag Welding(ESW)
-Plasma Arc Welding(PAW)
-Stud Arc Welding(SW)
Lets discuss Generall Welding Process in Brief
SMAW :
As you can see in picture, the arc is created between Parent material and electrode. The oxidation is avoided by the flux coated on electrode. Due to arc the weld metal start melting, and due to high temperature, the flux also get melted, due to density difference, the flux floats over weld pool, and thus by function makes a barrier between atmosphere & weld to avoid any oxidation.
The temperature found in arc is as high as 7000ºC, at which the gas/air get ionized, providing good electrical conductivity in the arc.
The actual transfer of metal from the electrode to the workpiece is in the form of molten globules of different sizes depending on the type of electrode used. Some electrodes produce globules that are so large that they actually shortcircuit the arc for a moment.
Electrodes for manual arc welding (sometimes referred to as stick welding) consist of a rod and a coating material. As a rule, the alloy in the rod will be similar to the material to be welded.
The most common types of electrodes are:
1. The Organic type (electrodes contain large quantities of organic substances such as cellulose)
2. The Rutile type (electrodes contain large quantities of the mineral rutile)
3. The Acid type (electrodes produce an Iron Oxide / Manganese Oxide / Silica type of slag, the metallurgical character which is an acid.)
4. The Basic type (Low Hydrogen)
5. LMA (Low moisture absorption electrode)
TIG Welding:
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Pressure Vessel - A thought
ASME provide all tools & guidelines to analysis Failure (limits) but fails to help me understand how to implement it in actual practice (Additional loading, Conical head with angle >30º! etc. etc...)
Hence I started this Blog to help understand how to implement old engineering know how in Practical scenario!
currently I'm in phase of switching to a new Industry all together, may be i'll find more way to implement my know how their & learn new way to optimize things.
Take Care
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Beer- Well Said
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Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Beer in PET (Plastic Bottles)?
Do you know, whole beer industry is as much intrested in giving beer in PET bottle than us, as this is the cheapest & easy way, though mother nature will not be happy :)
Beer in Plastic accounts only for 5-6% in world's beer package!
What is PET
its short form of Polyethylene Terephthalate, basically a polymer. its extensively used for packaging carbonated drinks.
Whats wrong with PET?
PET absorbs sizable amount of CO2 as the bottle tries to equilibrate with content inside, some study has shwon at 21ºC, PET bottle takes three weeks for 500ppb O2 to invade & four weeks for 10% of the CO2 to wave goodbye.
So what?
OK, Soft Drinks (Carbonated) can tolerate in grease of O2 upto 20ppm, before they change the flavors! so its perfectly on to store it for almost a year!
BUT, for beer, even 0.1 ppm O2 can spoil the itch on tongue! hence normal PET is no-no!
What Next?
People are trying to invent new Coatings to close this barrier or to minimize this sepage! its 'Work Under Progress'.
Whatever you say, beer look nice in Bottler & Test nice in Glass!
Three cheers to Glass!
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Sunday, October 24, 2010
Pressure Vessel Software-Solution
I've searched lots of software from PVlite, Pressure Vessel Engineering, CEREBRO-mix etc. but end of the day, the customized solution that I need was always missing.
Let me list out what one expect from such software... atlease I do.. if i miss out something, let me know
- Shell under internal pressure,
- Shell under external pressure,
- Heads under internal & external pressure
- Cone under internal & external pressure
- Stiffner calculation
- Support calculation - Saddle
- Support calculation - Skirt
- Support calculation - Ring support
- Support calculation - Lug support
- Support - Vessel on Leg (Braced & unbraced)
- Leg Support on Dish & cone
- Vertical & horizontal option
- Cooling Calculations
- Flange Design as per ASME VIII - Div-1 (appendix)
- Surface area calculation
- BOM/ MTO calculation
- Seismic & Wind Loading as per IS/UBC
.. what else?
