Spherical Pressure Vessels PDF

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Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research, 2018, 5(4):358-367
ISSN: 2394-2630
Research Article CODEN(USA): JSERBR
Optimal Steel Choice for Reducing the Cost of Spherical Pressure Vessels
Karim Hitti1*, Stephanie Feghali2, Assad Tahhan3
1
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Sciences and Issam Fares Faculty of Technology, University
of Balamand, Lebanon
2
Lebanese University, Faculty of sciences II, Mathematics Department, P.O. Box 90656 Fanar-Matn,
Lebanon
3
TETCO® group, Emporium 797, Antelias, Lebanon
Abstract With the growing demand for strategically storing bulk liquids, the cost of the storage vessels gained
excessive importance. This cost has great influence on the overall projects’ cost. Hence, reducing the cost of a
vessel is of prime importance. In this sense, the choice of steel and relative properties, specifically its allowable
stress, used in the construction of a spherical pressure vessels plays an important role in reducing the price of the
vessel. Moreover the Man-hours required to construct the vessel, especially the one related to the linear meters
of weld, affects also the overall cost. In this paper, parametric studies with respect to the steel’s allowable stress
and linear meters of weld are performed. Different shell diameters are taken into consideration and the analysis
is performed according to ASME VIII – Division 2_Standards and the ―technical calculation and estimator's
man-hour manual‖.
Keywords plate thickness, Man-hour rate, steel, linear meters of weld

1. Introduction
The demand for storing bulk liquids has extensively increased in the past decades. This is due to different
reasons ranging from the exploration of new oil and gas fields going through strategic storage and not ending at
fighting the scarcity of water. Therefore, various economic and political activities demand the storage of
different types of liquids starting from water, to oil and gas, to edible oils. Each of these aforementioned liquids
demands a different type of storage tank, like concrete tanks for water, cylindrical steel tanks for oil derivatives,
spherical or bullet shaped pressure vessels for gas, stainless steel for edible oils, etc. Hence, the storage tanks are
a major component in any storage project/facility and their cost has the highest effect on the overall project’s
cost. In this sense, reducing the price of storage tanks is of prime importance.
In our previous work [1], we focused on the cost optimization of cylindrical steel storage tanks where the effect
of the allowable stresses for the design and hydrostatic test conditions was performed. In addition, the effect of
Manpower was studied. The thickness of steel plates and the number of storage steel tanks needed for storing a
specific volume was the main issue in [2]. Wankhede et al. [3] focused on the cost optimization of concrete
water storage tanks mainly focusing on the impact of wall thickness, the depth of the floor slab and beam on the
cost. Optimal size of steel storage tanks is also an important research topic [4, 5] along with spherical storage
tanks [6, 7]. Various researchers also study the optimization of labor hours in constructing steel structures [8, 9].
In this paper, the effect of the steel’s choice on the cost of a spherical tank is the addressed issue. Moreover,
since the thickness of a spherical pressure vessel is inversely proportional to the steel’s allowable stress, five
different ascending values of the latter are considered. However, increasing the allowable stress would increase
the steel’s price but would also decrease the Man-hours (Mhr) required for welding since the thickness will be
Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research
358
Hitti K et al Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research, 2018, 5(4):358-367
reduced. Hence, the total Man-hours required for welding the different components of the sphere’s shell is also
studied. Furthermore, it is commonly known that the steel’s price is quasi-independent of the work place which
is not case of the Man-hour rate. For this purpose, three different on-ground cases, each representing a different
labor rate, are taken into account. It is also worth mentioning that two different sphere diameters are considered.
After this introduction, the second section deals with the effect of the allowable stress on the thickness and thus
on the total steel’s price. The effects of the Linear Meters of Weld (LMW) and the Mhr rate on the cost are
studied in section 3 where also on-ground cases are considered. Finally, conclusions of this study are drawn in
the fourth section.
2. Effect of allowable stress

