New Online Pressure Vessel and Heat Exchanger Design Course in May 2026

From 18 to 21 May  2026, join us for the 10th edition of our online course dedicated to the engineering design of pressure vessels and heat exchangers — delivered entirely in English.

This intensive programme features daily online sessions, with 3-hour morning classes and 3-hour afternoon classes, offering a comprehensive and highly practical learning experience.

The course focuses primarily on Design by Formulae (DBF) and provides an in-depth comparison of the most widely used international standards, including:

• ASME Code
• EN 13445 (Harmonized European standard)
• AD 2000 (German standrd)
• PD 5500 (British standard)
• CODAP (Fremch standard)
• ISPESL-VSR (Italian standard)

By examining the same components under identical design conditions across different codes, participants will clearly see how design methodologies — and resulting dimensions — can vary significantly.

We continuously update the course content to reflect the latest revisions of major Pressure Vessel codes, ensuring that participants receive up‑to‑date, industry-relevant knowledge.

Throughout the course, practical design examples will demonstrate key calculation procedures for complex components such as flanges, heat exchanger tubesheets, and saddles for horizontal vessels — highlighting how geometric optimization can dramatically reduce fabrication costs.

The purpose of the course is also to teach participants how to minimize the time needed for the design, which for manufacturers (particularly for those who usually have to make a preliminary design in order to prepare offers) may be very important to increase their competitiveness on the market.

In the course also elements of DBA (= Design by Analysis) are given, in order to put the participants under conditions to correctly assess a FEM analysis prepared by others, bearing in mind that such calculations (despite of the accuracy obtained in the calculation of stresses by means of the most popular FEM computer programs) may be completely misleading if the right failure modes were not considered by the software, or if the stress categorization was not correctly made by the designer.

The topics of the single lessons will be as follows:

Lesson 1 – GENERAL NOTIONS OF PRESSURE VESSEL DESIGN 

• General principles: design according to ASME and design according to PED
• Material selection
• Risk analysis: pressure, temperature, risk of overheating, risk connected to quick opening closures
• Design procedures: design by formulae (DBF), design by analysis (DBA) and design by experiment (DBE)
• Loads and stresses: hints of stress analisys, stress categorization
• Loading conditions
• Failure modes
• Stresses and strains
• DBF: cross comparison of different design standards
• DBA: general description of the different methods
• Practical examples

Lesson 2A –  MECHANICAL DESIGN FOR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PRESSURE 

• Calculation for internal and external pressure of cylindrical shells, spherical ends, domed ends, conical shells.
• Reinforcement openings
• Flat ends
• Practical examples of Pressure Vessel design using the software

Lesson 2B – MECHANICAL DESIGN OF BOLTED FLANGE CONNECTIONS 

• General principles for the design of a gasketed joint: bolt tightening, gasket seating, residual gasket compression needed to assure leak tightness
• Criteria for gasket selection – hints on self energizing gaskets
• Different flange types: welding neck, slip on, loose, reverse, with full face gasket
• Main methods for flange calculation: Taylor-Forge, DIN, Annex G of EN 13445.3, EN 1591.1
• Cross comparison of the different methods
• Practical examples of flange design using the software

Lesson 3A – THERMAL DESIGN OF SHELL & TUBE HEAT EXCHANGERS 

• Basic principles of thermal design
• Different types of shell&tube heat exchangers
• Thermal exchange in single phase flow: heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops
• Single phase flow in a tube
• Single phase flow across a tube bundle: different types of baffles
• Fouling factors
• Two phase flow: condensers and reboilers
• Thermosiphon reboilers
• Vibrations
• Practical examples of thermal calculations using HTRI® software

Lesson 3B – MECHANICAL DESIGN OF SHELL & TUBE HEAT EXCHANGERS 

• Different heat exchanger types: floating head, U-tube, fixed tubesheet
• Design of tubesheets
• Fixed tubesheet exchangers: Annex J of EN 13445-3
• Design of expansion bellows
• Design of pass partitions
• Practical examples of mechanical design using the software

Lesson 4A – PRESSURE VESSEL DESIGN FOR LOADS OTHER THAN PRESSURE 

• Calculation of tall vertical vessels for wind and seismic loads
• Horizontal vessels on saddle supports
• Nozzle loads
• Pressure vessel supports
• Practical examples using the software

Lesson 4B – DESIGN FOR CYCLIC LOADS 

• General principles of fatigue design
• Simplified fatigue assessment according to AD S1 and to Clause 17 of EN 13445.3
• Detailed fatigue assessment according to AD S2, to Clause 18 of EN 13445.3 and ASME Section VIII division 2
• Practical example of a complete fatigue calculation using the simplified method of Clause 17 EN 13445.3

The Speaker of the course is Dr. Fernando Lidonnici,  European expert on pressure equipment design, who is the Coordinator of the European workgroup WG53/ CEN TC54, which developed the design part of EN 13445, ASME Member and President of EPERC (European Pressure Equipment Research Council). In 2018 he was awarded the Donald Julius Groen Prize from IMechE, the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers, for his activity in the field of European Pressure Vessel Norms.

Click here to open the course flier, which contains also the registration form, as well all details on the registration fees and participation conditions.

For any information on the course don’t hesitate to contact us (Mr. Bordoni at bordoni@sant-ambrogio.it )