Evaluation of Strength Design Criteria and Plastic Flow Criteria for Pressure Vessels

The present paper evaluates the traditional strength design criteria and recently developed plastic flow criteria used in the structural design and integrity assessment for pressure vessels. This includes (1) a brief review of the traditional strength criteria used in ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel (B&PV) Code, (2) a discussion of the shortcoming of existing strength criteria when used to predict the burst pressure of pressure vessels, (3) an analysis of challenges, technical gaps and basic needs to improve the traditional strength design criteria, (4) a comparison of strength theory and flow theory for ductile pressure vessels, (5) an evaluation of available flow criteria and their shortcoming in prediction of failure pressure of pressure vessels, (6) an introduction of newly developed multi-axial flow criterion and its application to pressure vessels, and (7) a demonstration of experimental validations of the new flow criterion when used to predict the burst pressure of pressure vessels. On this basis, several recommendations are made for further study to improve the existing strength design and integrity assessment methods of pressure vessels.