PIPE STRESS ANALYSIS -

CONCEPTS
What is piping stress analysis
 Analytical procedure to evaluate the stress state at
various points in a piping system.

 Also known as flexibility analysis since it also helps

ascertain the required flexibility in the piping system

 Helps determine displacements and forces / moments on

the hangers, supports, restraints, guides, stops and
anchors in the piping system

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 PIPE STRESS ANALYSIS -
CONCEPTS
Contents
 Stress in pipes
 Stress categories
 Failure of pipes
 Thermal behavior of pipes
 Stress limits
 Stress in piping components
 External load categories
 Piping supports
 Spring hangers
 Constant effort hangers
 Friction
 Piping codes
 ASME B 31.1 - Power piping code
 Linear and non linear supports
 Effect of supports on stress

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 Stress in pipes

Fig-1 Biaxial stress state in a pipe

sl = PDO/4t + BM/Z
Where BM = (Mx2+My2)1/2

sh = PDO/2t
t = TM/J
Where TM= Mz

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 Stress in pipes

Fig-2 Mohr’s circle of the biaxial stress state

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 Stress in pipes

Stress in pipes
 Figure-1 shows the stresses in pipes. The various stresses included
in stress evaluation are:
– Pressure Hoop stress
– Pressure longitudinal stress
– Bending & torsional stress due to weight of pipe, contents and insulation
– Bending & torsional stress due to any point loads, wind loads,
earthquake loads, hammer loads
– Bending & torsional stress due to restriction of thermal expansion
 It is always assumed (in fact due care is taken to
ensure) that plant piping will consist of at least two
perpendicular segments between anchors. The Axial
stresses due to thermal effects and also due to any
other external loading in such a case will be
negligible and are hence neglected in stress calculations. So also
is buckling neglected.

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 Stress categories

Classification of stress
 Primary stress (membrane and bending)
– This is the stress due to external loading of the pipe like weight,
point load, wind, earthquake
– If this exceeds the allowable stress it will cause failure of the pipe
through continuous yielding
 Secondary stress
– This stress is not caused by any external loading but by such
physical tendencies as thermal expansion
– This stress is self-limiting in nature. It relieves itself upon yielding.

It is due to this fundamental difference in behavior between

primary and secondary stress that these two stress categories
are treated very differently. These stresses are never added up
and have different allowable values
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 Stress categories

Classification of stress
 Peak stress
– Peak stresses are cyclical stresses which
cause fatigue failure in pipes

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 Failure of pipes

Failure mechanism
 Plastic deformation leading to bursting - This happens whenever the
magnitude of the primary membrane stress exceeds the yield
strength.
 Plastic instability or incremental collapse - This occurs when the
secondary stress range exceeds twice the yield stress as explained
under title “stress range”.
 Fatigue - Low cycle fatigue occurs in piping systems due to cyclic
loads (like thermal
load cycles, vibrations, etc).This
occurs when the cumulative usage factor exceeds 1.0.

Creep ?- Creep or elastic instability or elastic follow-up is a time

dependent failure phenomenon that occurs in high temperature
piping - typically above 750 deg F (400 deg C). Creep failure would
eventually occur if the primary stress in the pipe is above the creep
strength of the material.
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 Thermal behavior of pipes

Thermal shakedown / Stress range

 When a pipe is heated up, stresses are caused if the free thermal
movement of the pipe is restricted. Upon reaching the yield point, the
pipe starts yielding and the stresses as well as the thermal loads on
the restraints get relieved. This is called thermal shakedown. When
the pipe is cooled, it comes back to its original position and now the
stresses and restraint loads reappear but with opposite signs.
The range between the hot stress and the cold stress is called the
stress range.

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 Thermal behavior of pipes

Fig-3 Stress range

Total
stress range ST = Shy + Scy

where:
Shy = Hot yield strength
Scy = cold yield strength

If deformation exceeds case-II

as in case III, there will be
plastic instability in subsequent
cycles leading eventually to
incremental collapse.

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 Stress Limits

FIG-4 Limit stress-combined tension and bending. (ASME,

‘‘Criteria.’’ )
 Fig shows two curves - one the
limit stress or the failure curve
and the other the design limit
curve.
 A conservative design limit of
0.66Sy for primary membrane
(tensile) and 1.0Sy for combined
bending and membrane stress is
used.

