To ensure reliability of pressure vessels during service it is necessary to (1) know properties of materials used in their design and (2) evaluate vessels’ behaviour under different working conditions with satisfying accuracy. Due to various technical and/ or technological requirements, nozzles are usually welded on vessel’s shell producing geometrical discontinuities that reduce the safety factor. To evaluate their influence, vessels with two different nozzles were experimentally studied and critical areas for crack initiation have been identified by 3D Digital Image Correlation (DIC) method. After that, the numerical analysis of equivalent 3D finite element model was performed and obtained results were compared with experimental values. In the most critical area, next to the one of the nozzles, crack was initiated and then growth of the damage was simulated using extended finite element method (XFEM). In this paper evaluation of stress intensity factors (SIFs) along crack path is presented, as well as the most probable direction of the crack propagation on the shell. Based on SIFs values, critical length of the crack and number of pressure cycles to the final failure were estimated.