Pressure Vessel and Piping Technology: Two Decades of Progress and Future Challenges

The organizational and technological advances of the last two decades in the U.S. Pressure Vessel and Piping (PVP) Technology are first traced. Highlights of growth in the major organizations supporting PVP technology: ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Pressure Vessel Research Committee, and the ASME Pressure Vessels and Piping Division, are given, along with highlights in the technological advances in Design Analysis, Materials and Fabrication. Future challenges in key technological areas for PVP engineers are discussed, including the role of the PVP engineer in developing technologies such as BIOTECHNOLOGY, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, MICRO-ELECTRONICS, ENERGY, ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, and ADVANCED MATERIALS. This paper concludes with a discussion of two major institutional challenges of our times: winning public acceptance of technology; competitiveness and foreign trade.