Contrary to cylindrical steel storage tanks where the thickness of steel plates depends of the above remaining
height [1], the plates’ thickness of spherical tanks is more or less uniform (neglecting the minor effect of
hydrostatic pressure). This latter is given by [10]:
𝐷 0.5𝑃
𝑇ℎ = exp⁡ −1 (1)
2 𝑆×𝐸
Where D is the sphere’s diameter (in mm), P is the radial pressure fixed to 1.7 MPa in this work, E is the joint
efficiency taken to be 1 and S is the steel’s allowable stress. Furthermore, the mass of the spherical vessel can be
written as:
𝑀 = 𝜋 . 𝐷2 . 𝑇ℎ . ρsteel (2)
where, D is in meters andρsteel = 7.85 𝑔/𝑐𝑚3 . Equation (2) gives the mass in Kg which is then divided by 1000
to get it in Ton.
As stated in the introduction, a parametric study is performed. In this study two diameters are chosen (15m –
19.3m) along with five different steel allowable stresses. Table 1 shows the chosen types of steel with their
respective price per ton (in usd). Surely the prices depend on the availability, market rates and shipping but
these parameters are going to be neglected in this study since their effect is not important as the price itself.
Table 1: Allowable stresses and notation of steel
Allowable stress Notation in remainder parts of paper Price per ton (usd)
115.14 S1 650.00
126.17 S2 675.00
160.65 S3 815.00
172.37 S4 875.00
184.09 S5 950.00
As it can be seen in eq. (1), the allowable stress is inversely proportional to the plates thickness hence to the
vessel’s mass. In this sense, ascending the allowable stress would reduce the mass of the spherical vessel. Table
2 illustrates the effects of S on the thickness, mass and total steel price for the two different diameters. To note
that the thickness is rounded up to the nearest unit.
Table 2: Effects of allowable stress on the thickness, mass and total price of steel
D (mm) S (MPa) Th (mm) M (Ton) Total steel Price (usd)
115.14 56 310.74 201978.18
126.17 51 282.99 191019.20
15000 160.65 40 221.95 180892.54
172.37 38 210.86 184499.30
184.09 35 194.21 184499.30
115.14 72 661.41 429913.43
126.17 66 606.29 409244.52
19300 160.65 52 477.68 394087.31
172.37 48 440.94 385819.75
184.09 45 413.38 392709.39
It can be shown, from table 2, that S5 gives the smallest mass, which is logical, but that S4 gives the lowest price
in both cases. Also it can be seen that S3 induces a total price less than that of S5. Nevertheless, a smaller plate
thickness would lead to less Man-hours required for welding [11]. Hence, pursuing the effect of the thickness
(thus the effect of allowable stress) on the needed Man-hours for welding is of prime importance.
359
3. Effect of the LMW

In [11], the rate of manual welding is given in Mhr/m for different plate thicknesses. On one hand, no direct
relation is given between these two but on the other hand different rates are given for thicknesses varying
discontinuously between 14 and 40 mm. Moreover, these rates vary according to the welded parts and to the
direction of welding (vertical or horizontal) (see figure 1).
Figure 1: Different sections of a spherical vessel [11]

Looking back at table 2, it can be seen that most thicknesses are greater than 40 and so the rates for the values
need to be extrapolated. Figure 2 plots the rate (in Mhr/m) against the thickness (in mm) for manual welding of
vertical joints of the upper strip [11].
Figure 2: Scatter plot of values in [11] along with the regression line
The linear relation between the rate and the thickness is obvious and therefore, the linear least squares method
[12] is used to extrapolate (or interpolate) the rate values that are not present in [11]. This method gives a
regression line passing through the mean point and having the smallest y-distance with the given points. As seen
in figure 2, the line represents a good approximation to the exact values and hence the linear least squares
method can be used to find the Mhr rates of inexistent values in the tables of [11].
3.1. Case of the 19.3m-diameter

