‘ThE ART OF DESIGNING PIPING SUPPORT SYSTEMS 1 Pang. Pnspa Ensnee aA, ©: Malin, arse, Pin leenais! Dist ‘Tre. W Kellogg Garin outta, Fax AgsTRAC ‘he stendard approsch to pipe support design is tw follow well known, accented, practices; the art of dex Staring support sjctons 4s fo go veyond these common practices. ‘his paper uses specific examples to demonstrate thet the use of sore coaron practices can lead to real pro ‘lens in some situations. Support type based on vert. ai thernal displacement, spring Toads set to balance the weignt at hot conditton, anchors at expansion Joint instariaticn, spréags sized to mininize the ver- tical Toad at equipments are atoag the specific itons discussed, The potential of utiTizing friction forces ‘to reglace the expensive snubbers 1s also presented. TRODUCTION A basic cestgn is normaTly created by following conon rules formulated from the past experiences of the ncustry 25 4 whole. The common rules are escential for the day to day design practice. Howver, the tules passed from generation to generation are only ‘those which are broad enough and simple enauch to. earvant @ space in the conpany standards or technical Books. These rules are valid for nost of the situa tions, but invalid for cortatn cases, The exceptions are often 30 inconspicuous that they can be overlooked even Ly experienced engineers. To deal with these 18 an set which requires axceptions te the rules, An art ts undoubely abstract. Therefore, instead of presenting principles, this article will use sone Specific exarples to deronstrate the ideas. For instance, what can go wrong by (1) selecting the sopport types based on vertical thermal expansion displacement, (2) by making tho equipment nozzle take ro direct weight load, (3) by setting the spring to stance the weight at ot condition or (3) by instal l~ fing enekor Tioeralty at expansion joint. instelations With the advance of the computer technique, alnost all the caloulations today are done by computers. Kasever, fhe old mexin *garoage fo garbage outt fs ecii] true, In order to provide Better ota for the computer, a couple of practicas faye bacn evolved. First, a¥T the support menbers and attachnants are designed to be super Stiff. Secondly, Trictton forces are greatly reduced by using teflon slicteg plates or bal? jointed struts, With these painstaking arrengenents, analysts can naw boast of the validity of their analyses. How ever, few have realized that the brute force approach has thrown avay tro of the major ingredients that have helped preserve the structural integrity of the design. ‘These two ingrediants are flexibility and friction, and ‘they should be once again gut to work to our advantage, SUPCORT TYPE ‘The types of supports are normally selected based on the yertica? thermal étsplacenents expected at the support locations. Rigid supports are used at places here the expected thermal cisplacenent Is very small, variable springs are used for medium displacenents, and constant effort supports are used when displace- ‘ents ave great, Te practice is very Togiea!, but problems arise occasfenaliy. Oddly enough, the use of springs and constant supports create more problens than the use of rigid supports, Although it is true that 2 right support should not be used even at 2 place having a Snell expected thermal displacement, the wis~ apat igation of rigid supports witl be detected as soon as an analysis 1s performed. On the other hand, the analysis on 2 spring or constant effort supported System cannot readily tell the mis-epplicatton of the springs. Figure 1 shows ong situation that might end up with & prodien. A free thermal expansion analysts shows 3 vertical displacecent of 11 inches (280 wn) at tne middie of the span due to arching effect. The dis~ Placements at cther support points are ail greater than 3 inches (76 mm). By using the free thermal Gisplacenent as a guidance, constant effort supports will be used for the entire systen as shows in FigureTmt Fig 7 1 (a). Some snubsers might also be added 1f the syitail 1s to de dastuned for earthquake. Aside from the hardware cost, the arrangement appears io heve so Problens, The conputer analysis shows perfect results, and the installation wil] hove no problen either. The proslen nevertheless occurs when the systen is ready for operation and the travel stops are resoved. Tt ‘couldn’ have cone at a worse tina,"but that is the nature of sost the preblens This system may collapse if the actual pipe, insula- Yon, and attachment welght 1s considerebly heavier than’ the theoretical or assused wetght used in the desigh, The system nay weigh az much a: 1 percent more than the design capacity of the supports ard this may rake the field adjustments almost impossibte. One ay argue that