Thickness Optimization of Pressure Vessel for Minimum Weight using Finite Element Method (FEM)

Abstract

Design parameter optimization based on finite element method (FEM) simulations is presented here. The aim of this paper is to perform the detailed design & analysis of pressure vessel for optimum thickness using finite element method based commercial software ANSYS. Several geometrical models of pressure vessel are proposed and compared by optimization method. The diameter and the length of the pressure vessel are varied. It is shown that a direct optimization gives the minimum weight of pressure vessel with optimum wall thickness. The optimized pressure vessel is able to carry the internal load with same safety factor but lower weight compared to the existing model.