The Support of Horizontal Cylindrical GRP Vessels—Saddles or Longitudinal Beams?

Abstract

Horizontal cylindrical GRP vessels are normally supported on either twin saddles or longitudinal beams which extend the full length of the vessel. To examine the way in which these supports influence the strain distribution in the vessel, results are presented from a series of experimental investigations. These have been carried out on a 1 m diameter, 4 m long, CSM reinforced polyester vessel subject to hydraulic loading. In the first series of tests the vessel was supported on twin saddles of various geometries and vessel/saddle interface conditions. In a later series, longitudinal beams, extending the length of the vessel were used to provide support.

Particular attention was given to providing theoretical analyses relevant to the longitudinal beam case, which are compared with the appropriate experimental results. The analysis for the saddle case is given in Ref 1. On the basis of these results the two types of support are compared and their strengths and weaknesses enumerated. It is concluded that the beam support provides a good viable alternative to the twin saddle support for a large range of storage applications