Our staff of experienced pressure vessel engineers are involved in day-to-day software development, software support, and training. This approach has produced software that closely fits today’s requirements of the pressure vessel industry. Data entry is simple and straightforward through annotated input fields. PV Elite provides the widest range of modeling and analysis capabilities without becoming too complicated for simple system analysis. You can tailor PV Elite through default settings and customized databases. Comprehensive input graphics confirm model construction before analysis is made. The software’s interactive output processor presents results on the monitor for quick review or sends complete reports to a file, printer or Word document. PV Elite is an up-to-date package that not only uses standard analysis guidelines, but also provides the latest recognized opinions for these analyses.

PV Elite is a field-proven engineering analysis program and is a widely recognized product with a large customer base and an excellent support and development record.

This section focuses on getting started and the fundamental workflows PV Elite.

• Input – Enter information required to define the vessel, its service requirements, and its design guidelines.

• Analysis – Translate the input data with design and analysis algorithms, apply the rules of the appropriate code or standard, and generate results.

• Output – Present a comprehensive final report of the results.

PV Elite breaks a vessel into an assemblage of individual elements—heads, shells, cones, body flanges, and/or a skirt—and the components on these elements. A quick look at the screen above shows the data (11) defining one element in the graphic view (13). Except for From Node and To Node, the data is common to all vessel wall thickness calculations. The From Node and To Node inputs are necessary to assemble the individual elements into the complete vessel and are automatically assigned by PV Elite. A complete vessel is required if all dead and live loads are to be included in the design or analysis. However, PV Elite will run wall thickness calculations on elements without constructing the entire vessel.

The body of the screen contains either two or three areas – a table of the Element Data (11), a table of the Element Additional Data (12) and the graphic area which contains an image of the current status of the entire vessel or the current element (13). A status bar displays (17) across the bottom of the screen and displays the element count, the position and orientation of the current element, quick internal pressure calculations for the current element.

When you click in the data areas (11 and 12), the Tab key moves the highlight (and control) through its input cells. In most element data areas, press Enter to register the data and move the focus to the next field. The exception is at combo boxes where clicking the arrow displays the available choices. Throughout the software, F1 displays help for the highlighted data item. After you are familiar with these screen controls, a combination of mouse and keystroke commands will provide the most efficient navigation through the software.

Some of the data input in PV Elite is controlled through a data grid (11 and 12). To enter the data, click the mouse on the data text, such as Inside Diameter, and type the input value. The cursor will not blink over the numeric/alphanumeric values until typing has begun. After the data is entered, press Enter or Tab to proceed. The arrow keys can also be used to navigate between the input fields.

The right mouse button is used to select vessel details on the vessel graphic. Combo boxes have the down arrow button at the right end of the input cell.

When the 3D View (13) is active, a few more keys are available. No special highlight appears, but the string PgUp/PgDn/Home/End displays at the bottom graphics area. This indicates that these keys are now active. The image in the graphics area shows the current state of the input for the vessel model with its elements and the details on these elements. Switch between 2D and 3D views using the tabs at the bottom of the screen (16).

When the 2D View is active, one of the elements is highlighted. The Element Data and Element Additional Data sections (11 and 12) define this element. By pressing Page Up or Page Down, the highlight changes from one element to the next through the vessel. Press the Home and End keys to move the highlight to the first and last elements in the vessel. Also, you can click the left mouse button while selecting the element to highlight it. After an element is highlighted, detail information for that element may be accessed. With the mouse, click the right mouse button for the existing detail image to display. To add details to the current element, click the appropriate detail on the Details panel (5) and enter the necessary data.

The News Feed contains product information, such as the latest product version. In addition, you can refer to the page for upcoming events, product training opportunities, and future webinars. You can use the quick icon links at the bottom to get to the product web pages, the latest newsletter/blog postings, and Intergraph CAS social media sites.

The Component Analysis option allows you to enter data and analyze without building a vessel. These are Intergraph’s CodeCalc analysis modules, some of which are not incorporated directly into PV Elite. CodeCalc, Intergraph’s popular vessel component analysis package is included in PV Elite.

The Component Analysis option allows you to enter data and analyze without building a vessel. These are Intergraph’s CodeCalc analysis modules, some of which are not incorporated directly into PV Elite. CodeCalc, Intergraph’s popular vessel component analysis package is included in PV Elite.

After analyzing a file, when you display the tooltip, the Tmin row displays the calculated minimum thickness of the element/detail as well as the element which governs the MAWP.

Design Data includes vessel identification along with items that affect the design and analysis of the vessel; items such as type of hydrostatic testing and degree of radiographic examination appear here. It is important to note that this is where the design code is set – Division 1, Division 2, PD 5500 or EN 13445.

The Design Modification area holds four inputs that control the redesign of the vessel should the user-entered wall thickness be insufficient for the analyzed loads. If a box is checked, the software increase the element’s wall thickness so that it meets or exceeds the requirements for that load category. There are four boxes for three load types: one box for internal pressure, two boxes for external pressure (either increase the wall thickness or locate stiffener rings along the vessel to satisfy the buckling requirements), and one box for the variety of structural loads that develop longitudinal stresses in the vessel wall. The software provides the option of rounding up a required thickness to a nominal value (such as the next 1/16 inch or 1 mm) in the Configuration dialog box.

The Load Cases Tab displays nineteen default structural load cases for the analysis. These cases cover the extent of structural loads on the vessel wall. Each case contains a pressure component (axial) 1, a weight component (both axial and bending), and a live load component (bending). The axial stresses are combined with the bending stresses to produce a total stress in the vessel wall. Both tensile and compressive stresses are compared to their allowable limits. Refer to the table below for a definition of terms used in the Load Case input.

These pressure calculations should not be confused with those used for the wall thickness requirements defined in ASME Section VIII and PD 5500. Here, internal and hydrostatic pressures are used to calculate a longitudinal, tensile stress in the vessel wall and the external pressure a similar compressive stress in the wall.

Nozzle Design Options are used to set the overall pressure requirements for the nozzles on this vessel and also to include the maximum allowable pressure – new and cold (MAP nc) case in the nozzle checks. The Installation | Misc. Options option displays a screen to specify where certain vessel details will be added – either at the fabrication shop or in the field. This data is used to properly set the detail weights for the empty and operating conditions.

Wind and earthquake information is entered on the Wind Loads or Seismic Loads. PV Elite generates live loads based on the criteria established by one of many standards, including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Uniform Building Code (UBC), the (Canadian) National Building Code (NBC), and the Indian National Standard. Wind loads can also be specified directly as a wind pressure profile. PV Elite references these codes for live loads only. ASME Section VIII or PD 5500 rules apply for all other calculations. The screen below shows the data required for the default codes. PV Elite uses these criteria to set the magnitude of the live load and bending moment on each element of the vessel.

After the element, detail, and global data is entered and checked, the model is ready for error processing and analysis.

The Input Processor makes many data consistency checks during the input session. For example, the processor creates an error message if you try to specify a nozzle 20 feet from the bottom of a 10-foot shell element. However, not all data can be confirmed on input so a general error processor is run prior to the analysis. This error processor can be run as a stand-alone from the Analyze panel, Error Check Only .

In addition to the notes that are presented on the screen during error checking, these error messages appear in the output report and are accessible through the output review processor.

As with all engineering and designing, the vessel analyst must use common sense to insure the model is basically correct. This is a great advantage of the 3D graphics as it reveals obvious errors.