Figure 3 shows the design of the 19.3m spherical tank.
360
Figure 3: A 19.3m-diameter spherical pressure vessel Figure 4: A top view of the lower and upper sections
It can be seen that this tank is composed of a lower and an upper section along with an upper and a lower strip
without an equator section. The lower and upper sections were designed by the same manner. Figure 4 shows a
top view of the design of these sections.
Furthermore, figure 5 shows the sketches of plates number 1, 2 and 3 that constitute the lower and upper
sections. Also, the lengths of their sides are illustrated in this figure.
Figure 5: Sketches of plates number 1, 2 and 3 constituting the upper and lower sections
Moreover, sketches of plates number 4 and 5 that form the upper and lower strips respectively are shown in
figure 6 along with the lengths of their sides.
361
Figure 6: Sketches of plates number 4 and 5 constituting the upper and lower strips
Afterwards, the length of the joints used in welding is found for each plate. According to their position on the
vessel, this length is either halved (since welding two adjacent plates require only one side) or kept or not taken
into consideration (when considered in other plates). Finally, the result is multiplied by their respective
quantities to get the LMW of each plate. Table 3 details these results.
Table 3: The LMW needed for each section of the 19.3m-diameter sphere
D = 19.3 m
Item Use in welding Perimeter (mm) Joint length (mm) Quantity LMW (m)
1 Upper and Lower section 21450 21450 2 21.45
Vertical Upper strip 7410 81.51
4 Upper strip with upper section 19373 1808 22 39.776
Upper strip with lower strip 2745 60.39
Vertical Lower strip 9095 200.09
5 Lower strip with lower section 22743 1808 22 39.776
Lower strip with upper strip 2745 0
Moreover, for each thickness found in table 2 and for each section and direction of welding, the rate of welding
in Mhr is found by interpolating (or extrapolating) from the values of [11] using the least squares method as
explained at the beginning of section 3. Table 4 details these values for the 19.3m spherical vessel.
Table 4: The rates for each section and each thickness of the 19.3m sphere
D=19.3m
Th Use in welding LMW Rate Rate of Section Rate of sphere
(mm) (m) (Mhr/m) (Mhr) (Mhr)
Upper and Lower section 21.45 8.45 181.32
Vertical Upper strip 81.51 13.38 1090.95
72 Upper strip with upper 39.78 19.76 785.83 7431.21
section
Upper strip with lower 60.39 19.98 1206.39
strip
Vertical Lower strip 200.09 14.06 2814.13
362
Lower strip with lower 39.78 16.33 649.36

section
Lower strip with upper 0.00 0.00 0.00
strip
section
strip
section
strip
section
strip
section
strip
section
strip
section
strip
section
363
strip
section
strip
It can be seen that the total rate of welding (in Mhr) is proportional to the thickness of the plates. But recall that
the smallest thickness corresponded to the most expensive steel. Will the difference in Mhr compensate for the
price of steel?
3.2. Case of the 15m-diameter

A 15m-diameter sphere, can be constructed by an upper section and a lower section along with an equator
section. The number of needed plates for each section and the corresponding joints and LMW are summarized
in table 5.
Table 5: The LMW needed for each section of the 15m-diameter sphere
D = 15 m
Item Use in welding Joint length (mm) Quantity LMW (m)
1 Lower and Upper Section 16400 2 32.8
Lower Section to Equator Horizontal 37700 1 37.7
4 Vertical equator 9650 16 154.4
Equator to Upper Section Horizontal 37700 1 37.7
Furthermore, for each thickness found in table 2 and for each section and direction of welding, the rate of
welding in Mhr is found by interpolating (or extrapolating) from the values of [11] using the least squares
method. Table 6 details these values for the 15m spherical vessel.
Table 6: The rates for each section and each thickness of the 15m sphere
D = 15 m
Th Rate Rate of Section Rate of sphere
(mm) Use in welding LMW (m) (Mhr/m) (Mhr) (Mhr)
Lower and Upper Section 32.8 6.51 213.51
56 Lower and Upper Section 17.60 6.51 114.56 3495.03
Lower Section to Equator
Horizontal 37.7 12.32 464.37
Vertical equator 154.4 11.22 1731.82
Equator to Upper Section
Horizontal 37.70 14.9067 561.98
Horizontal 37.7 11.07 417.15
Horizontal 37.70 13.3912 504.85
364

Horizontal 37.7 8.31 313.27
Horizontal 37.70 10.0571 379.15
Horizontal 37.7 7.81 294.38
Horizontal 37.70 9.4509 356.30
Horizontal 37.7 7.06 266.05
Horizontal 37.70 8.5416 322.01832
It can be seen, from tables 4 and 6 that the total Mhr rate of the sphere is proportional to the thickness of its
plates which is logical. This means that the most expensive steel (S5) leading to the thinnest plates also gives the
least Man-hours required. Surely, the rate depends on the location of construction, hence three on-ground cases
are considered.
4. On-ground cases and results

