Design and Analysis of an Ash Collector Hopper

This paper addresses the design and analysis of a hopper for ash collection in a Boiler Plant. The hopper collects the ash blown from the boiler soot blowers. The objective is to establish the design load. The design load is decided on the basis of the two cases. Case 1 Hopper full of ash Case 2 Hopper full of water. Based on the two cases the maximum pressure is considered as the design load. Also the hopper has a static head of gas pressure. The combinations of these are considered as design pressure. A typical hopper is taken. The thickness of the plate is decided. Then a procedure is developed to size the spacing and size of the stiffeners. The stiffeners used are Wide Flange I-beams. The hopper is modeled using STAAD III Finite Element Software. Two models are considered. First with one side of hopper. Second, complete model of the hopper. The stresses obtained are compared with the design values. The design of the hopper with analytical means is verified with Finite Element modeling of the two models considered.