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Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Cooling - Thermal Calculation
Step : 1
1. Heat Loss to Atmosphere : Surface Area m² X Delta (Tavg - Troom)ºC x 0.32 = Q1 kcal/ hr
2. Cooling Load : Volume of liquid (lits) x Delta (Tstart-Tend)ºC/Time (hr) = Q2 kcal/hr
3. Heat evolved during Chemical process/ Fermentation : Q3 kcal/hr
Total Heat to be Removed = Cooling Load = Q = (Q1 + Q2 + Q3) X factor of safety
Please note Unit of Measurement carefully
for Q3, what process do you follow in your vessel, you need to find out the Load.
Step : 2
Calculate LMTD {Log Mean Temperature}
DT1 = TmediaStart - TcoolenEnd
DT2 = TmediaEnd - TcoolentStart
LMTD = (DT1-DT2)/ ln(DT1-DT2)
Step : 3
Calculate Overall heat Transfer co-efficient & Surface Area Required
Q = U A LMTD
Hence, A = Q / (U x LMTD)
U, Over all heat transfer co-efficient : 100-250 Kcal/ hr ºC m², this is mainly depends uppon what type of jacket do you use, limped coil or limped jacket or profile sheets or laser welded jacket etc. you need to have some co-relation to evaluate this if the construction of jacket is non-standard. for standard type of jacket, you can get more info on following link
http://www.cheresources.com/jacketed_vessel_design.shtml
and if nothing works, ask me :)
Step : 4
Calculate amount of Cooling media needed for cooling
Now here is a trick, their are two type of coolent, one, they cool by their latent heat (e.g Ammonia) or two, they cool by dropping their temperature (e.g glycol water)
for First option, we need to consider Enthalpy of latent heat, devide Q by this, and you will get mass flow, for Second type follow following equation
Q = m . cp. DT (Tstartcoolent - TendCoolent)
Make sure you get these enthalpies at the working temperature, refer Perry's handbook, or ask your cooling supplier for detail physical properties, as these properties changes with pressure & temperature, for water mix coolent like glycol, the properties changes with concentation of media
I hope this is sufficient in-sight, in case of help, let me know
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Thursday, September 30, 2010
Cooling Performance - Overview
Step : 1 : What you should know, and what you should ask
What you should know
a) You should know what type of Vessel Construction your are offering
b) You should know what Jacket for cooling you have
c) You should know your Jacket, Heat transfer co-eff co-releation very well
What you should ask
a) Media to be cooled
b) Media for cooling
c) with agitation or w/o agitation
d) Location (in-house or out-side)
e) Cooling performance needed
Step : 2 : Calculated heat Duty/ Cooling Duty
a) Duty due to Surface Loss
b) Duty due to Fermentation/ Process, i.e to remove heat arising from the process
c) Duty due to Cooling withing given time frame
d) Factor of safety : 10 to 20% depending upon your confidence (prooven history will help to reduce this factor of safety)
Step : 3 : Calculate Amount of cooling media needed
Step : 4 : Calculate Area for Cooling jacket
Step : 5 : Calculate Pressure Drop
Step : 6 : Summary
Next post : How to!
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Thursday, July 8, 2010
Milk Property fact!
Density of Milk
Whole milk : ρ = 1035.0 − 0.358 T + 0.0049 T^2 − 0.00010 T^3
Skim milk : ρ = 1036.6 − 0.146 T + 0.0023 T^2 − 0.00016 T^3
Buffalo milk : ρ = 923.84 − 0.44 T
Cows’s milk : ρ = 923.51 − 0.43 T
Good, know you know what will be wait of 1 Liter Pouch :)
Friday, July 2, 2010
Cooling of Big tanks
Recently i was working on designing tanks with cooling jacket.
In brewery in particular, there is lots of need of cooling of tank, to take care of heating load generated out of fermentation, surface losses & to get temperature profile.
and as a motive to open this blog, is to share what i learn, in my next post I'll discuss this in very detail.
See you all soon
PS : if you need any more info ask me, i can add that too in my post!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
ERP
This implementation has given me insight on various aspects of organization, like finance, production, purchase and offcours engineering.
Point is, can i develop an ERP of my own? I think its not a tough target. But can i implement one? Yes for sure.
See you soon.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Earth quake Factors - Why & How
Their are numerous papers on this, and they are equally qualified to tell you what is earthquake factor all about... but what mater to me is.. how do they do it!