As stated above, three on-ground cases are taken into consideration. These locations, which are Sudan, Jordan
and Cyprus, represent low, middle and high income rates respectively. In Sudan, the hourly rate of are welder is
considered to be around 5.4 usd, whereas in Jordan it is taken about 11.65 usd and 14.78 usd in Cyprus. These
hourly welding rates yield the final results illustrated in tables 7 and 8 for the 19.3m and 15m spheres
respectively.
Table 7: The total cost of the steel + welding cost of a 19.3m sphere for all five types of steel in the three on-
ground cases.
D = 19.3 m
Cost of a Mhr Th Total Man-hours Total welding cost Steel + Welding cost
(usd) (mm) Required (usd) (usd)
72 7431.21 40128.52 470041.96
Sudan 66 6751.71 36459.24 445703.76
5.4 52 5166.22 27897.59 421984.90
48 4713.22 25451.40 411271.15
45 4373.47 23616.76 416326.14
72 7431.21 86573.57 516487.01
Jordan 66 6751.71 78657.44 487901.96
11.65 52 5166.22 60186.46 454273.77
48 4713.22 54909.04 440728.78
45 4373.47 50950.97 443660.36
365
72 7431.21 109833.25 539746.69

Cyprus 66 6751.71 99790.29 509034.81
14.78 52 5166.22 76356.73 470444.04
48 4713.22 69661.42 455481.17
45 4373.47 64639.94 457349.33
Table 8: The total cost of the steel + welding cost of a 15m sphere for all five types of steel in the three on-
ground cases.
D = 15 m
Cost of a Mhr Th Total Man-hours Total welding cost Steel + Welding cost
(usd) (mm) Required (usd) (usd)
56 3495.03 18873.15 220851.33
Sudan 51 3145.79 16987.26 208006.46
5.4 40 2377.46 12838.30 193730.84
38 2237.77 12083.95 196583.24
35 2164.31 11687.29 196186.59
56 3495.03 40717.08 242695.25
Jordan 51 3145.79 36648.44 227667.64
11.65 40 2377.46 27697.45 208589.99
38 2237.77 26070.00 210569.29
35 2164.31 25214.25 209713.55
56 3495.03 51656.51 201978.18
Cyprus 51 3145.79 46494.76 191019.20
14.78 40 2377.46 35138.91 180892.54
38 2237.77 33074.21 188872.77
35 2164.31 31988.55 184499.30
It can be concluded that, for the 19.3m spherical vessel, even after adding the welding cost, S4is the most cost
effective choice of steel in all three cases. Nevertheless, it can be noticed that, in all three cases, using S5
became less expensive than using S3 and that difference between using S4 and S5 is not great. Hence, in the case
of a 19.3m tank, representing large vessels, using S4 or S5 is recommended depending on the market prices and
their availability.
As for the 15m-diameter spherical tank, it can be seen that using the S3 type of steel leads to the cheapest
overall cost in the three on-ground cases. Also, it is noticed that in Sudan and Jordan the difference between S4
and S5 is very small. Nevertheless, according to the requirements for Post Weld Heat Treatment (PWHT) of
pressure parts in [10], and considering the material being studied, PWHT will be mandatory for the spheres that
have plates thickness over 38mm. This is the case of all 5 types of steel for the 19.3m spheres and for S1, S2,
and S3 for the 15m spheres. Accordingly, table 9 gives the estimated costs for performing this activity
onthe15m-diamtere tank.
Table 9: Estimated cost of the PWHT for the 15m-diameter sphere
Surface Area (m2) 706.50
Insulation Installation (Mhr/m2) 0.94 [11] 664.11
Insulation Removal (Mhr/m2) 0.94/3 221.37
2
Insulation Price Rate (Mhr/m ) 10.00 7065.00
Sudan 5.4 4781.59
Mhr Rate (usd) Jordan 11.65 10315.84
Cyprus 14.78 13087.39
Equipment Rental for 6 Days (usd) 17500.00
LPG Gas for Burners (usd) 3500.00
Sudan 32846.59
Total Estimate Cost of PWHT (usd) Jordan 38380.84
Cyprus 41152.39
366
The above consideration is a vital element in determining the selection of material as it has a significant time
and cost impact. And since in the 15m case, using S3will require performing PWHT and using S4 or S5 does not
require this type of operation (since the thickness of the plates are less or equal to 38mm) then adding its cost to
the steel and welding costs makes the choice of S3much more expensive than S4 and S5. Therefore, S4 and S5
are also the recommended steel choices when constructing medium-sized spherical vessels also.
Moreover, this study is performed for only one tank which is rarely the case in a construction site. Hence, when
the cost reduction is multiplied by the effective number on constructed tanks, it would imply major cost
