The long welding neck flange is mainly applied to the construction of pressure vessel functioning as a nozzle (such as a thermowell nozzle). To attach a common welding neck flange to a pressure vessel, a piece of pipe is required with additional welding. A LWN flange on the other hand attaches directly to the vessel, hence, it can be viewed as an integrally reinforced nozzle. It avoids making a weld seam at pipe to flange and provides self-reinforcement.