Paper 3: Use of Higher Stresses in the Design of Pressure Vessels

This paper summarizes very briefly the history of the use in Germany and elsewhere of design stresses for vessels which are higher by up to 50 per cent than those allowed by British Standard 1500 and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Code, and of the approach of Imperial Chemical Industries to this problem.

On the technical side the criteria which should govern local stresses in pressure vessels and their permissible values were then considered, an aspect of design which has received less public discussion than the estimation of stresses due to local loads. The conclusions reached have formed the basis of recommendations submitted in collaboration with other interested organizations to the British Standards Institution.

The use of higher design stresses implies that there is a smaller margin for errors in design or shortcomings in quality of materials or manufacture. The administration of the pressure vessel code in Germany is reviewed and comparisons are drawn with the bodies available for similar purposes in Britain.