Abstract: For a PTA oxidation reactor, the shell material shall be SA-516 Gr.70/SB-265 Gr.1 clad plate and the procurement specification required that the thickness of internal agitated baffles shall not be less than 30 mm. Based on practical experience, the equipment manufacturer proposed an optimized baffle design featuring a three-section segmented configuration. The optimized design achieved a significant reduction in baffle thickness down to 16 mm by increasing the number of baffle supports and reducing the support spacing. This paper established a simplified analytical model of the baffle support structure to calculate its structural strength and deflection, while employing Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to evaluate stress intensity under fatigue loading. The assessment confirmed compliance with licensor specification requirements. Subsequent follow-up inspections and assessments of the agitator baffle demonstrated sound structural integrity after one year of operation with no defects identified. Practical application has shown that the optimized baffle design can improve support load distribution, reduce adverse impact on the clad plate of the vessel and achieve good operational performance.

Key words: PTA oxidation reactorlbafflelstrengthldeflectionlfatigue analysisloptimization designlfinite element analysis