Finite element stress analysis for pressure vessel/nozzle design

The ability of the finite clement method to accurately predict stresses at the intersection of a pressure vessel and a nozzle is investigated. Finite element analyses are performed on thin, elastic intersecting shells using the ANSYS computer code. The accuracy of the finite element stress predictions is judged by comparison with existing experimental data for the cases of cylinder-to-sphere and cylinder-to-cylinder intersections. The effects of intersection geometry, grid density, element type, element length, and grid bias on the pressure vessel stress state are considered.