Pressure Vessel Lab

Nick Leach

Group 3a

MAE 244, Sec. 2, Dr. Feng

December 1, 2005
Schematic:
Analysis of Results:

• Data Reduction:

The equations mainly used in this lab are:

σz = PD , σh = PD , εz = 1 (σz – υ*σHh) , εh = 1 (σh – υ*σz) ,

4t 2t E E
where σz is the longitudinal stress, σh is the hoop stress, εz is the longitudinal
strain, εh is the hoop strain, P is the load, D is the diameter of the vessel, t is the thickness
of the vessel walls, E is the modulus of elasticity for the material of the vessel, and υ is
the value of Poisson’s Ratio for the material.

• Comparisons:

Gage 90 Gage 0 Gage -45 Gage -45 Gage 67.5 Gage -22.5 Gage 45 Gage 90
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Pressure (με) (με) (με) (με) (με) (με) (με) (με)
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
20 38 8 21 21 30 12 22 35
40 77 18 46 44 66 25 44 72
60 110 27 68 66 96 37 65 105
80 148 35 90 87 126 49 88 140

Table 1: Tabulated Experimental Data for Strain Gages

Strain
Gage
Sg 2.110+-0.5%
R 120+-0.3% Ω
Kt 0.2+-0.2%
Material
E 10.0 (10^6) psi
G 3.8 (10^6) psi
υ 0.33
Vessel
Diameter 3.5"
Thickness 0.0675"

Table 2: Equipment Properties

 Strain v. Pressure

160

140

120

100
Strain (με)

80

60

40

20

0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Pressure (psi)

Gage 90 Gage 0 Gage -45 Gage -45

Gage 67.5 Gage -22.5 Gage 45 Gage 90

Graph 1: Strain v. Pressure

Discussion:

• Conclusions:

As you can see by the graph, the data is perfectly linear for each loading, as

was expected. Notice that the slopes are different from each other except for the gage

at 90 degrees and the one at 45 degrees. This is simply because of the 45o turn of the

elements and the layout of the rosette.

The theory of thin-walled pressure vessels is very accurate in that it can give a

strain measurement to a very specific value at any pressure within the boundaries of

the material, and do it at any arbitrary angle. I think that if the walls of the vessel

aren’t t<<D then the equations used would fail because there would be more distance

between the rosette and the internal diameter of the vessel.

Longitudinal Hoop
Experimental Value (με) 35 148
Analytical Value (με) 35 173
Percent Diff. (%) 0 14.45

Table 3: Experimental v. Analytical Values and Percent Diff.

• Limitations and Experimental Error:

Some assumptions are made that control the accuracy of the experiment.

First of all, we have to assume that the vessel is homogenously manufactured: that

the material is exactly the same throughout. This is important because if the

material is made wrong, then it could give faulty results at one or more of the

gages. Second, we have to assume that the laboratory is controlled- that the

temperature is a constant 24o Celsius and that there are no large magnetic fields

passing through the equipment.