Abstract
The paper highlights the factors that should be considered in the design and fabrication of large size, high temperature equipment under internal and external pressure operating in the range of 1000 to 1700°F (538 to 927°C). The issues that must be considered involve creep, fatigue, creep-fatigue interaction, and creep-buckling. Even though individual component design is fundamental, system-wide design considerations are equally important to the safety and reliability of the whole plant because the thermal movements of different components are inter-related. A good understanding of the process operation of the system is required because relatively few transient operations (start-ups, shutdowns, upsets, etc.) can have a significant effect on the service life of high temperature equipment. The paper also highlights the lack of adequate published high temperature material properties that are important for the safe and reliable design of high temperature equipment. Examples are provided highlighting the impact of process operations, material properties, design, and fabrication on the equipment service life. Finally, the paper describes issues that may not be important to lower-design-temperature equipment, but become crucial in large size, high temperature design.
