Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2017
24th ABCM International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Structural analysis and fatigue life calculation of a coke drum
Submission Author:
Danilo Falleiros Barbosa Lima , PR
Co-Authors:
Jucélio Tomás Pereira, Danilo Falleiros Barbosa Lima
Presenter: Danilo Falleiros Barbosa Lima
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2017.COB17-1583
Abstract
Coke drums are pressure vessels utilized in Delayed Coking Units of oil refineries, which convert heavy fractions, like vacuum and atmospheric residues, into lighter product streams like gas oil, naphtha and gases. These equipments have a large history of problems, such as cracks and cumulative plastic deformations, due to the severity of the thermomechanical and cyclic loadings to which they are submitted. This work has as object of study a coke drum in operation, in which there are skin temperatures measurements. Through numerical analysis by Finite Element Method (FEM), it is possible to obtain the stress field in the region of the skirt to shell attachment and, from this field, the estimated fatigue life of the equipment. This study has as main goal to assess the influence of thermal and operational parameters on the fatigue life of coke drums. Through the obtained results, a 50% reduction in the temperature gradient between the upper and intermediate regions of the skirt throughout the whole cycle increases the fatigue life of the coke drum by about 10%. Additionally, the reduction of 1°C in switch temperature reduces the fatigue life of the equipment by 0,9%.
Keywords
Coke drum, Finite Element Method, fatigue