As far as India is concern..The earthquake of 26 January 2001 in Gujarat was unprecedented not only for the state of Gujarat but for the entire country in terms of the damages and the casualties. As the state came out of the shock, literally and otherwise, the public learnt for the first time that the scale of disaster could have been far lower had the constructions in the region complied with the codes of practice for earthquake prone regions. Naturally, as Gujarat began to rebuild the houses, infrastructure and the lives of the affected people, it gave due priority to the issues of code compliance for new constructions.
Seismic activity prone countries across the world rely on “codes of practice” to mandate that all constructions fulfill at least a minimum level of safety requirements against future earthquakes. As the subject of earthquake engineering has evolved over the years, the codes have continued to grow more sophisticated.
Liquid storage tanks are commonly used in industries for storing chemicals, petroleum products, etc. and for storing water in public water distribution systems. Importance of ensuring safety of such tanks against seismic loads cannot be overemphasized.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Earthquake loading - Brief
consideration to the center of gravity of the element. The summation of the moments so found ismultiplied by the seismic factor for the area where the vessel is to operate, thereby yielding a moment due to earthquake or seismic disturbance. For vessels, the seismic factor will usually have a value of 0.03 to 0.12, depending upon the geographical location. Expressed mathematically,
Thickness Calculation for Combined loading
be used to summarize the thickness required :

Here, The terms within the absolute value signs are positive for tensile stresses and negative for compressive stresses. The first term gives the thickness required for the longitudinal stress resulting from internal pressure and is positive for pressures above atmospheric and negative for pressures below atmospheric. The second term is the thickness required to resist the longitudinal bending stress and both positive and negative values exist at the same time. The third term is the thickness required for the weight of the vessel above the seam being investigated and, since this is a compressive stress, it has a negative value. The combination giving the highest value establishes the thickness required to resist the longitudinal stresses.
This formula hold good when the units are in Psi, ft & lb, if the units are in MPA, mm, N then remove the '48' from the formula.
Design : 2 : Shell (External Pressure)
One can design Pressure vessel for either sever combination of various load or for most possible occurrence of load combination.
Load combinations are given in respective 'Building Code' like API, UBC, IS etc.
Yes, If you noticed I've said 'Building Code', why? as most of these loading decides how the pressure vessel, and if it fails, it can harm the occupants. hence design of such loading will be governed by building codes.
These Building code will give su way to calculate loading on tank/vessel, and then our design code like ASME, BS,EN will tell us how to derive the thickness from them.
one should note that, nearly all the design code talks about +ve Internal pressure & -Ve internal pressure & its design rules, but none of the code talk about how to do thickness calculation for the loads specified above.
In latest edition of ASME it does talk about these loading, and ask user to use Engineering practices to calculate loadings (UG-22), loading listed in this sections are
(a) internal or external design pressure (as defined in UG-21);
(b) weight of the vessel and normal contents under operating or test conditions;
(c) superimposed static reactions from weight of attached equipment, such as motors, machinery, other vessels, piping, linings, and insulation;
(d) the attachment of:
(1) internals (see Appendix D);
(2) vessel supports, such as lugs, rings, skirts, saddles, and legs (see Appendix G);
(e) cyclic and dynamic reactions due to pressure or thermal variations, or from equipment mounted on a vessel, and mechanical loadings;
(f) wind, snow, and seismic reactions, where required;
(g) impact reactions such as those due to fluid shock;
(h) temperature gradients and differential thermal expansion;
(i) abnormal pressures, such as those caused by deflagration;
(j) test pressure and coincident static head acting during the test (see UG-99).
In next section, we will discuss how to calculate final thickness of a vessel considering all loadings
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Design : 1 : Shell
Ok, longitudinal stresses comes on circumferencial joints, where as circumferencial stresses comes on longitudinal joints.
And to add cherry on top circumferencial stresses are twise that of longitudinal stresses.
If you are not yet twisted your tongue, and to avoid that we generally call them c'seam and l'seam and c'stress and l'stress.
In below pictures, one can identify types of Seams and Stress.
here p is design pressure, R is internal Radius, L is Length of shell, t is thickness of shell.
