Theoretical Stress Analysis of Intersecting Cylindrical Shells Subjected to External Forces on Nozzle

Abstract

The stress analysis based on thin shell theory is presented for a cylindrical shell with a normally intersecting nozzle subjected to three kinds of branch pipe forces, which are tension and two shear forces. The basic mechanical models for the three load cases are presented in order to obtain the solutions independent of the length of the main shell and branch pipe. The applicable range of the present solution is expanded up to d∕D⩽0.8 and λ=d∕DT⩽12 by means of the accurate cylindrical shell equations and continuity conditions and the improved numerical method. The theoretical results are verified by test and three-dimensional (3D) finite element method (FEM) results. The maximum stress for tension force case are in good agreement with WRC Bulletin No. 297 when λ is small. The comparison between the present results and WRC Bulletin No. 107 shows that the latter needs improvement.