Session: CS-10-01 Recent Developments in Chinese Codes and Standards

Paper Number: 122887

122887 - Discussion on the Design Life and Ultimate Service Life Determination Criteria of Pressure Vessels in China 

China has been a major user of pressure vessels, with more than 4.97 million stationary pressure vessels in use by the end of 2022. Some important pressure vessels in the process industries have high cost and material consumption, many technical difficulties in design and manufacturing, as well as long production and procurement cycles, therefore the need for their long-term service is urgent. Coordinating the safety and service life of pressure vessels has always been an important mission of the Chinese government regulatory authorities and scientific and technological workers. The design life of pressure vessels is the intended use time determined by the designer according to the design conditions and design and construction specifications to maintain the integrity of the structure or the target function, and is a key parameter to balance safety and economy. Reasonably determining the design life of pressure vessels is not only the need to ensure safety, but also the requirement to save resources and achieve carbon emission reduction. While the service life of pressure vessels is the actual service time to maintain the integrity of the structure or target function under real use conditions, and changes with real use conditions. Reasonably extending the service life of pressure vessels in use is one of the important tasks of coordinating safety and development. In the past, China's pressure vessel design, manufacturing and safety management capabilities were insufficient, either the design life of pressure vessels was not clearly proposed, or the ultimate service life was simply determined as 20 years. In recent years, some local government regulators in China have even required pressure vessels that have been in service for more than 20 years to be scrapped within a time limit, and designated the equipment that has been put into operation for more than 20 years as old devices, resulting in too short service time and huge waste of resources. This paper extensively investigates and analyzes the current status of pressure vessel design, manufacturing, inspection and maintenance in China's petrochemical industry, the shortcomings and their causes of long-term safe service, and studies the ultimate life analysis method of new pressure vessels and the scientific life extension technology of in-service pressure vessels with the combination of theoretical analysis and experimental testing. Under the premise of overall safety and economy, the criteria for reasonably determining the design life of pressure vessels are put forward, and the suggestions for scientifically extending the ultimate service life of pressure vessels to 50 or even 60 years in future are proposed.

Presenting Author: Xuedong Chen Hefei General Machinery Research Institute Co. Ltd.

Presenting Author Biography: Prof. Xuedong Chen is Member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Director of National Technical Research Center on Safety Engineering of Pressure Vessels and Pipelines, and Chair of China International Working Group (CIWG) for ASME BPVC-VIII. He has been engaged in the research and application of pressure vessel and pipeline safety science and engineering technology for more than three decades.

Authors:

Xuedong Chen Hefei General Machinery Research Institute Co. Ltd.
Zhichao Fan Hefei General Machinery Research Institute Co. Ltd.
Shuangqing Xu Hefei General Machinery Research Institute Co. Ltd.
Wei Chen Hefei General Machinery Research Institute Co. Ltd.
Jie Dong Hefei General Machinery Research Institute Co. Ltd.