Hence with the basic mechanical formula,
t for Hoop stresses = pL (2R)/2 xStressx L = pR/Allw. Stress
t Longitudinal stresses = px3.14xR^2 / (2x3.14xRxAllw. Stress) = PR/2 Allw. Stress
& what ASME Says..
t for Hoop Stress = PR/(SE - 0.6P)
Where S > All. Stress, E > Joint Eff. or factor of safety
why 0.6 P, because, its factor of safety set by ASME People
&
t for Longitudinal Stress = PR/(2SE+0.4P)
Note the '2' in denominator..
if E remain the same for both cases, then thickness given by Hoop stress will be twice that of by Longitudinal stresses


For Calculation Sheet Visit http://sumitmechsoftware.blogspot.com/
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Pressure Vessel catagory (Design Persay)
The Billion dollar Question...
Just to make it easy, we will break the pressure vessel in two category..
1. Pressure Vessel without external loading &
2. Pressure Vessel With external Loading
For Category 1, we can use ASME Section VIII Div. 1 directly, where as for Category 2, we need to consider additional loadings. And for additional loading we need to follow the basic engineering practices.
Hence, in future section, 1st we will discuss the Sizing of Pressure vessel as per ASME Section VIII Div. 1, and then we discuss the additional loading part.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
"Terms" in Pressure Vessels
Limit states: A limit state is a structural condition beyond which the design performance requirements of a component are not satisfied. Limit states are classified into ultimate limit states and serviceability limit states
Elastic limit states: An elastic limit state is a structural condition associated with the onset of plastic deformation. This term is usually used in connection with monotonic actions, and it relates to virtual structures, usually with zero initial stress distribution
OPERATING PRESSURE : The pressure which is required for the process, served by the vessel, at which the vessel is normally operated.
DESIGN PRESSURE : The pressure used in the design of a vessel. It is recommended to design a vessel and its parts for a higher pressure than the operating pressure. A design pressure higher than the operating pressure with 30 psi or 10 percent, whichever is the greater, will satisfy this requirement, The pressure of the fluid and other contents of the vessel should also be taken into consideration.
MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE WORKING PRESSURE : The internal pressure at which the weakest element of the vessel is loaded to the ultimate permissible point
HYDROSTATIC TEST PRESSURE : One and one-half times the maximum allowable working pressure or the design pressure to be marked on the vessel when calculations are not made to determine the maximum allowable working pressure.
There are many more terms than this... but to start with.. these are sufficient.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
What is Pressure Vessel?
More specifically, pressure vessels represent components in sectors of enormous industrial importance, such as the nuclear, oil, petrochemical, and chemical sectors.
There are numerous Codes & Laws present in each country to control the usage of this 'machines'! its useful but its dangerous!
What one need to design a Pressure Vessel?
● good workmanship with regard to the tools used,
● knowledge of the basic engineering principles and the phenomena involved,
● fantasy and creativity with regard to the selection of the models used,
● fair knowledge of the legal requirements pertaining to design,
● fair knowledge of manufacturing and testing procedures, and especially
● extreme carefulness in each step, from the design specification to the design
report.
Pressure Vessel mostly are made-up of 'Steel' Steel behaves in an elastic fashion even beyond the proportional limit, as long as another characteristic point corresponding to stress called elastic limit is not exceeded.In practice, we typically equate the proportional limit to the elastic limit.
we always discuss the steel’s behavior at room temperature. It is, however, of the greatest importance to be aware of the influence of temperature on the mechanical characteristics of the material. As we shall see, not only temperature but also time may have a strong influence.
Next we will discuss some "TERMS"
Thursday, December 24, 2009
What Next?
I think this one of the interesting subject, and we find lots of data over here and their defining how to design pressure vessel.
Some people take advantage of this and confuse you some time.. end result you may get over size vessel (high cost) or under size vessel (Dangerous!)
Solution.. buy High end software!! Sure. thats the last thing I'll recommend!
Hence onward, for few more post we will discuss this subject, and I'm open for suggestions and lengthy discussions over this :)
So next post.. Over view on Pressure Vessel (Simplified :)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Visit to Drinktec
Right now I'm at drinktec,and sharing my experience with you all.
Drinktec (website : www.drinktec.com) Drinktec is an exhibition which happen at Munich germany after each 4 year! Its for people from Brewery & Beverages.
