Methods for Structural Stress Determination according to EN 13445-3 Annex NA – Comparison with other Codes for Unfired Pressure Vessels

The European Pressure Vessel Standard EN 13445 provides in its part 3 (Design) a simplified method (Clause 17) and a detailed method for fatigue assessment (Clause 18). Clause 18 “Detailed Assessment of Fatigue Life” is under revision within the framework of the European working group CEN/TC 54/WG 53 – Design methods with the aim of reaching a significant increase in user-friendliness and a clear guideline for the application. This paper is focused on the new informative annex NA ”Instructions for structural stress oriented finite elements analyses using brick and shell elements”. As an essential amendment for the practical user, the determination of structural stress ranges for fatigue assessment of welds is further specified in this new annex. Different application methods for the determination of structural stresses are explained in connection with the requirements for finite element models and analyses. This paper will give a short overview of the proposed approaches of structural stress determination in annex NA of the revised EN 13445-3. It will present the status of the approaches based on the results of fatigue analyses according to EN 13445-3 Clause 18 for different application examples. For verification purposes, the results of the approaches proposed in EN 13445-3 are compared with the results of other pressure vessel design codes for nuclear and non-nuclear application