the Woight should have boen estimated more conservatively, bit the point 1s thet the systen designed 1s vanble to absorb the uncertainty due to manufacturing tolerance, The system can also be under weight making the field’ adjustoent equally inpossible. Even with 2 properly adJusted system, because of the Friction associated with the linkages a lot of banging may be expected during the start-up and shut-down. The navenent tands to be stuck for a while then an intemittent sudden release. Figure 1 (b] shows a better design by placing rigid supports at the middle spans where the free therwal displacements are the greatest. This systen 1s much more capable for absorbing the weigh variation dis regarded by the computer. It also casts a lot less than the one shone in 1 (a). HoT BALANCE Ina high temperature syste, in order to minimize the creep, the spring is set in Such 2 vay that the spring force and tae systea weight will balance out each other under the fot operating condition. It ts. tmportant that the sustained stress bo reduced to minima at Greep temperature, “For a Tow terperature piping where itkle creep 1s expected, it fs still a good ‘dea to do the same so. tre unbalanced Toad ig mini ized under the operating condition. Wot boTance 4s such a good practice that ts considered as ane of Ww Free Thermal Displacement, ‘the baste principles of piping engineering. By adopting the hot balance approach, the springs have to be locked in place during installation. Tae locks or stops are removed when the system fs ready for operation. The problen fs that in many cases severe tuistiny and Jerking occur when the stops are removed, This 1s somewhat expected beceuse the soring forces at cold condition ave different. from thove required for balancing the weight. This calculated proloading is alrignt tf everything fs at tdeal a5 calculated. ks mentioned previously the pipe wetght. insulation weight, clamp welght and so forth can vary consideraaly fromthe theorectical values. therefore the actual Toading applied to the system can be quite different trem the one calculated, The deviations of the weight and the analytical model are so difficult to predict that the hot balance approach intended ta minimize tn hot Toad is in fact applying unpredictable Toads on both cold ard ot conditions, Aligmment problems have frequently occurred on large rotating equipment, The theoret{cal wrinimun hot load 1s actually only 9 paper promise, Tt hits the taroat sone of the tines and js off the target at other tines, This kind of incertainty $5 Simply too uch of a Fisk to be taken on an expansive Belicate machine which is often the heart of the en- tire plant. Therefore, a nore relisble approach is nocaed. Contrary to the common practice, the reliable approach is the cold balance approach, Ih the cotd balance approach, the fTt up of the piving to a compressor or turbine is normally done with springs unlocked, The construction eagineer wiTl then try to adjust the spring Toad to bring the pipe con nection to the equipment nozzle with a minimum help of outside force. In this wey, tt #5 suve that the piping load at cotd condition is almost zero, although sone Toad is expected under the operating condition, However, this hot load caused by spring force variation is highly predictable. The cold balance hes bacone more and more popular tately. Gesigners who fail to understand the situation will make the field adjustaent very dtfFicuTt and will also create unnecessary argu- tient with the construction engineers, The systemts Fig. 2 Springs Sized Gy Releasing the Anchor Gesigned intentionally to batonce the weight ab cold condition wilt mske tae f¥eld adjustment such easier. With Unis understanding, the destgner can Sinply tne Strict Uie Held to set the sering at calculated hot, Toad (nstsad ef the shifted cold Toad. ERO WEIGHT LOAD ON KOZ2LE It {2 9 common practice to adequately support a piping system that ro weight ts imposed oo rotating cavip- provt, Tals can bg done foirly easily by placing prope suprarts at proper lotations. The only probter sesociated with this practice 1s the £1 ind dependence fon tle computers. Sone piping stress computer programs used in the fas dustry today have am outonatic spring selection cape DiTity. They alse have the option of releasing the vertical translational constraint at certain anchors doriva the spring selection process. This option wilt force the springs € carry all the weight leaving very Little direct woignt toad on an eyuiprient nozzle Unis option is useful if it 18 applied arrectly, For instance, many designers do not recogn'ze that the schore reduces only the direct weight load but not necessarily the weight moment, To tave the scheme do the Jub wight, springs have to be loceted ot