Structural optimization for ball valve made of CF8M stainless steel

The mechanical and chemical properties of CF8M were studied through experiments. An application of CF8M in valve body was analyzed by using finite element method(FEM) to evaluate the structural safety. An optimization containing several variables based on the response surface method(RSM) was conducted to find the optimum dimension of the valve. The results show that using this process can save valve mass as well as the computational expense effectively.