Load release ratio method for design of thermo-expanded piping-vessel system

Pressure vessels are usually connected with piping to form a system. In most current pressure vessel codes, design of thermo-expanded piping-vessel system is based on elastic stress analysis. There are two popular design methodologies: partition method and integrated method. The traditional partition method is able to perform the design of piping and vessel separately，however the design is quite conservative. The integrated method deals with piping and vessel as a whole, can get accurate analysis results, but has a heavy workload and the partitioning design procedure no longer applies. A new partition design method named Load Release Ratio Method (LRRM), which can obtain accurate analysis results same as the integrated method, is proposed in this paper. Verification example and some applied examples are given. Results from above three methods are compared and discussed. •A new partition design method named Load Release Ratio Method (LRRM) is proposed.•Verification example and some applied examples for the application of LRRM are given.•All results from partition method, integrated method and LRRM are compared and discussed.