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Are guard plates required at all the connections where ladders or other supports for tank or other tower wall equipment are attached to the equipment? Are there any regulations that require this?
I haven’t seen any without them; they are usually called shims.
Indeed, reinforcement plates, or what are also called shims, are needed in all cases. I haven’t seen any standards or regulations; on our storage tank drawings, the design institute hasn’t specified any particular standards or regulations, but these gaskets are indeed present.
I’m facing this problem now: the support for the intermediate tank (which is welded to the platform) is directly welded to the tank itself, without any gaskets in place. There are leaks at the point where the support is attached, and the equipment cannot maintain pressure. It has been in use for a year before this issue was discovered; however, the warranty period has already expired. I want to determine who is responsible, but I’m not sure if it’s possible to identify the exact issue – there must be some standard guidelines for such installations
Heat treatment equipment must be equipped with shims; in addition, equipment with a wall thickness of less than 10 mm also requires shims.
The shims of the equipment used for overall heat treatment must be welded before heat treatment; welding is not allowed on the equipment itself after heat treatment, but it is permitted on the shims.
This is almost a matter of common sense: the design wall thickness of ordinary equipment does not take into account the loading in this regard, and stress is highly concentrated at the welds. Pad plates must be added, even for equipment operating at normal pressure.