In-situ stress measurement comparison of aluminum pressure vessels under high working pressures.

The results of residual stress measurements on autofrettage monoblock pressure vessels before and after 100+ pressure and temperature cycles; and, for the first time, in-situ stress measurements on a vessel under high working pressures as measured by neutron diffraction is presented here. High-pressure vessel design depends heavily on finite element analysis (FEA) which, though useful, requires more data to execute a comparison of the stresses encountered in a working pressure vessel. In-situ pressure stress measurements by neutron diffraction may provide useful data for refinements in FEA calculations and determine vessel pressure/temperature cycling behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]