MODELLING AND ANALYSIS OF CRITICAL COMPONENTS OF INDUSTRIAL PIPING SYSTEM

Abstract

This dissertation report consists of modeling and analysis of bolted flange joint (BFJ) which is one of the important industrial piping components. Bolted flange joint can fail due to stress, corrosion, crack, vibration and seismic behavior. Finite Element Analysis using ANSYS was carried out to obtain causes of the failure and the results obtained exhibit a favorable performance of the examined joint under axial and bending loading and show favorable results in terms of strength, ductility and leakage. Two non-standard BFJ are made using European standard EN 1092-1 (2007) and then thickness is reduced using EN 1993-1-8 (2005) and is compared to standard one which is made using European standard EN 1092-1 (2007) to check the performance under tensile and bending loading. Bolted flange joint is subjected to a load up to 500KN to check the durability and yielding criteria of the joint. Flange thickness, width of flange and number of bolts are also responsible for effective bolt tension which is kept in mind to find the favorable loading condition. It has been found that nonstandard BFJ are better than standard one and produces less chances of failure so that piping system can be made more reliable and risk free.