Suitable locations, Otherwise, the springs selected by this anchor relesce apticn can rake the system worse than the ones selected without the anchor ra Tease option, igure 2 stows ptcal puts lechorge niateg, Ie 2'fah, Since tere’ is a spring dircesly over the vive Ssseebiyy the opr ing salestion pravest teh he. archer telease sption nity force the springs. carry Ue tavive wergie vecving very Tittle toed. to tre aims Toutiec “if the srenor release option fs net used, Sher wast Tikely spring Avand. pang avczte Alt ea2 Sterylabnot one nal oF tne oscenbly weighs oF Gurse maggers only wen the springs ate by empter rogram The situation wit! be ifferent 12 the spring A is not available as shown in Figure 2 (6). In this case, $f the spring 1s selacted with the anchor release option, the spring 8 will 32 ferced ta pick up the entire weight including tre whole valve assembly, This will Yeave very Tittle vertical force on the nozzle bet wiTl create a huge bending muent on the nozzle, Unfortu- nately, this huge monent may escaue the attention of the andlyat in sone cases, Some computer programs, in an attempt to speed up the process, give the wetaht Toad case results token from the ones obtained with anchur ratoased. By doing s9, the high monent at the nozzie wit not show up im the output report. The only clus to thts problon is the stgntticant vertical aisplacenent shoun’at the anchor point. This vertical displacenent 15 not very obvious and 1s often over~ Yooked or igoored, A properly designed computer pro~ gran will apply the spring force selected and the anchor Fixed to recalculate the welght result. With this type of proper analysis, the high noment wi1] appear at the nozzle together with aa upward displace. rant at the spring Tocation. iifeh syetars as shown in Figura 2 (6), it a¥}] be more favorable to select the spring with the anchor Tixed. In this way the anchor AUD adsorb some yartical weight force Sut not the huge bending manent, EXPANSION JOUNT ANCHOR Dne of the most {mportant requirements in designing bel- jou excansion joint systen is to install suffictent, anchors for resisting pressure end forces. Figure 3 (2) snows the pozentiat pipe wovenent when no proper anchor is Insta¥ied, Figure 3 (b) represents the system stsbiTized by the snchor. The anchor nore ty needs t5 be designed to absore only the vectorial sun of the two end forces, However, if the systen #5 expected to experience flow surges, the unequadity fof the two end forces at any tite Instant also needs to ve considered, It Is also possible that a yalve is Yecated at one side of the anchor as. shown 18) Figure 3 [c), Tn this ease the anchor has to be de- signat also for the condition when the valve 15 closed, If this valve shut-off condition is not de- ERES SRLS ARN BNEDME RS Bee oeThere are also cases wien anchors sapitd not be used Figure 4 stows a tied eapansion jofnt which is used to ausorb the latersi differential exransion, By con paring with Figure 3 arrangement, 1€ 15 tenpting to Put an anchor at the base support to resist the bel~ low end force.” This anchor appears so natural that problens. are often overlonked evan by an experienced Checker. The problem of the anchor can be explained From the start up sequence. When the pipe is heated up, both 8 and C ends expand fees the bellow leaving slack at the tie-reds, As sov2 as the tie-rods ce Tose, tie arussure end force pushing the twrbine is not bélanced. This pressure force normally is suffi efent to aush the turbine off alignment causing severe operational arsblens. Ia a corract installation, this anchor fz qot aged. The pressure will push the dase Support outward ensuring a balancing force on the tie feds te centel the pressure end force ectina on the turbine. THREE HINGE S¥sTEH Syinetey and vslance are nomalty considered two major principles in a good design. However, there are Qccasions whan symmetry can 21so rean handicap. The Taree hinge systre Trequertly used fn sotviag plane exponsien prodlen 1s one oF the exanples Figure 9 shows thres hinge system to be instaltes in Yarge digmeter piping consectes between tHe major pieces of equipnent, Figure > (a) ts the perfect Symetric layout favored by mary designers, includ ing exeerienced ones. The only problen with this lay- OUE 15 that. the three hinges are lined up in a certect seraight Tine, For the hinge 2 to be active it has to rove won the systen is heated up. However, tris ts almost inpossibte due £0 the perfect symmetry. For instance, If a Tine $s crawn between minges Tard 3 to divide the space inte cwo half spaces f and TL, it is clear tat uny aiven point x in Ralf space T there is a correspanding symmetric goin? ax in half seace TT In other words, $7 the hinge 2 can move to a. it con certeinly move to ax