DETERMINATION OF THE LOOSENING COEFFICIENT AT LARGE SIZE WELDING NECK FLANGE JOINTS

Abstract

This paper deals with the calculation of gasket load drop caused by internal pressure at flange joints. The method published here makes possible to take into consideration the stiffness effect of the integrated part of the flange ring. The equations published refer to large size welding neck flanges but the method itself can be applied at any other types of flange joint, too. During the determination of the flange rotational stiffness the model shaped up by MURRAY and STUART [4] for calculating stress-state of welding neck flanges should have been made more precise. The preciseness of this method, as well as the convergence of trial-and-error calculations used were proved by results of calculations carried out on flange joint.