Fitness-for-service assessment of spherical pressure vessels with hot spots

Spherical shapes are used in industry as hemispherical vessel heads or high-pressure storage vessels due to the inherent strength associated with the shape. Structural integrity of such components needs to be evaluated periodically to prevent failure of the vessels under operating conditions. The paper develops a method for Level 2 (as defined by API 579 [(2000). Fitness-for-service, API 579. Washington, DC: American Petroleum Institute]) fitness-for-service estimation of spherical shapes subject to local hot spots where the temperatures are elevated due to local damage. The decay length for spherical shells is determined, and the size of hot spot to be identified as local is proposed. A lower bound “remaining strength factor” (RSF) for spherical pressure vessels containing hot spots is formulated by the application of Mura's variational formulation and the mα-multiplier method. The effectiveness of the proposed Level 2 method is evaluated and demonstrated through an example.