The exhibitors are manufacturers & supplier from/ for same Industry.
Its a good experience for new bee like me, who is very new to this industry. you will find here huge stalls from all equipments around the world. I've seen huge bottling plant made alive in Stall at exhibition.
I'll share few pictures from exhibitions soon.
Chao!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Material Properties

These steels are mainly used in wet environments. Withincreasing chromium and molybdenum contents, the steels become increasingly resistant to aggressive solutions. The higher nickel content reduces the risk of stress corrosion cracking. Austenitic steels are more or less resistant to general corrosion, crevice corrosion
and pitting, depending on the quantity of alloying elements.
Resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion is very important if the steel is to be used in chloride-containing environments. Resistance to pitting and crevice corrosion increases with increasing contents of chromium, molybdenum and nitrogen.
Material of Construction
In pressure Part Industry we use various type of material.
Typically in industry like this, we mainly classify material as Mild Steel also known as Carbon Steel, we also use low & high alloy steel & yes stainless steel!
What diffrentiate staineless steel from Carbon steel is its corrosion resistance properties, whcih comes because of its alloy elements.
In my blog hence onward, we will discuss about the material of constrution that we use in this industry.
I'll come back soon.
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Monday, January 19, 2009
Good Websites
After long time I'm updating my blog.
Please find here some shortcut to useful websites.
http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/scol/ccpress.htm For Conversion
http://www.unitconversion.org/ for Conversion
http://mrnathan.munichre.com/ For World Sesmic/Wind Chart!
http://www.nicee.org/IITK-GSDMA_Codes.php Great india IIT website for earthquake and wind load calculations
http://www.allstainlessltd.co.uk/otherproducts.asp Good site for pipe fittings details
I'll update more links soon..
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Left Thermax & Joined Ziemann
Till then take care..
Monday, April 28, 2008
VALVES FUNDA

A power operated device, which modifies the fluid flow rate in a process control system. It consists of a valve connected to an actuator mechanism that is capable of changing the position of a flow controlling element in the valve in response to a signal from the controlling system.
Mainly control valves, which are used for the flow control (with some turn down) are Globe valve
Before we start on valve sizing part, lates start with the main terminology used for the Control Valves
TRIM: The internal parts of a valve which are in flowing contact with the controlled fluid.
Examples are the plug, seat ring, cage, stem and the parts used to attach the stem to the plug.
The body, bonnet, bottom flange, guide means and gaskets are not considered as part of the
trim.
Closure member: A movable part of the valve which is positioned in the flow path to modify the rate of flow through the valve.
Plug: A cylindrical part which moves In the flow stream with linear motion to modify the flow rate and which may or may not have a contoured portion to provide flow characterization.
Seat ring: A part that is assembled in the valve body and may provide part of the
flow control orifice. Seat Ring also can be an integral part of the body or cage material or may be
constructed from material added to the body or cage.
Cage: A part in a globe valve surrounding the closure member to provide alignment and
facilitate assembly of other parts of the valve trim. The cage may also provide flow
characterization and/or a seating surface for globe valves and flow characterization for some
plug valves.
Globe valve plug guides: The means by which the plug is aligned with the seat and held stable throughout its travel. The guide Is held rigidly in the body or bonnet.
Stem guide: A guide bushing closely fitted to the valve stem and aligned with the seat.
Disadvantage: Higher pressure drops and minor cavitation can excite vibrational modes that are
very destructive and can result in valve failure.
Post guide: Guide bushing or bushings fitted to posts or extensions larger than the valve stem
and aligned with the seat.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Boiler Design Life
How one arrive at this figure? I've asked this question so many time to may expert inthis field but not able to get any satisfactory answer.
Recently i went thru ASME VIII Division1 , where the Fatigue requirements are discussed.
