A Study on Fatigue Life Evaluation of Pressure Vessel Made of ASME SA240-316L Material Using Numerical Analysis

Abstract

Pressure vessels are subjected to repeated loads during use and charging, which can causefine physical damage even in the elastic region. If the load is repeated under stress conditions belowthe yield strength, internal damage accumulates. Fatigue life evaluation of the structure of thepressure vessel using finite element analysis (FEA) is used to evaluate the life cycle of the structuraldesign based on finite element method (FEM) technology. This technique is more advanced thanfatigue life prediction that uses relational equations. This study describes fatigue analysis to predictthe fatigue life of a pressure vessel using stress data obtained from FEA. The life prediction results areuseful for improving the component design at a very early development stage. The fatigue life of thepressure vessel is calculated for each node on the model, and cumulative damage theory is used tocalculate the fatigue life. Then, the fatigue life is calculated from this information using the FEanalysis software ADINA and the fatigue life calculation program WINLIFE.