A case study of structural industrial pressure vessel under wind load

Tall structures that are in the open atmosphere are subjected to self-weight and wind loads. The investigation of an industrial pressure vessel can be vital from the security perspective based on its configuration such as its buttress at the base level and wind speeds. In this study, an industrial pressure vessel with a relatively low aspect ratio (height versus width) subjected to varying ‘steady’ wind loads has been analyzed to check for its dynamic stability. The pressure vessel in this current condition is standing on its three equidistant legs. The pressure vessel is assumed to be filled with material to simulate critical condition in the case of static and strength analysis. SolidWorks and ANSYS software were used to compare the results of this analysis. The analysis shows the support is sustainable under the loading as recommended with a factor of safety near 1.2 for a critical condition. The stability of the structure was investigated utilizing dynamic analysis. Various ‘steady’ wind speeds were investigated with emphasis on the maximum wind velocity recorded locally in the last 50 years of 120 mph. The vortex shedding frequencies were calculated for the structure at various wind speeds to determine whether a ‘steady’ wind would induce a resonance condition. The vortex shedding frequency depends on Strouhal and Reynold’s numbers, ‘steady’ wind speed, and the diameter of the obstructing body in this case. Theoretical calculations and software generated results were utilized for this computation. Based on the results, the current pressure vessel design is found to be safe under operating conditions. A parametric study was performed with different design configurations with similar cost of pressure vessel support structures to improve the stiffness of the system. In the future, an experimental study of vibrational measurements will be performed on a scaled down pressure vessel model utilizing a wind tunnel. A specialized software designated MecaStack will be used for vortex shedding effect analysis.