If the boiler pressure variation is less than 20% then we need not to consider those variation in fluctuating load. Only boiler cold stat-up & shut down need to be considred while calculating the fluctuating cycle.
i.e for 12 bar(g) design pressure boiler, the maximum operating pressure is 90% of design pressure i,e 10.8 bar(g) 20% of pressure variation means , pressure below 8.6 bar(g) will be counted for fluctuating load.
also delta temperature is important while calculating the fluctuation temperature.
for Delta of 200 (Star-up condition) the equivalent cycle is 4 per star-up & for
delta of 100 (Shut-down condition) the equivalent cycle is 1 per shut down, i.e if boiler is closing 15 time per month, it 12 per year, the cycle it will go thru is (4+1) x 15 x 12 = 900 cycles.
Approx, 10000 cycle boiler can take by design, i.e boiler design life will be = 10000/900 = 11.11 year approx.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Convection Continuied..
Now the big question.. the flow parameter Re & thermal parameter Pr, how they connects to HEAT TRANSFER???
So for our help.. Mr. Nusselt has created Nusselt Number!!
The traditional dimensionless form Nusselt number Nu, which may be defined as the ratio of convection heat transfer to fluid conduction heat transfer under the same conditions.
Nusselt number Nu can be calculated as
Nu = X . Re^y.Pr^z
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Heat Transfer : CONVECTION At Glance
Heat transfer occur when there is Delta T Across the two bodies.. heat always flow from hot side to cold side. Heat transfer may occur under natural draft or under forced circulation.
Industrial heat transfer equipment are mostly occur under forced condition.
As discussed above, one can conclude that the flow characteristics of the fluid on any side will pay an important role!!
We may recall our old books and some jargon like ' boundary layer', 'Lamina Flow' , 'Turbulent Flow' etc.
Lay-Mann says: As we break the boundary layer.. more new fluid molecule come in contact with the surface & more heat they will carry.. So in Laminar flow the heat transfer will be less as fluid wall touching the heating surface is not leaving the place & core will remain unaffected! while in turbulent flow the boundary wall will brake & better heat transfer will occur.
This 'Turbulent' thing can be identified scientifically using Reynolds analogy . Same is represented with Reynold's Number.
Reynold's number can be calculated as:

Prandtl Number can be calculates as
As you have noticed, Reynold's number is depends on carrier geometry & fluid properties, while Prandle number is depends on fluid property only.
Now how to use these number to evaluate heat transfer??
Wait for my next Scrap..
Saturday, February 16, 2008
About Shell & Tube heat Exchangers
IS 4503 is the code for heat exchanger ..
Type of heat exchanger
- Fixed Tube Plate
- U Tube
- Floating head
- 2.5 kg/cm²(g)
- 6.3 kg/cm²(g)
- 10 kg/cm²(g)
- 16 kg/cm²(g)
- 25 kg/cm²(g)
- 40 kg/cm²(g)
Max. Allowable Metal Temperature
- Carbon Steel : 250ºC
- SS : 120ºC
- Non-ferrous : 65ºC
- Carbon Steel : 540ºC
- SS : 590ºC
- Non-ferrous : 200ºC
Tube Pitch : 1.25 times the diameter of the tube
Tube Plate thickness is depend on the Tube outside diameter
Spacing of tube plate support (baffle) : minimum 50mm (varies from 0.6m to 2.5m)
Baffle distance to be decided to avoid any flow induced vibration which will lead to tube to tube plate cracking. TEMA has very indepth calculation to avoid these kind of ' harmonic' vibrations.
Something About Pressure Vessel/Heat Exchanger Codes
These codes are not performance oriented code, these are safety oriented code. The basic approach of the code is from user point of view.. more the hazard stringent will be the code.
The Category of the pressure vessel are depends upon hazard the pressure vessel failure will lead to..
The classification depends upon pressure/volume/ liquid category (lethal or normal) .
European directive for the Pressure vessel is PED 97/23 EC (Pressure equipment directive)
Famous Code of construction used world wide are
EN 12953 : SHELL BOILER
EN 12952 : COIL / TUBE BOILER
EN 13445 : UNFIRED Pressure Vessel
BS 5500/ PD 5500 : UNFIRED Pressure Vessel
IS 2825 : UNFIRED Pressure Vessel
IS 4503 : Heat Exchanger
ASME VIII Div1 : UNFIRED Pressure vessel
BS 2790 : SHELL BOILER (replace with EN code)
BS 1113 : COIL / TUBE BOILER (replace with EN Code)
TEMA : Heat exchanger code
TRD : German Code for Fired Vessel / BOILER
GOST : Russian Code for Fired/ unfired vessel / BOILER
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Feed Pump Selection
Inputs
Actul Flow in m3/hr ?
