Pipe Stress Analysis

1.Introduction:
Present day process plant piping systems use various fluids at various conditions of pressure
and temperature. The piping engineer has to design the systems to ensure reliability and
safety throughout design plant life. The piping systems are subjected to combined effects of
fluid internal pressure, its own weight and restrained thermal expansion. The elevated
temperature also affects the pipe strength adversely.
Therefore the task of the Engineer is:
1. To specify an adequate wall thickness to sustain the internal pressure with safety.
2. To select a piping layout with an adequate flexibility between points of anchorage to
absorb its thermal expansion without exceeding allowable material stress level, also
reacting thrusts and moments at the point of anchorage must be set below certain
limits.
3. To limit the additional stress due to the dead weight of the piping by providing
suitable support system effective for cold as well as hot conditions.
All these objectives are achieved by:
1. Assuming adequate support to prevent excessive sag and stress in piping systems.
2. Incorporating sufficient flexibility to accommodate stress resulting from changes in
the pipe length due to thermal effects and movement of connection at the ends of
the pipe.
3. Designing the piping system to prevent its exerting excessive forces and moments on
equipment. Such as umps and tanks or on other connection support points.
The stress engineer of a piping design deportment performs the necessary calculation to
ascertain that the various requirements due to internal pressure, thermal expansion and
external weight are satisfied. Various computer packages are available which perform the
required rigorous analysis. These analysis are basically static analysis. There are situations
where stresses are introduced into the piping systems due to dynamic loading situations like
reciprocating compressor vibration, safety valve discharging etc. However it is the static
analysis which most of the pipe stress engineers perform and are acquainted with. Now the
present day computer packages that are being used (CEASAR-II, CAEPIPE etc) are quit
comprehensive and if the piping configuration and pipe data fed properly, comprehensive
analysis are done through the computer package. This has improved pipe stress analysis job
productivity immensely. However sometimes this has led to a decline the knowledge about
the basis of pipe stress analysis especially in situation where the stress analysis engineer
after acquiring some sort of skill in the use of the analysis package does not make effort to
learn about the basis of the pipe stress. Some of the ideas about the ideas about the basics
of pipe stress have been enumerated herein.
General ideas on failure of materials:
Failures of material can occur by:

a)
b)
c)
d)

Brittle Fracture
Excessive elastic deformation
Excessive non-elastic (plastic or viscous) deformation
Thermal or mechanical Fatigue
Brittle Fracture:
Steel is generally considered to be a ductile material. However in certain cases steels
sometimes rupture without prior evidence of distress. Such brittle failure is
accompanied by but little plastic deformation, and the energy required to propagate
the fracture appears to be quite low.
The three conditions, which control this tendency for steel to behave in brittle
fashion, include
1. High stress concentration: i.e. notches, scratches, internal flows or sharp edge in
geometry
2. A high rate of straining and
3. A low temperature.
The transition temperature for any steel is the temperature above, which the steel
behaves in a predominantly ductile manner and below which it behaves in a
predominantly brittle manner. Steel with high transition temperature is more likely
behave in a brittle manner during fabrication or in service. It follows that a steel with
low transition temperature is more likely to behave in a ductile manner and therefore,
steel with low transition temperature are generally preferred for service involving
severe stress concentrations, impact loading, low temperature or combination of
these three.
Elastic and non Elastic deformation:
Elastic deformations are deformations that disappear when the stress is removed.
Plastic deformation is non reversible. When the stress is removed plastic strain
approximately remains unaltered. A look at the stress strain diagram of say carbon
steel material will clarify the concepts. However there is another kind of plastic
deformation called creep where the deformation increases with time at constant
stress. At certain temperature levels creep, which is the term, used to describe this
progressive deformation may occurs in metals even in stress below

concepts. However there is another kind of plastic deformation called creep where
the deformation increases with time at constant stress. At certain temperature levels
creep, which is the term, used to describe this progressive deformation may occur in
metals even at stress below the short time yield strength or proportional limit. Thus
the yield strength or proportional limit, which are determined by short time tensile
tests do not represent satisfactory criteria for the design of piping systems over the
entire temperature range CREEP RATE or CREEP LIMIT determination through a large
number of long time tensile test of elevated temperature becomes necessary.