tea, “Since it cunmot be et to different locations ot the same time, Ene binge will be simply stuck without raving anychere. This is an example of pure symmetric case, In reality certain Unsymmetrice] effect wfiT be buiTi-fn Ip the systen to allow the hinge te move. Figure 5 {b) shows tho movomont of hinge 2 which ts Yocated slightly off the symmetric Tine due 20 con Tho hinge 2 in tits case will wove toward the tal? space IT, bil the magnitude of the rovenent can be unexpectedly high. Far instance, with the dimension and the tenperature shown, the calculated z q a & © Fig. 3 Adanuate Anchor ts Essentin] | . ! ah ad a Pee Sy = wre Sy Co Fig. & Mio Anchor 16 Mtiowed 36te) Fig. & reverent of hinge 2 1s 65 inches (165 ra}, end the angle of hinge rotation is 12 degrees. This movement is too much to be acconméated by sunpar: system. The friction on the support will also have very great, effect on the equipment loading. The syaten can be greatly inprovéd by ioceting the ‘aingo 2 sway fron the ifne connecting the ene hinges. Vand das shown in Figure’§ (c). With this alter= aotive Tayavt, the exported hinge 2 movoreat 16 duced to about 5 inches (127 im} with a hinge rota tion of only about ore degree, This orcer of magni tude is wel! within the omai support eyeten capacity FRICTEON RESTRAINT For systens which nged to be designed for shock load= ings the common approach ts to inseait snubhers, eitier hydraulic or mechanical, at points wnere rigid restraints are not parnitted due to thermal expansion roquironant. It works fiae except there are also Aifficulties. “Thesv snubbers are not only expensive but also require constant maintenance. The srubber also has a built-in play that atlows the restraint point to nove a certain anount befere being stopped. This Slack mekes the snubber a poor restraint for snail amplitude, steady state vibrations. A fric= (ioral restraint nay be ore suitable fer some cases. Figure 6 shows 9 norizontal oop system whose vertical pation can be easily restrained with rigid supports. jhe Horizontal mation, however, #3 Somewhat compl icat- 26. Each beg of the Toop naeds an intemediate hori- zontal restraint to resist ine earthgsake load. Row ever, because of the thernal expansion, a rigid hori zontal restraint will create too much thermal expan Sign stress. In this case the straight forward ap proach 1s te install a snubber. The question here is AF there is en alternative approach. The wain reason the loop needs the harlzonta) restraints { Secause ‘he unrestrained systen wi!) shake sn the nasgheorhood Of the peak response souctra. Once the horizontal restraints are Installed, the natural frequency wit] shift upward to a more favorable spectra ranse. G00" (42°C) 8 i 2 le) Syematry Gan Also Mean Probiens Therefore, it is interesting to note that the horizon tal restraint force required is only about 500 pounds (2ezak}. To's aagn'tuce of force ts mal y telerable to an 8 inch (219m cutside diameter) pipe. By using frictional sway braces adjusted at $00 pounds force, tre braces WIN act as rigid stops during earthquake event, uhile putting Nintted restraint force against thera! axpansiom ovenent. Table t shows the stresses for different support scheme used. The table is constructed by assuring that the snubners: jmpase no resistance to thermal expansion. In reelity because of the tight sai requtrenent, the resistance imposed by a saubbar can be stonificant, Table 1, Fipe Stross Genavated by Different Schenes. Support Pipe Stress(ost), 1 p5i=6.789 KPA restraint, Therwial Expansion | Carthquake ‘ithout Restraint 8950 8030 IRigid Restraints 38590, 1380 [Saubbers 8950 1380 lerictional brace 13800) 1980 ‘The above discussion denenstrotes the use of frictional prace to stop a dynamic motion. The frictional restraints can also be used to absorb the dynamic zion. For eneray absorption, the suaport point. has to be allowed to mave @ shall amount, The snalt ovetient coupled \ith a friction force can effectivery: absorb the vibration eneruy thus increases the damping Of the system. ‘CONCLUSION Piping support systens are generally designed by tro nagor rules. The support locations are detennined by ‘the guidance of the maximm allowable spans, and the support tynas are sotocted based on the expected vertical there displacoments. there are also rules and practices adopted to facilitate the design and to avoid common errors. Hoover, a5 dononstrated Yn the above discusstons, there are always exception to each ‘of the rules. These excestions, {f noe handted pro~ perky, can cause difficulties in installation and Create problens during operation, 8" scH 40 FEEDWATER 65°F 2° THICK INSULATION 13254 mm 1 = 03048 m S50 = 343 Fig. 6 Friction Restraines ac work ACCELERATION, (6) 40 20: Lo ae PERIOD, (SEC) a3