Design head MWC ?
Operating head MWC ?
Minimum Flow required for safer operating of the pump ?
How the by pass is maintained, using Orifice or control Valve ?
Let Boiler Steam flow rate is 31000 kg/hr
Flow
32.488 m3/hr X 1.05 (design factor) + Min. bypass flow via orifice = 40.87 m3/hr
Head
(Boiler pressure + pr. drop in system ) x 1.05 (design factor) = 207.38 MLC
| SIZING PARAMETERS | ||||||
| Pr. Drop | Flow | Head | Density | |||
| Flow Rate | 31000 | m3/hr | MLC | kg/m3 | ||
| Working pr | 18 | 1.75 | 40.87 | 207.38 | 955.317 | |
| Design Pr | 20 | 1.75 | 40.87 | 228.38 | 995.331 | |
| Temp | 105 | |||||
| Rated Flow | 34 | |||||
| % Bypass | 20 | |||||
Select the pump for 40.87 m3/hr & 207MLC & 228MLC Condition
Superheater - Gas Flow
As discussed before the configuration could be of three type (majourly)
- Parallel Flow
- Counter Flow
- Cross Flow
While complexity increases in reverse direction.
The superheater has flue gas on one side & Ideal gas on other. As steam has less capacity of carring the heat than water, we have to give more area.
The velocity of steam & flue gas plays a majour role in deciding the compact ness of heat exchanger.
More the velocity, more will be reynold's number, higher will be nusselt number, higher will be heat transfer co-efficient which leads to higher over all heat transfer co-efficient & hence
lesser Area.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Superheater - Performance Optimization
One must always ensure that dry steam (99%) is coming in the superheater.
Just to give you the picture..
- for 98% Dry steam.. the unit energy required to make steam 100% dry+70ºC superheat
- for 99% Dry steam.. the unit energy required to make steam 100% dry +70ºC superheat
i.e if you give 99% dry.. 61.5-56.1 = 5.4Kcal/kg i.e for 6000kg/hr its 40KW less energy is required.
Lower heat demand.. means lower heat transfer area.
Now Dryness can be improved by giving dimister pad or giving external equipment to improve steam dryness.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Superheater Program
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Superheater Design
Superheater are of Two Type
1. Convective type
2. Radiant type
Convective super heater gives maximum of 80ºC of Superheat while, Radiant Superheat can give 150-300ºC Superheat. Former is more prone to thermal failure & rarely used in 'flue gas boiler'.
I'll discuss the convective type super heater.
The basic criterion for the design are
1. Degree of superheat required
2. Steam Dryness available at inlet of super heater
3. Heat duty available.
4. Maximum pressure drop allowed in the system.
5. Flue gas maximum temperature.
6. Type of heat exchanger configuration flow, Cross/Parallel/counter etc.
Flue gas maximum temperature is required to select the MOC of the super heater tubes
for Heat duty following equation shall be validated
M Cp DT = m. (Unit enthalpy of steam)
Where
M = Mass of flue gas
cp = Heat capacity of the flue gas
DT = Temp. drop across super heater
m = mass of Steam
Friday, November 30, 2007
NOx of the Boiler
Mainly in retrofit market Nox commitment can be achieved by changing burner design & Burner refractory.
Type of Nox
1. Thermal Nox Contributes to 80% of Total Nox
2. Instant Nox Contributes to 15% of Total Nox
3. Fuel Nox Contributes to 5% of Total Nox
I'll write in details later..
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Burner Design
Three parameters decides performances of the burner
1. Turbulence,
May be created by 'Swearler' & high velocities, which results in better fuel atomization. optimum size of fuel droplet is 50 microns
2. Time,
Time of residence, residence time of the fuel during combustion, for gas its low, for LDO its high & for FO its highest
3. Temperature,
Right & high temperature at core, wil yield better combustion.
O2%
O2% gives excess air level, excess air decides fuel qty, more excess air, more the fuel gases, more stack temperature & hence more stack losses, as more air is carrying the heat with it.
