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Pressure vessels mounted on four-leg type supports form a non-isotopic support system with respect to lateral loads or overturning moments. Several loadings—for example, horizontal earthquake motions and wind loads—do not have a predefined direction of action. Structural safety analysis requires the determination of the most vulnerable direction of loading for the structure. Closed-form expressions for these loadings under certain conditions are derived in this paper. The importance of ‘optimality’ with respect to the developed stress in the support is illustrated via a numerical example.

An expansion joint is normally employed to alleviate the tube axial load in fixed tubesheet heat exchangers. Incorporation of an expansion joint usually results in increased tubesheet thickness and hence increased cost of hardware. A design strategy to simultaneously reduce both tubejoint load and tubesheet stress in the heat exchanger (without the usual recourse of expansion joints) is presented in this paper. The range of application and practical feasibility of this concept is also discussed.

Obround cross sections find extensive industrial use in pressure vessels and pipings. Yet guidelines for their design are not available in the published literature. The obround shape is inherently unsuitable to withstand internal pressure. Support gussets must be added to such pressure vessels to render their use economical. This paper gives a method to efficiently design a pressurised obround cross section by determining the appropriate gusset plate locations, and the associated bending stresses. Formulae to design the obround flanged end closures are also given.