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 Stress Limits

Stress limits for Time dependent deterioration - Fatigue and

Creep 5
 Low cycle Fatigue (load cycles lower than 10 )
Stress reduction factor “ f ” for the allowable stress range for
different cumulative cycles are available in the piping codes.
Ensuring that the piping is not stressed beyond these levels
guarantees that the pipe would not fail in fatigue for the
postulated number of operating cycles.
 Creep: The allowable stress values for various material listed in the
piping codes take into account the creep strength in the high
temperature range (above 400 deg C). Limiting the primary stress in
the pipe below the allowable stress value as listed in the piping code
would ensure that the creep rate is no more than 1% per 100,000
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 Stress Limits
FIG-5 Stress categories and limits of stress intensity
(Source:ASME Section VIII Div-2, Appendix-4)

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 Stress Limits

FIG-5 Stress categories and limits of stress intensity (Contd…)

(Source:ASME Section VIII Div-2, Appendix-4)

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 Stress in piping components

Stress intensification factors - SIF

 Elbows, branch connections and reducers will have a higher level of
stress when compared to a straight pipe for the same amount of
bending moment.
 The factor by which the stress in the pipe component exceeds that of
the straight pipe is called SIF (stress intensification factor).
 SIF of a component depends upon its geometry and is calculated
using empirical formulae available in piping codes.
 For special components like Y-piece where no empirical relations are
available, SIF will have to be determined through a analytical

procedure like FEM.

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 Stress in piping components

Relation between Elbow geometry and SIF

 Elbow / bend radius - Has inverse relation to SIF
 Elbow diameter - Has direct relation to SIF
 Elbow thickness - Has inverse relation to SIF

Relation between Branch geometry and SIF

 Header diameter - Has direct relation to header & branch SIFs

 Header thickness - Has inverse relation to header & branch SIFs
 Branch diameter - Has direct relation to branch SIF. Has no bearing
on header SIF
 Branch thickness - Has direct relation to branch SIF. Has no bearing
on header SIF

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 Stress in piping components

Relation between Branch type and SIF

 The various branch types are listed with their

SIF in the increasing order
– Welding Tee

Increasing
SIF
– Integrally reinforced fitting as per MSS SP
97
– Reinforced fabricated Tee
– Unreinforced fabricated Tee

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 External load categories

Types of external loading on pipes

 Sustained loading
– These loads will act on the pipe throughout its operating tenure
and include
• Dead loads like weight of pipe, insulation and inline
components
• Live loads like weight of contents in the pipe
 Occasional loading
– These loads act on the pipe only for certain duration or during
abnormal operating conditions and include
• wind
• Dynamic loads like earthquake, hammer, safety valve thrust

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 Piping supports

Types of pipe supports

 Rigid support - An inflexible restraint used primarily to carry the
sustained pipe loading. They cannot be used where there is upward
pipe movement.
– Rigid hanger
– Sliding base support
 Variable effort (spring) support - A flexible spring used to carry the
sustained pipe loading while allowing for upward / downward pipe
movement. The supporting effort varies as the pipe moves up or
down.
 Constant effort support - Used to carry the sustained pipe loading
while allowing for upward / downward pipe movement. The
supporting effort remains constant throughout the upward /
downward travel of the pipe.

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 Piping supports

Types of pipe supports (cont…)

 Thermal Restraint - This is usually a rigid element used to alter /
control the thermal growth of the piping system so as to bring the
terminal point forces / moments and thermal stresses under limit.
– Axial restraint : Movement prevented in pipe axial direction
– Transverse / Lateral restraint : Movement prevented in pipe transverse
direction
 Guides - Guides are similar to bi-directional restraints but with the
primary purpose of guiding the pipe smoothly into the pipe axial or
lateral direction.
– Transverse / Lateral guide : Pipe movement guided into the transverse
direction
– Axial guide : Pipe movement guided into the pipe axial direction
 Anchors - Anchors
arrest all the six degrees of
freedom of the pipe. Anchors are sometimes inserted to
completely separate two connected pipes to enable the analyst to
analyse the pipes independently.

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 Spring Hangers

Spring Hanger selection procedure

For spring hanger selection the following steps are required
 Calculation of weight balance load
– The load that would act on the spring hanger if it were completely rigid
and the piping system was in static equilibrium under sustained loading
condition
 Calculation of vertical free thermal movement
– The thermal growth of the pipe under the influence of temperature I.e the
vertical pipe length x the coeff of thermal expansion
 Selection of appropriate spring constant
– An appropriate spring constant from a supplier catalogue based upon the
weight balance load and vertical thermal movement such that the load
variation between the cold and hot positions is within 25%.

