Modeling and stress analysis of nozzle connections in ellipsoidal heads of pressure vessels under external loading

This paper presents the structural modeling and stress analysis of nozzle connections in ellipsoidal heads subjected to external loadings. Timoshenko shell theory and the finite element method are used. The features of the structural modeling of ellipsoid-cylinder shell intersections, numerical procedure and SAIS special-purpose computer program are discussed. A parametric study of the effects of geometric parameters on the maximum effective stresses in the ellipsoid-cylinder intersections under loading was performed. The results of the stress analysis and parametric study of the nozzle connections are presented.