Design of gusset supports around agitator nozzle

[ralzzz]

We are looking at designing a pressure vessel that has a center mounted agitator on the top head. Can anyone point us in the right direction for how to design the repad and support gussets for the agitator. We have had vessels in the past which did not have proper supports of the agitators and we ended up with problems. Any advice will be appreciated.
Regards,
Rick

 

[MJCronin]

Rick,

I have only seen a few in-house company standards and a couple of papers by the Chemineer company that addresses this very real vessel design problem.

In my opinion, I certainly feel that the "agitator nozzle" configuration occurs so frequently in industry that the ASME or Welding Research Counsel (or somebody) should write the definitive paper on this matter.

The problem, of course, is that agitator nozzles should be designed to meet a stiffness criteria, not to meet a stress criteria.

Chemineer is the best of the best...IMHO and has taken a crack at this issue...See this paper:

"Consider Mechanical Design of Agitators
Chemical Engineering Progress, August 1995, pp. 60-71."

Available from:

http://www.chemineer.com/techarticles.php

Its only a matter of time until the Chinese steal all of Chemineer's research, hard work and labor and run them out of business with low cost labor.

Please post more detail about your specific nozzle and mixing requirements.

regards

-MJC