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PressureVesselDimensionInspection

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The
Pressure
Vessel
Dimension
Inspection article provides you with
information about the dimensional
requirements
in
pressure
vessel
construction
and
pressure
vessel
inspection.

More
than300
Articles!

You may know some fabrication

tolerances have not been addressed in
ASMECodeSectionVIII.
Soyouneedtorefertoothersourcesfor
inspection. This article provides you the
most important dimensional inspection
requirements.
The dimensional check of a pressure
vesselconsistsofthefollowingitems:

Fix
Equipment

MillUndertoleranceofPlatesand
Pipes
TolerancesforFormedHeads
OutofRoundnessofshell
NozzlesandattachmentsOrientation

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PressureVesselDimensionInspection

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Nozzlesandattachmentselevation
Nozzlesandattachmentslevelness

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Weldmismatch
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Mill Undertolerance of Plates and

Pipes
Pressure
Vessel
InspectionPlate:

Dimension

Your pressure vessel plates with 0.01

inch or 6% undertolerance, whichever is
smaller, may be used for full design
pressure, instead of at the given design
thicknessspecified.

However, if the material specification

E&I
Equipmentallows greater undertolerance, then the
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orderedthicknessforthematerialshould
besufficientlygreater.

For example, if you have SA 516 Gr.70

plate with a 0.625 inch nominal
thickness, and the actual thickness is
0.615,itisacceptable,andyoumayuse
this plate without any specific design
consideration.

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Butifthesameplatehasanactual
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Inspectionfor
considermillundertolarenceinyour
Industry
designcalculation.
Newsletter.

This plate thickness is acceptable based

onthematerialspecification(seetablein
SA 20 for thickness tolerances). We
cannot reject this plate because it is in
the permissible tolerance of plate
specification, but based on ASME Code
SECVIIIDiv1,youneedtoconsiderthis
0.03 inches in your design calculation:
e.g. Thickness = Min Thickness +
CorrosionAllowance+MillUndertolrance
Pressure
Vessel
InspectionPipe:

Dimension

Contrarytotheplatematerial,yourpipe
and tube mill undertolrances need to be
taken
into
account
for
design
consideration.
Pipe and tube undertolrances are almost
12.5 % of the nominal wall thickness,
but sometimes there are differences for
different materials, so for any specific
material, it shall be referred to the
suggested pipe or tube material
specification to obtain the exact amount
ofmillundertolrances.
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Forexample,ifthereisapressurevessel
with nominal shell thickness of 0.5 inch,
it needs a 6 SA 106 Gr.B nozzle to be
attachedtotheshellplate.
Assume that external loading is not a
design controlling factor (is not
governor), so as our minimum, nozzle
thickness will be the same as the shell
thickness.
So with a consideration of 12.5%, the
calculation will be: 0.5 / 0.875 = 0.571
inches. So when we refer to ASME
B36.10 and select our pipe schedule it
willbeSA106Gr.BSchedule160.

Pressure
Vessel
Dimension
Inspection Tolerances for Formed
Head:
You may know that there is a specific
rule for dimensional checking of formed
heads, based the fact that the UG81
innersurfaceshallnotdeviateoutsideof
the specified shape more than 114% of
Dandinsidetheshapemorethan58%.
You can use sweep boards, which are
made by cutting a thin steel sheet or
piece of wood for checking your crown
andknuckleradius.
Foryourskirt,thedifferencebetweenthe
maximumandminimuminsidediameter,
should not be more than 1%, and you
canuseatapemeasureorlasermeasure
fordimensionalcontroloftheskirt.
So to fully understand, let's check the
followingheadtogether:

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HeadID=3364mm
HeadType:Torispherical
Limit for Outside of specified Shape =
3364x1%=42.05mm
Limit for Inside of specified Shape =
3364x5/8%=21.025mm
So we check the depth, and the drawing
is 656.3 mm and the actual is 672 mm,
soitisoutsideoftheshape.Weneedto
checkifitisintherangeoftolerance,so
the maximum outside of the shape will
be42.05+656.3=698.35soouractual
value is 672 mm. 672<698.35, so it is
OK.
Wecutasweepboardequaltothehead
drawing crown radius (3400 mm) and
otheronefortheknuckleradiusequalto
204 mm, so we try to fit the sweep
boards in the heads for the above
example of the sweep boards. The edge
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distance to the head surface should not

bedeviatefromtheabovelimitedvalues.
SkirtmaxandminIDshouldnotbemore
than 1% of the ID, which is 33.64 mm.
So, in the above example skirt is also is
OK. Our nominal thickness is 20 mm, so
up to 19.746 is acceptable then for the
aboveexample.Thethickness dimension
isalsoOK.
Sotheaboveheaddimensionsareok
Pressure
Vessel
Dimension
Inspection Out of Roundness of
Shell:
UG80 deals with out of roundness of
shell. The maximum permitted ovality
tolerance (D max D min) shall not
exceed 1% of the nominal diameter of
thevessel.
If you have an opening, then the
tolerancecanbeincreasedby2%xd(d
= diameter of opening), if the
measurement is taken within a distance
ofdfromtheaxisoftheopening.
The out of roundness generally is
measuredintwodirectionswithanormal
measuringtapeorlasermeasure,soone
direction would be the D max and other
onewouldbetheDmin.
The following picture shows an out of
roundnessmeasurement:

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Pressure
Vessel
Dimension
Inspection

Nozzles
and
AttachmentsOrientation:
ASME Code SEC VIII Div 1 has not
specified the orientation tolerances for
nozzles and attachments, so you need
refertothepressurevesselhandbook.
Itisalmost+/1degree.Theorientation
check can be done by a simple
calculation by using a measuring tape in
the actual measurement work on the
vessel.
For example, we want to check N3
orientationinfollowingdrawing.

