Initiation of Bulges in a Coke Drum Subjected to Cyclic Heating and Cooling,also Cyclic Mechanical Loads

Coke drums are equipments of an oil refinery system used to separate petroleum coke from lighter oils. During operations, a coke drum is subjected to cyclic heating and cooling also cyclic mechanical loads. Thus, the useful life of a coke drum is much shorter than the other equipments in the refinery. Bulges are commonly problems found in a coke drum. The initiation mechanisms of the bulges are not clear yet. However, there are two postulates have been proposed. First is that bulges are caused by contact stresses due to differential expansion between solid coke and steel. Second is that they are caused by thermal stresses due to presence of hot and cold spots in the coke drum wall. The present paper tends to agree with the second one. The main objective is to demonstrate that thermal stresses are sufficient to initiate the bulges. A coke drum with overall length, diameter, and thickness of 25.46 m, 6.4 m, and 42 mm, respectively has been taken into analysis. In order to provide actual temperature boundaries, operational temperatures of the coke drum have been measured and collected while it is operating. A cycle which shows the most severe operational temperature has been selected to be analyzed. Two-dimensional axisymmetric model was developed and stresses analysis upon the model was carried out by using ANSYS FEM commercial code. The equivalent stresses and the yield strength as a function of time are plotted. The results show that the maximum equivalent stress can reach the yield strength of the coke drum material. This concludes that the bulges are mainly initiated by thermal stresses.