Jacketed Piping: Interview questions and answers

Posted by Anup Kumar Dey Friday, 15 March 2013 0 comments

Common questions asked in Piping stress interview related to Jacketed piping are listed below:
Why Jacketed Piping is used?
Ans: It is commonly used to convey very viscous process fluids in an inner pipe, heated by steam/hot
water/hot oil or other heating medium between the jacket and core pipe. Vacuum jacketing is also used as
an insulator for cryogenic fluids and can be analyzed using the same calculation method for heated
jacketed piping.

If water (density=1000Kg/m3) is flowing through the jacket then what is value of density you will
enter into Caesar spreadsheet?
Ans: We have to calculate equivalent density for the same. The following formula can be used
Actual jacket fluid equivalent density = [(rj2 - Rc2)/ rj2 ] x dj
Where,

rj = Inner radius of core

Rc = Outer radius of pipe
dj = Density of heating medium

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What are the major stress checks that you will perform while analysing Jacketed Piping system?
Ans:

Sustained And Expansion Stress Check

Limits of calculated stresses due to sustained loads (primary stresses) and displacement strain due to
expansion (secondary stresses) should be evaluated separately for core and jacket pipe (as per clause
302.3.5 of ASME B31.3).

Checking of buckling load. (Manual Calculation):

This check will not be performed by Caesar-II as it is not in the code. However it will provide force
calculated at the junction point (P) between core and jacket. It should be less than Pcr which is given by
the formula
Pcr = 42 *Ec*Ic , For Core
L2
Pcr = 42 *Ej*Ij , For Jacket
L2
Where,
P = Force calculated by computer program at junction point
Pcr = Critical force
Ec, Ej = Modulus of Elasticity of core/ jacket material
Ic = Moment of Inertia of Core
Ij = Moment of Inertia of Jacket
L = Length of pipe between junction of core/ jacket.
If P Pcr then no buckling failure

Weld strength check between jacket and core pipe:

P calculated at the junction point between core & jacket pipe compared with allowable load at the weld
point.
P allowed = area of weld * 80% of hot allowable stress of material
Area of weld = D * root of weld
D = Diameter of core pipe
Root of weld = 0.707 * weld size
If P calculated P allowed, then the system is safe

Checking of deflection of jacket:

In this case, it is assumed that no spider/spacer is used between core and jacket. Deflection for the jacket
with available length has to be computed and should be ensured that it does not create obstruction to the
flow of hot medium in the jacket. Normally maximum allowed deflection of jacket is T/2, where T is the

thickness

of

jacket.

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Checking for External Pressure (By material Group):

Sometimes jacket may be subjected to partial vacuum conditions due to failure of steam supply and
subsequent condensation of steam inside the jacket. In such cases, jacket should be checked for vacuum
condition.
Like another example in a system the core is at a pressure of 30 psig and the jacket is at a pressure of 180
psig, then the core is subjected to an external pressure of 150 psig. For this the core must be investigated
for collapse or local buckling from the external pressure load (Refer para 304.1.3 of ASME B31.3 and
UG-28 through UG-30 of ASME BPVC Section-VIII Division-I)

Checking for Axial stress:

As per ASME B31.3 calculated displacement stress range (Expansion case stress) is
SE = (Sb2 + 4St2)1/2. Code does not take into account the axial forces and consequent axial stress in
calculating expansion stresses. This is because for the normal pipe axial forces are normally due to
longitudinal stresses which is already taken care in thickness calculation and sustained stress calculations,
but in case of jacketed piping, axial stresses at core-jacket junction point is just not due to longitudinal
stresses, but mainly due to differential thermal expansion of core and jacket pipes. Thus calculated stress
should be corrected by adding axial stresses for local analysis of that particular junction point. Thus,
Actual Stress SEa = SE + Axial Force/ Area
Axial force can be obtained from CAESAR output or can be calculated by the equation,
Faxial = E x L x Area
L
Or else, CAESAR also calculates the value of axial stresses which it calculates for operating case.
Activate the option Add F/A in stress in configuration file. Axial stress due to thermal differential is
added to the calculated expansion stress and then it should be compared with the allowable loads as per
ASME B31.3.
What allowable value is considered for welding check at core jacket interconnection?
Ans:
Two methods are prevalent. You have to consider any one of the following (discuss with the stress lead)
a) Consider the 0.6 times of electrode tensile strength (As per AISC code)
b) Consider SE=1.25Sc+0.25Sh of electrode as allowable (as per secondary stress generated theory)