N3 is located at 120 degrees in the

drawing. The manufacturer has located
this point in the vessel with a marker,
andwewanttocheckthelocation,andif
it is OK, then we can allow the
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manufacturertocut.
Sowerunthissimplecalculation:
VesselOD=97.875
ShelloutsideCircumferencelength=x
OD=3.14x97.875=307.3275
307.3275 distributed to 360 degrees so
eachdegreerepresents
307.3275/360=0.8536
N3islocatedatthe120degreeposition,
soifweuseameasuringtapeandkeep0
at the zero reference point in the vessel
and pull the tape, the nozzle center
should be located at 120 x 0.8536 =
102.4425inches.
This 102.4425 is a perfect case so our
tolerance is 1 degrees. So if the tape
showsinfollowingrange,itwillbeOK.
102.44250.8536=101.5889
102.4425+0.8536=103.2961
Pressure
Vessel
Dimension
Inspection

Nozzles
and
AttachmentsProjection:
Nozzle and attachment projection is the
lengthfromthenozzleortheattachment
facetothevesselshellcenterline.
Projection dimensions are addressed in
general
assembly
drawings.
The
projection tolerances are not addressed
in ASME Code SEC VIII Div 1, but if you
refer to the pressure vessel handbook,
almost0.25ofaninchispermissible.
Infollowingfigure,weneedtocheckthe
BD nozzle projection. It should be 660
mm in distance from shell centerline to
theflangeface.
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Inpracticalmeasurement,youmayusea
measuring tape to measure the distance
between the shell outside circumference
to the nozzle face. Then the measured
valueissummedwiththeshellthickness
and the inside radius. So for the above
example, the following range is
acceptable:

6606.35=653.65
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660+6.35=666.35
Pressure
Vessel
Dimension
Inspection

Nozzles
and
AttachmentsElevation:
Your Nozzles and attachments elevation
is the length between the nozzles or the
attachmentscenterlineandthebottomor
topheadtangentline.
The elevation dimension is addressed
directlyinthegeneralassemblydrawing.
The elevation tolerances are not
addressedinASMECodeSECVIIIDiv1,
but if you refer to the pressure vessel
handbook, almost 0.25 inch is
permissible.
In following figure, we need to check
Nozzle EB elevation. As you see in the
drawing,thedistancebetweenthenozzle
centerline to the bottom head tangent
lineis700mm.

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In actual measurement, the measuring

tapeorlasermeasureisusedtomeasure
from the nozzle neck center line to the
tangent line. In this example, the
followingrangeisacceptable:
7006.35=693.65
700+6.35=706.35
Pressure
Vessel
Dimension
Inspection

Nozzles
and
AttachmentsLevelness:
The nozzles and attachments levelness
tolerances are not addressed in ASME
CodeSECVIIIDiv1,butinthepressure
vessel handbook, a deflection is
permissible.
For levelness checking, a level gage is
used.Ifthebubbleisinthemiddleofthe
designatedlines,thenozzleislevel.
But if the bubble intersects the
designated limit lines, you need to run a
simple calculation and see if your
deflectioniswithinthetolerancelimit.

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You need to move one end of the level

gage up to the bubble to be placed in
middle. Then measure the distance
between the level gage end and the
flangeface.ThemeasuredvalueistheX
inthefigure.
Thenobtain,ifislessthan0.5,the
deflectionfallswithinthetolerances.And
it is OK otherwise it will require cutting
outandrewelding.
Pressure
Vessel
Dimension
InspectionWeldMismatch:
ASME Code SEC VIII Div. 1 specified
tolerances for weld mismatch in UW33.
It is important to know that the limit for
weldmismatchisstringentforacategory
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A
weld
(Longitudinal joint
and
circumferential shell to hemispherical
head).
The concept behind this is that the
longitudinal joint bears double the
amount of stress, and inspectors should
preciselycheckthesejoints.
Forexample,youhaveapressurevessel
with a nominal thickness of 1 inch. You
doavisualandmeasurethemismatchby
the welding gauge. Assume you found a
0.143 inch mismatch in one longitudinal
andonecircumferentialjoint.
SoyoulooktotheUW33table:

The permissible weld mismatch in the

longitudinaljointforyourcaseis0.125of
aninch,andforthecircumferentialjoint,
itis0.1875ofaninch.
Your weld mismatches for both
longitudinalandcircumferentialjointsare
0.143, so your circumferential joint is
OK, but your longitudinal joint should be
repaired.
Pressure
Vessel
Dimension
InspectionWeldReinforcement:
The same concept for weld mismatch
exists for weld reinforcement tolerances.
The longitudinal joint weld reinforcement
limit is more stringent than that for
circumferentialjoints.
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This is because longitudinal joint bears

double stress, and it is required that the
stressconcentrationisminimized.

Inthesameexample,assumethatthere
are0.150ofaninchweldsreinforcement
forbothcategoryAandBwelds.Doyou
wanttoreviewyourweldacceptance?
CategoryAallowances=0.093inch
CategoryBallowances=0.1875
SoourcircumferentialjointisOK,butthe
longitudinal is not OK and should be
repaired by removing the excess weld
reinforcement.

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