Reverse engineering of nitrogen pressure vessel

Industry

Manufacturing

Services

Reverse Engineering, Pressure Vessels

Location

The challenge

DOCAN were contracted to produce an engineering documentation pack for a pressure vessel for which there is currently no existing documentation.

Given the absence of any original design/verification documentation, DOCAN completed a Reverse Engineering (RE) exercise on the vessel to produce the engineering documentation pack.

reverse engineering of a nitrogen pressure vessel

The DOCAN solution

Reverse engineering was completed by:

Complete surveying and measurement to characterise the main features of the vessel, namely:

a. Material identification via chemical analysis and hardness measurement.

b. Ultra-Sonic Thickness Measurement (USTM).

c. Exterior dimension measurement via 3D laser scanning.

2. Consolidate all survey results into a single reference source which provides a record of all key vessel dimensions.

3. From the survey results, establish a suitable design code that correlates with the material mechanical properties and design features of the vessel.

4. Produce a set of engineering calculations using proprietary pressure vessel design software to verify that the as-built vessel complies with the adopted design code.

5. Produce an engineering GA drawing for the vessel which includes all significant design features and can be used by the client (or others) as a record of the vessel’s as-built condition.

The outcome

The main outcomes from this work were:

Design code PD 5500 was selected as an appropriate design code against which a design basis for the vessel can be established
Steel grade BS1501-151-430A was established as a suitable grade of steel upon which to determine the minimum thickness requirements of the vessel.
The vessel’s internal design pressure was determined 14barg
The minimum thickness requirements of the vessel were determined.
The as-built vessel was determined as safe.

nitrogen pressure vessel reverse engineering

Project summary

Task	Application	DOCAN Expertise	USTM	Laser scanning	XRF analysis	Hardness testing	Pv Elite	Solidworks	PD5500	Pipe Stress Analysis	ASME B31.3
Surveying	Materials identification
Surveying	Dimensional measurement

Pressure Systems Engineering	Design code identification
Pressure Systems Engineering	Pressure vessel/piping calculations
Root Cause Failure Analysis	Engineering drawings

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