INTRODUCTION The objective piping stress analysis is to assure safety against failure of the piping system, prevent overloading of associated structural elements and terminal equipment from both intemal and external factors that would apply strain or forces to the system. This to be undertaken with the best economic considerations. The prime factors are internal pressure and thermal strain. In order to deal with strain some understanding of piping Ny and the resolution of the forces ‘moments and stresses must be known. Before delving into the complexities of piping flexibility for thermal strain it is worth considering other factors that could prejudice the integrity of a piping system. ‘But the first consideration that must be undertaken will be the calculation for the wall thickness of the pipework. ‘There are three significant documents at the start of a project, the P & I D, the Line list and the Pipe Spec. ‘The engineer responsible for the Pipe Spec must calculate and seiect suitable wall thicknesses for the pipes listed on the other two documents. ‘These thicknesses will determine the weight of the pipe, its stifness and are a key factor in the determination of the stresses as will be shown later. Pressure stress ‘The three principle factors are (a) Temperature of the fluid conveyed in the pipework. ( see line list) From this an allowable stress for the pipe material can be determined (see piping code of practice) (b) The pressure of the fluid conveyed in the pipework. (see ine list) and P &1D) (©) The size of the pipework (see line ii Alll piping wall thickness calculations are based on the thin wall cylinder formulae which are an approximation of the thick wall formulae.Derivation of Hoop Stress from first principles Load=pxd — ee” Stress = Load / Area i =pd/2t 4 4 Derivation of longitudinal Stress from first principles Load =p x {xx (@)/ 4} x sae = sxdxt f Is Stress = Load / Area it = pdfat wi As can be seen above the hoop stress is twice that of the longitudinal stress for the same pressure and diameter. This has significant influence on design as can be seen later. ‘Therefore the hoop stress is the maximum stress. Therefore wali thickness calculations will always be based on the Hoop stress formulae Tor all he codes of practice that we are going to consider. oem TEATS ne At this point it can be seen that at the max. pressure the stresses from pressure are only half the allowable stress. This permits Stresses from factors like deadweight bending to be up to half the allowable stress. Example ; Pipe nom dia = 350 (14"), actual outside dia. 356mm temp. = 200°C (392°F), pressure 10 bar approx. 1 n/mm* Material API SL Grade B From Table A-1 we can see that the allowable stress is 20.0 kpsi as this is an Ameriacan code we must divide by 0.145 to bring it to n/mm? = 138 nimm* Max stress = p.d /2t_ from which t= p.d/2 x (Max stress)¥ 1x 356/2x 138 4 13mm Let us consider a weld joint factor (see table 302.3.4) For API SL see a factor of 0.95 From which the min wall thickness will be 1.3 / 0.95 = 1.37 mm If we add in an allowance for corrosion, say 1.6 mm we get a min. thiékness of 137+ 1.6= 2.97 mm Should the manufacturing allowance be -12.5% then the min thickness will be 2.97/ 0.875 = 3.39 mm It is probable that the piping engineer will select a wall thickness of availability and general mechanical strength. We are aware that Temperature and Pressure are the significant factors governing the stresses created in piping systems. ‘There are others however which should be considered also and which will be # problem from time to time: ‘These other influences for stress are Vacuum Nozzle movement Self weight Wind load Settlement Contents weight Wave Load Insulation weight RV forces Earthquake ‘The factors listed above can be divided into two distinct forms as follows Self Limiting Stress. - Generated by Deflection (Generally thermal)