Posts by: Fernando

Fatigue in Pressure Equipment: questions still waiting for an answer.

What is Fatigue? If you ask this question, all engineers working in Pressure Equipment design will certainly give the correct answer: Fatigue is that phenomenon, for which in metallic structures subject to cyclic loading, in some particular location, after a certain number of load cycles, a fatigue crack will be…

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Design by Analysis in the harmonized standards of the Pressure Equipment Directive

The use of Finite Element Calculations in Pressure Equipment Design has now become a standard procedure either in USA or in Europe, in all cases where the traditional “Design by Formulae” is not able to provide a specific solution. Such calculations are in fact much cheaper now than they were…

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The future of CEN harmonized Pressure Equipment standards – The role of EPERC, the European Pressure Equipment Research Council

What is the procedure to prepare harmonized standards for pressure equipment? As all the “New Approach” directives, the Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) cannot be applied without standards that are capable to translate into detailed instructions the Essential Safety Requirements contained in the Directive. In fact, the Directive itself doesn’t contain…

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What is the tube temperature to be considered in the calculation of shell and tube heat exchangers?

This question comes out many times in the work of heat exchanger designers. The answer is needed whichever is the pressure vessel standard to be used. The normal situation in which the engineer charged of the mechanical design of shell and tube heat exchangers finds himself is the following: a…

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Why do we need a European Standard on Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers?

When I started working for an important Italian Pressure Vessel and Heat Exchangers manufacturer (around 50 years ago) I only knew that a shell and tube heat exchanger was some kind of metallic container, generally filled with tubes, with two fluids coming into it: a cold fluid, which should come…

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