Heat is carried away with the N2 in the flue gases, which can't be recovered & hence carried away in stack.
Fast Burner Funda!!
The Flame Visibility
1. Low Luminous flame causes, Non uniform Temperature & heat flux distribution
2.Low Luminous flame causes Poor radiant heat transfer & hence lower thermax efficiency
3. While More luminous flame gives Good radiant heat transfer, Low flame temperature & low NOx
Flame Geometry & O2
Blue Whitish flame,7.5% O2 Whisling Noise
At high excess air & velocity, molecules of the fuel start burning in fractions. on-off in this manner they produce small explosion along the length.
Hence flame will be bright & fluctuating in nature
Blueish pinkish flame
Less blue, more pink gives less NOx, higher blue flame suggest excess air & higher NOx
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Critical Heat Flux for Any Flue gas Tube Steam Genrator
During the brainstorming session, we have come with a critical question on 'Furnace life' due to higher heat loading in the furnace. during the 'research', I came across a term, Critical heat flux(CHF) or the 'burn out point'.
The past decade has witnessed unprecedented improvements in the performance of packaged boiler which were brought about, for the most part, by a restless pursuit of reducing the foot print of boiler. These advances have led to increases in the amount of heat that is dissipated and has to be removed from these furnaces to keep its life up & good heat transfer, large increase in heat dissipation per unit surface area is now the benchmark for designing of the furnace.
The CHF is a very interesting and important phenomenon from both fundamental and practical points of view. From the fundamental point of view, CHF accompanies tremendous changes in heat transfer, pressure drop and flow regime.
The critical heat flux (CHF) condition is characterized by a sharp reduction of the local heat transfer coefficient that results from the replacement of liquid by vapor adjacent to the heat transfer surface (Collier & Thome, 1994). The occurrence of CHF is accompanied by an inordinate increase in the surface temperature for heat-flux-controlled systems, and an inordinate decrease in the heat transfer rate for temperature-controlled systems. The CHF condition is generally more important in the heat-flux-controlled systems, since the temperature increase can threaten the physical integrity of the heated surface.



Dissipation of large heat fluxes at relatively small temperature differences is possible in systems utilizing boiling phenomenon as long as the heated wall remains wetted with the liquid. With the wetted wall condition at the heated surface, heat is transferred by a combination of two mechanisms:
(i) bubbles are formed at the active nucleation cavities on the heated surface, and heat is transferred by the nucleate boiling mechanism, and
(ii) heat is transferred from the wall to the liquid film by convection and goes into the bulk liquid or causes evaporation at the liquid-vapor interface. The large amount of energy associated with the latent heat transfer (compared to the sensible energy change in the liquid corresponding to the available temperature potential in the system) in the case of nucleate boiling, or the efficient heat transfer due to liquid convection at the wall, both lead to very high heat transfer coefficients in flow boiling systems. Removal or depletion of liquid from the heated wall therefore leads to a sudden degradation in the heat transfer rate.
The way in which the heated surface arrives at the liquid starved condition in a flow boiling system determines whether it is termed as Critical Heat Flux
At atmospheric pressure, The critical heat flux is slightly above 1MW/m². The formula for calculation of heat flux is given below.
This formula is derived by Zuber,N and its more in line with the practical values


Saturday, June 2, 2007
Heart of Thermal Engineering
Yes Dear,
The heart of thermal engineering is this.. Go any where & this formula will follow you :)
In any heat exchanger you must balance following equations
Mh x cph x DT h = Mc x cpc x DTc = U A LMTD
Where , h & c are for Hot & Cold fluid।
I'm attaching a Paper for your reference, You can study it & answer them all.
http://www.sendmefile.com/00540546
Friday, June 1, 2007
About the Tools!
Here I'll share about the tools I'm developing
If you are intrested please mail me @ papasumit@gmail.com for a FREE COPY
You can see the Screen shots of the programs.. I'll add details soon
Boiler Engineers Tool
Fuel Combustion Tool
Heat Exchanger Design

Finned Tube Heat Exchanger Design
More to come....

























