Why Full-Face Gaskets Are Not Used in Subsea or Pressure
Vessels
🔧 1. Uneven Load Distribution
A full-face gasket contacts both inside and around the bolts.
When bolts are tightened, load is not evenly transferred — the
area near the bolts gets much more compression than the center.
This can cause:
o Local over-compression near bolt holes (damaging gasket)
o Under-compression at the center (leading to leaks)
In a pressure hull, this is unacceptable because the seal must be
uniform and reliable under high and cyclic external loads.
📉 2. Higher Risk of Creep and Relaxation
Full-face gaskets have larger area → more total compression →
more chance of long-term relaxation (especially for soft materials
like EPDM).
This reduces sealing performance over time, particularly under:
o External hydrostatic pressure
o Temperature changes
o Dynamic vibration or cyclic loading
Ring gaskets minimize this by concentrating load only where needed.
🔩 3. Higher Bolt Load Requirement
Full-face gaskets require more bolt preload to compress the larger
area adequately.
This increases:
o Bolt stress
o Flange bending
o Risk of flange rotation
For subsea use, you want tight control of flange bending to
maintain integrity of the hull.
📏 4. Not Referenced in ASME BPVC or Subsea Standards
ASME Section VIII, Div. 1 (Pressure Vessels)
ASME B16.5 / B16.47 (Flange design)
API 6A / 17D (Subsea equipment)
DNV-OS-C401 / C302 (Underwater structures)
All these use:
✅ Ring gaskets
❌ No reference to full-face gaskets for high-pressure service
🧪 Subsea Example — Your Case: 600 m Depth
Parameter Value
Depth 600 m
External Pressure ~60 bar (6 MPa)
Gasket Type Ring-type (flat or spiral
Needed wound)
EPDM — good for ring
Gasket Material
gaskets
Preferred Gasket
~100 mm (as you're using)
Width
Number of Bolts ~56–60
Safety Margin
>1.5
Required
✅ Ring gaskets ensure:
Focused sealing
Predictable bolt stress
Minimal risk of leakage under pressure cycles
✅ Final Verdict
❌ Do NOT use full-face gaskets in pressure hull applications —
especially for subsea depths like 600 m.
✅ Stick to flat ring gaskets with controlled bolt torque and known
material behavior under compression.
Would you like:
A ring gasket stress/pressure verification?
EPDM compression behavior curves?
Reference quotes from ASME or DNV standards?
Let me know, and I can provide them.
You said:
Reference quotes from ASME or DNV standards?
ChatGPT said:
Absolutely! Here's some sourced information from ASME and DNV
guidelines explaining why full-face gaskets extending beyond the
bolt circle are not accepted in high-pressure or pressure vessel
applications:
📘 ASME Section VIII, Div. 1
From PV Elite documentation (which aligns with ASME guidance):
“ASME Sec. VIII Div. 1 does not cover the design of flanges for
which the gasket extends beyond the bolt circle diameter.”
wiki.unece.org+15docs.hexagonali.com+15eng-tips.com+15
This confirms that full-face gaskets (gaskets whose outer edge exceeds
the bolt circle) are outside the scope of ASME pressure vessel design.
Their inclusion requires special methods, such as the Taylor Forge
Flange Design Bulletin, indicating they're not standard nor
recommended for high-pressure vessel applications.
Terms Used in Flange Hole Marking Calculator
Flange Pitch Circle Diameter (PCD) :
Flange Pitch Circle Diameter (PCD) is noting but the diameter along bolt
hole center. It is denoted by (PCD). This diameter is also called as Bolt
Center Diameter (BCD). It is very important parameter while diving flange
hole. You can refere for standard reference drawing to understand this
dimension to provide correct input values. You can use any dimentional
units such as Inches or MM as per your prefererance. if you are using
Inches as units for your input values then please refer decimal fractional
chart to enter proper input values.
No. of Holes (N) :
No. of Hole (N) is noting but how many holes we want mark on available
flange pitch circle diameter or bolt center diameter. it denoted by N. It can
be any no. of holes as per your flnage configuration.You can refere for
standard reference drawing to understand this dimension to provide
correct input values.
Hole Angle in Degrees (θ) :
Flange hole angle is nothing but angle on which this flange hole to be
going