2.3Thermal

and

mechanical

fatigue:

Failure has occurred when the service become more severe than the conditions for
which the piping was originally designed. Thermal or mechanical fatigue is usually
the most common causes of failures in high temperature piping systems. Severe
localized
mechanical
stress
have
caused
or
contributed
to
failures.
Thermal fatigue is caused by frequent change in operating temperatures of pipeline.
Thermal expansion and contraction occur in all metal components by the change in
temperature. Over a long period this results in thermal fatigue. Hence for best
metallurgical conditions, the temperature of the high temperature piping systems
should be maintained continuously and uniformly as far as possible.
Mechanical fatigue is caused by pipe movement, vibration, restraints preventing free
movement or other conditions.
e) 3.0

Allowable

stress:

From stress strain diagram of a material like carbon steel we know about yield
strength as also ultimate tensile strength. For our design purpose and allowable
stress value is fixed which is based on a certain factor of safety over the yield
strength or ultimate tensile strength. For higher temperature applications creep
strength also comes in picture. Various codes detail the allowable stress basis. The
basis adopted in ANSI B31.3 and IBR are described herein. These two codes have the
maximum usage among the Indian pipe stress Engineers for Petrochemical/ Refinery.

3.1

Allowable

stress

as

per

ACSI:

As per Petroleum refinery piping code ANSI B31.3 the basic allowable stress values
are
the
min.
of
the
following
values.
a)1/3
of
b)
1/3
c)
2/3
d)
2/3
e) 100% of
3.2

the
minimum
tensile
strength
at
room
of
tensile
strength
of
design
of
Min.
yield
strength
of
room
of
Min.
yield
strength
at
design
average stress for creep rate of O/D 1% per 1000
Allowable

Stress

as

per

temp.
temp.
temp.
temp.
hrs.
IBR:

As pe the Indian Boiler Regulations the allowable working stress is calculated as

shown
below:

i) For temperatures at or below 454 Deg.C, the allowable stress is the lower of the
following
values:
Et

1.5

or

2.7

ii) For temperatures above 454 Deg.C the allowable stress is lower of the
Values:
Et

1.5

or

Sr

1.5

Where
R
=
Min.
tensile
strength
of
the
steel
at
room
temp.
Et
=
Yield
point
(02%
proof
stress)
at
the
temp.
Sr = Average stress to produce rupture in 100,000 hrs. at a temp. and in
No case more than 1.33 times the lowest stress to produce rupture at temp.
Sc = Average stress to produce an elongation of 1% creep in 100,000 hrs. All these
values have been made available after carrying on repeated laboratory tests on the
specimen.
f)

4.0

Allowable

stress

range:

The stress of a piping system lowers within the elasticity range in which plastic flow
does not occur by self-spring during several initial cycles even if the calculation value
exceeds the yield point, and thereafter-steady respective stress is applied. Hence
repture in a piping system may be due to low cycle fatigue. It is well known that
fatigue strength usually depends upon the mean stress and the stress amplitude. The
mean stress does not always become zero if self spring takes place in piping system
but in the ANSI code, the value of the mean stress is disregarded while the algebraic
difference between the maximum and the minimum stress namely only the stress
range SA is employed as the criterion of the strength against fatigue rupture.
The maximum stress range a system could be subjected to without producing flow
neither in the cold nor in the hot condition was first proposed by ARC Mark as follows:
a) In cold condition the stress in the pipe material will automatically limit itself to the
yield strength or 8/5 of Sc because Sc is limited to 5/8th of Y.S. therefore, Ye = 1.6 Sc.
b)At elevated temperatures at which creep is more likely the stress in the pipe
material
shall
itself
to
the
rupture
strength
i.e.
8/5th
Sh
Therefore

=
stress

1.6
range

1.6f(Sc

Sh.
=

Sh)

However, the code limits the stress range conservatively as 1.25f(Sc + Sh) which
includes all stresses i.e. expansion stress, pressure stress, hot stresses and any
other stresses inducted by external loads such as wind and earthquake, f is the stress
range
reduction
factor
for
cyclic
conditions
as
given
below:
To determine the stress range available for expansion stress alone we subtract the
stresses inducted by pressure stress and weight stress which itself cannot exceed sh.
Therefore
SA

the

range

VALUES

f(1.25
OF

Total

number

g) 5.0

Pressure

&

expansion
Sc

full

over

Stress

only

Sh)

factor

expected
less
less
less
less
less

&

is

0.25

and
and
and
and
and

Bending

stress

FACTOR
of

Temp.
Cycles
7,000
14,000
22,000
45,000
100,000
250,000 and less 0.5

for

Combination

life
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6

Application:

The code confines the stress examination to the most significant stresses created by
the diversity of loading to which a piping system is subjected. They are:
i)Stress

due

to

the

thermal

expansion

of

the

line.

ii)The longitudinal stresses due to internal or external pressure.

iii)The bending stress created by the weight of the pipe and its insulation, the internal fluid,
fittings, valves and external loading such as wind, earthquake etc.