optimization.
5. Conclusion
This paper dealt with the effect of the allowable stress and the LMW on the overall cost of spherical pressure
vessels. A medium and a large sized vessels were considered along with five different types of steel denoted
from S1 to S5 in an ascending order of stress and price. Regarding the steel cost, S4and S5 yielded the less
expensive cost in the medium-sized case and S4 was the least expensive is the large-sized case. Looking at the
LWM, surely S5 had the smallest number of Man-hours needed to weld the plates since it gives the smallest
thickness.
Furthermore, three on-ground cases representing low, middle and high income rates were considered. For the
19.3m vessel, the lesser cost of welding of S5 did not compensate for its difference with the steel cost of S4
which remained the most cost effective choice of steel but with a small difference with S5. As for the 15m
sphere, S3 yielded the smallest ―steel + welding‖ price in all three cases but since the thickness of its plates
exceed 38mm (which is not the case for S4 and S5), PWHT is needed. This type of treatment costs much more
than the difference between S3 and S4 or S5which means that S4 and S5 remain the recommended choices for
medium sized spherical vessels.
References
[1]. Hitti, K., Feghali, S., & Tahhan, A. (2017). Cost reduction of cylindrical steel oil storage tanks. The
International Journal of Engineering and Science, 6(12):18-24.
[2]. Roncetti, L. (2011). Structural and economical optimization of welded steel storage tanks. 21st
Brazilian Congress of Mechanical Engineering, Natal, RN, Brazil.
[3]. Wankhede, S., Salunke, P. J., & Gore, N. G. (2015). Cost Optimization of Elevated Circular Water
Storage Tank. The International Journal of Engineering and Science, 4(4):28-31.
[4]. Abdi, B., Mozafari, H., Ayob, A., & Kohandel, R. (2012). Optimum Size of a Ground-based
Cylindrical Liquid Storage Tank under Stability and Strength Constraints using Imperialist Competitive
Algorithm. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 110-116:3415-3421.
[5]. Shi, G. (2012). Cost Optimal Selection of Storage Tanks in LPG Vaporization Station. Natural
Resources, 3:164-169.
[6]. Arabzadeh, V., Niaki, S.T.A., & Arabzadeh, V. (2017). Construction cost estimation of spherical
storage tanks: artificial neural networks and hybrid regression—GA algorithms. Journal of Industrial
Engineering International: 1-10.
[7]. Cheng, B., Huang, J.X., & Shan, Y. (2015). The Economic Design and Analysis for Mixed Model
Spherical Tank Shell Angle Partition. Procedia Engineering, 130:41-47.
[8]. Sarma, K. C., & Adeli, H. (2000). Cost optimization of steel structures. Engineering optimization,
32(6):777-802.
[9]. Klanšek, U., & Kravanja, S. (2006). Cost estimation, optimization and competitiveness of different
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[10]. ASME. (2007). ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section VIII, Division 2.New York.
[11]. Bulic, M. (2003). Technical calculation and estimator's man-hour manual, Zagreb.
[12]. Hornbeck, R. W. (1975). Numerical Methods. Quantum Publishers Inc., New York
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Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research, 2018, 5(4):358-367

Karim Hitti1*, Stephanie Feghali2, Assad Tahhan3

Keywords plate thickness, Man-hour rate, steel, linear meters of weld

Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

2. Effect of allowable stress

Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

3. Effect of the LMW

Figure 1: Different sections of a spherical vessel [11]

3.1. Case of the 19.3m-diameter

Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

Lower strip with lower 39.78 16.33 649.36

Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

3.2. Case of the 15m-diameter

Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

40 Lower and Upper Section 17.60 4.57 80.35 2377.46

4. On-ground cases and results

Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

72 7431.21 109833.25 539746.69

Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research

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