A Study of Nozzles in Pressure Vessels under Pressure Fatigue Loading

Nozzles in cylindrical vessels have been of special interest to designers for some time and have offered a field of activity for many research workers. This paper presents some static and fatigue tests on five designs of full size pressure vessel nozzles manufactured in two materials. Supporting and other published work is reviewed showing that on the basis of the same maximum stress mild steel vessels give the same fatigue life as low alloy vessels. When compared on the basis of current codes it is shown that mild steel vessels may have five to ten times the fatigue life of low alloy vessels unless special precautions are taken.