5.1 Stresses due to the thermal expansion of the line:

Temperature change in restrained piping cause bending stresses in single plane systems,
and bending and torsional stresses in three-dimensional system. The maximum stress due to
thermal, changes solely is called expansion stress SE. This stress must be within the
allowable stress range SA.
SE = Sb2 + 4St2

Sb = I (Mb / Z) = resulting bending stress

Mt = (Mt //2Z) = torsional stress
Mb = resulting bending movement
Mt / = torsional movement
Z = section modules of pipe
i = stress intensification factor
5.2 Longitudinal stress due to internal or external pressure:
The longitudinal stress due to internal/external pressure shall be expressed as P (Ai / Am)
Where Ai is inside cross sectional area of pipe, Am is the metal area, P is the pressure.
5.3 Weight Stress:
The stress induced, self weight of pipe, fluid, fittings etc. as given by SW = M/Z, Where M is
bending moment created by the pipe and other fittings, Z is the section modules of the pipe.
The stresses due to internal pressure and weight of the piping are permanently sustained.
They do not participate in stress reductions due to relaxation and are excluded from the
comparison of which as the latter has been adjusted to allow for them with the following
provision.
1. 6.0 Flexibility and stress intensification factor:
Some of the piping items (say pipe elbow) show different flexibility than
predicted by ordinary beam theory. Flexibility factor of a fitting is actually the
ratio of rotation per unit length of the fitting in question under certain value of
moment to the rotation of a straight pipe of same nominal diameter and
schedule and under identical value of moment. The pipefitting item, which
shows substantial flexibility, is a pipe elbow/bend.
One end is anchored and the other end is attached to a rigid arm to which a
force is applied. The outer fibers of the bend/elbow will be under tension and the
inner fibers will be under compression. Due to shape of bend both tension and
compression will have component in the same direction creating
distortion/slottening of bend. This leads to higher flexibility of the end as there is
some decrease in moment of inertia due to distortion from circular to elliptical
shape and also due to fact that the outer layer fibers, which are under tension
has to elongate less and the inner layer fibers which are under compression has

to contract less to accommodate the same angular rotation leading to higher

flexibility. Piping component used in piping system has notches/discontinuities in
the piping system, which acts as stress raisers. For example a fabricated tee
branch. The concept of stress intensification comes from this and is defined as
the ratio of the bending moment producing fatigue failure in a given number of
cycles in straight pipe of nominal dimensions to that producing failure in the
same number of cycles for the part under consideration. Both flexibility factor
and stress intensification factors have been described in PROCESS PIPING
CODE(ASME B31.3) and is also included in the various pipe stress analysis
computer programmes.
2. 7.0

Equipment

nozzle

loading:

As explained earlier pipe stresses are calculated for various type of loading such as
pressure, weight, thermal etc. and it is reviewed whether the stresses are within
allowable limits. However in lot of cases pipe stress analysis becomes critical and
rather complicated because it is not only stress of piping but the nozzle loading of the
various
equipment
which
has
to
be
kept
within
allowable
limits.
For rotating equipments like steam turbines, compressors centrifugal pumps,
various codes like NEMA SM-23, API-617, API-610 etc. give guidelines regarding the
allowable nozzle loading. For the analysis of these piping connected with various
rotating equipment, vendor also provide information regarding nozzle movements
and allowable loads. It is the responsibility of the equipment engineer to ensure that
the allowable loads as agreed by vendors are always equal to or greater the values
as per the respective applicable code. Various computer packages now have
equipment nozzle check features. However the pipe stress engineers are advised to
study the specific applicable codes also as this will give them a further insight for
solving specific problems related to equipment nozzle loading.
3. Any ideas, tips and trics on how to reduce nozzle loads on Rotating equipment
Of
1/-where
2/-support
3/-Piping
4/I

course

am

to
functions
lay
after

this

is
place
(

out

general

defined
the
springs,
axial
around
ideas,

on

tips,

=
supports
stops,..)
nozzles
Etc
etc

Apparently there a dedicated WRC bulletin for piping lay out around pumps..
Does any one has a copy ? ( I am not talking about WRC 107 or 295 !!)
4. Freeman,
Thanks
a
lot
for
ur
valuable
explainations
its
great
really
its
a
worth
for
any
piping
engg.
Based on ur explainations i would like to some more questions
1) How the piping loads on pipe rack are given (with Units) before doing any stress
analysis (preliminary loading). What is UDL Concept and point load concept?
Any
book,
notes,
guide
lines?
2) How Anchor loads on piperack are calculated before stress analysis on pipes?
3)
How
to
decide
anchor
bay
?

