Pressure vessel software - EN1991-1-4 / EN1998

[Rob VE]

Hello all,
I hope someone can help me.
(background)
I have been checking several pressure vessel design software to see how they work and if they can improve our design process.
At the moment we are using commercial software for ASME VIII div1 pressure calculation, for other codes and for wind / seismic / lifting we are using our inhouse developed MathCad files.

Regarding Eurocode wind (EN1991-1-4) and seismic(EN1998) I have noticed something strange.
It seems that most software ignores the existence of National Annex to the Eurocodes. For example You can enter Eurocode wind(EN1991-1-4) and you can enter the windspeed, terrain category and those basics. But you cannot enter which national annex is to be used. For several countries the national annex changes the tables and formulas that need to be used.
I basically came to the conclusion that in my opinion none of the up to this point tested software calculates Eurocode wind/seismic correctly.

my questions:
1) Are you guys experienced in Eurocode wind/seismic?
2) Do you calculate the wind/seismic with self-written files, or do you have software that calculates this correct?
3) Did you check your software, or do you just use it as it is?
4) Is it global practice to ignore National annex? our company always takes this into account.

Kind Regards,
Rob

 

[XL83NL]

Good question.

I have found this inclusion of national annexes to be lacking in more software. Whereas on the other hand US standards are more implemented; e.g. in AutoPIPE, I can enter the ZIP code from a US city, and it will (afaik) automatically list all applicable details & parameters for that specific region into the analysis.

PVElite has the option to select the Eurocodes for wind and seismic, but since our vessels are rather small and usually inside, I haven't gone into sufficient detail yet to come to the conclusion you mentioned above.

Have you checked if VVD allows the inclusion of national annexes? It's under the same umbrella as PVElite, but originally it was an EU-based software tool, more geared towards PED/EU designs.

Huub
- You never get what you expect, you only get what you inspect.

 

[Rob VE]

Thank you for the quick reply,

I have indeed checked PV Elite and VVD. I have found no option in those programs to include it. I have send the question to the person I'm contact with but did not get a decent reply yet. I will keep you posted on this one.
I have already earlier check NextGen software from Sant'Ambrogio. Same issue, when I explained the problem to the software developers it seemed like it was the first time they heard about it and are going to check if it can be included. I was hoping that widely used software like PV-Elite and VVD would do this correct.

I have send the same question to AutoPIPE Vessel contact. Also waiting for a decent reply.

Kind Regards.
Rob
Edit:
I wanted to give credits where they belong, I only notified Sant'Ambrogio (Next Gen) about this issue a few weeks ago and I already got a mail of the developers that they are already looking for a way to include these national annexes into their software.

 

[r6155]

The best answer is always my hand calculation (my own computer program), and it is 100% my responsibility.
I never use other people's programs.

Regards

 

[XL83NL]

Thats a good point r6155, but thats not what the intend of this post is for. Of course all hand calcs are the best, but if we shouldve stayed with hand calcs, we'd still be decades behind.
If you have little to add to this conversation, please stay out.

Huub
- You never get what you expect, you only get what you inspect.