4) In hydrotest the pressure is taken as 1.5 x design pressure but asme 31.3 allows
max. of 1.33 % design pressure than how pipe line sustain 1.5 x design pressure it
suggests
that
after
hydrotest
pipe
becomes
useless
5) In thermal expansion or contraction how the perpendicular leg is calculated?
is there any formula for that? because refering charts for each dia and each material
is
difficult.
Any
book?,
notes?,
guide
lines?
6) Do u have same expertise on piping materials? so that I would like to ask some
more?
Thanks
MTD
How
Do
Which

to
you
margin

dsign
have
is

taken

and
pre-size
specifications

or

for

as

future

lines

pipe

rack
guidelines
general

..???
??
rule

??

Sizing occurs before pipe stress= How can one take into account the axial and lateral loads
generated by anchors,Stops, guides ???
I'll try to answer your questions... But, be aware some of the figures shown in my answer
might vary from Project to Project. Please, check Current Project Piping Stress Specification
for
real/applicable
figures
to
be
used
by
you...
1) Before Piping Stress Analysis, Piping submites only weight loads to structural guys. You
calculate the weight (metal + water, since Hydrostatic Test Weight is the worst case
scenario) of a pipe section whose length is equal to the span between pipe rack supports
and divide this figure by 2 (since that weight will be supported by 2 supports). That's the
Vertical Load. Axial Load will be the result of multiplying Vertical Load by the Friction
Coefficient. With these Loads, stuctural guys size (preliminary) the structural members of
the rack until you finish pipe stress analysis and get actual Loads from the used software
reports.
2) Piping Stress Engineers and Piping Design guys work together to achieve resulting axial
loads on Pipe Anchor supports to be less than a certain figure (let's say 2,500 pounds... it will
depend on the anchor design itself) by providing flexibility to piperun (using loops or rerouting the pipeline). Please, understand that on a pipe anchor supports there will be axial
forces acting against each other (one from the pipe section upstream the anchor, the other
from the section downstream the anchor) so if you end up with simetrical pipe runs at each
side of the anchor support you'll have a resulting axial force on the anchor tending to be
equal
to
cero
(ideally).
3) Having a very long (straight) pipe on a very long pipe rack, the first thing to do is to
calculate the thermal expansion of the given pipe run. If the calculated expansion is greater
than 12 inches, the first approach is to include one anchor at the mid point (as close as
possible) of the pipe run and add two pipe loops (one at each side of the anchor). This will be
the location of the anchor bay. If the resulting expension -for each half of pipe run- is still
greater than 12 inches, then you divide the pipe run in three sections in order to add three
pipe loops and two anchor points (and anchor bays). And the iteration process goes on and
on untill you reach the desired expansion figure for each section of the pipe run.

4) Don't know where this 1,33% (at ASME B31.3) is coming from... I'm not aware of that. But
If by using 1,5 x Design Pressure as Test Pressure you're exceding 0,7Ultimate Strength of
the selected material, what you need to do is upgrade your material selection to a steel with
higher
strength.
Revise
the
Piping
Class
of
this
pipe
run.
5) When using "manual" methods for studying piping flexibility, such as guided cantiliever (I
think this is where your question is referring to), "perpendicular legs" are the lengths of all
the piping sections perpendicular to the one whose reactions you're studying in particular.
So you add all lengths of these perpendicular pipe sections, input the resulting value into the
corresponding formula (or chart) then you get the estimated reactions you're looking for.
Please, refer to Kellog's "Design of Piping Systems" (is available in this forum)
6) Some expertise.... maybe lees than what you need to get the answers you're looking for...
I'm not a Piping Stress Analysit nor a Material Engineer either... I'm an experienced Piping
Designer/Engineer,
so...
wait
for
Freeman's
answer...
Best Regards
How
Do

to
you

Which

dsign
have

margin

is

taken

and
pre-size
specifications

or

for

as

future

lines

pipe

rack
guidelines
general

..???
??
rule

??

Sizing occurs before pipe stress= How can one take into account the axial and lateral loads
generated by anchors,Stops, guides ???

FATHI....
W

here's
=

some

guidance

regarding
X

pipe
)

racks

sizing:
+

B.

Where:
f
=
=
n
=
=

:
1.5
1.2
:

pipes
pipes

number
of
lines
300
mm
225
mm
(
if

if
if

:
Lines
For
For
:

300

in
(

are
are

Safety
counted
counted

from
from

the

densest
area
up
to
estimated
average
lines
are
smaller
than

size
450
spacing
250
NB

Additional
Width
for
larger
than
450
instrument
cable
tray
/
Electrical
cable
mm

(estimated

average

Factor
PFD.
P&Id.
NB
)
)

NB.
duct.
tray.
spacing)

225

mm

(if

lines

are

smaller

than

250

NB)

B
:
future
provision
=
20%
of
(f
X
n
X
s)
+
A
Generally you use 20% at the begining of Basic Engineering and 15-10% at the begining of
Detailed Engineering