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 Spring Hangers

Hot setting / Cold setting of springs

There are two ways of setting the springs - Hot setting and Cold setting
 Hot setting - The spring is set such that it carries the weight balance
load in the hot position of the pipe
 Cold setting - The spring is set such that it carries the weight balance
load in the cold position of the pipe.
The behavior of the piping system will vary under hot and cold setting
because the spring carries different loads under the two settings.
Fig-4 shows how exactly these two types of spring setting affect the
load carried by the spring.

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 Spring Hangers
Fig-6 Hot / Cold setting

Weight balance
0%

load
Spring cage movement

Hot pos of
pipe

Cold Hot
setting setting

Cold pos of
pipe

100%

Load

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 Spring Hangers

Spring hanger terminologies

 Cold load - The load carried by the spring when the pipe is in cold
position
 Hot load - The load carried by the spring when the pipe is in hot
position
 Installation load - The load the spring would carry when the pipe is at
its installation position I.e zero vertical displacement. The installation
load would be equal to the cold load provided the vertical pipe
displacement in the cold condition is zero. But this may not be the
case always.
The spring is pre-compressed to the installation load, locked and
then erected on the pipe.

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 Constant effort Hangers

Constant effort hangers

 When pipe vertical movement is high (above 50 mm), it is
usually not possible to select variable effort hangers with load
variation within 25%. In such a situation, constant effort hangers
are used.
 Constant effort hangers as the name suggests apply a constant effort
on the pipe throughout the complete range of the pipe vertical
movement.

 The effect of the constant effort hanger is

similar to that of supporting the pipe with a
chain-pulley-block system
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 Friction

Frictional effects of pipe supports

 Friction at sliding surfaces of supports especially in hot pipes
generate significant forces which affect the pipe stresses as well as
the loads on anchors and restraints.
 It is advisable to avoid sliding supports / restraints in hot critical
piping systems - like Main steam, Cold and Hot reheat piping
systems - and use instead the angulating types.
 If sliding supports / restraints are used for critical applications, then
the sliding surfaces should be of rust free materials like stainless
steel / Teflon and the appropriate friction coefficient must be included
in the analysis.

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 Piping codes

Importance of piping codes in stress analysis

 Piping codes are industry specific. They outline the stress evaluation
criteria and also the design requirements specific to the industry over
which they have their jurisdiction.
 The piping code lies at the heart of any stress analysis. A piping
system necessarily has to be qualified as per the stress criteria
established in the particular piping code.
 The stress evaluation criteria - while largely based on the
fundamentals discussed earlier - differ from code to code, the
different criteria necessitated by the specific operating conditions
and requirements of the industry to which the particular code caters
to. The difference in the criteria are in some cases also attributed to
the historical circumstances / different committees that have
established the codes.

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 Piping codes

Important ASME piping codes

 Power piping ASME B 31.1
 Process piping ASME B 31.3
 Pipeline transportation systems for
liquid hydrocarbons and other liquids ASME B 31.4
 Refrigeration piping and heat transfer
components ASME B 31.5
 Gas transmission and distribution piping
systems ASME B 31.8
 Nuclear piping ASME section III

The ASME B 31.1 power piping code forms the basis for piping
design and stress analysis of all piping except Boiler internal
piping at ALSTOM.

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 ASME B 31.1 - Power piping
code
Allowable stress
 The allowable stress for various ASTM piping materials at various
temperatures are listed in Appendix-A of the code.
 The allowable stresses are actually reproduced from the ASME
Boiler & pressure vessel code, section II

Basis for allowable stress in ASME section II part D

Min of: R/4, 1.1/4 x Rt, 0.67 E, 0.67 Et, 0.67 Sr, 0.8 Sr min and 1.0 S

R = Specified minimum tensile strength at room temperature.

Rt = Specified minimum tensile strength at the temperature.
E = Yield point (0.2% proof stress at room temp)
Et = Yield point (0.2% proof stress at the temp)
Sr = Average stress at the temp to cause rupture at the end of 100,000 hr.
Sr min = Minimum stress at the temp to cause rupture at the end of 100,000 hr.
S = Average stress at the temp to produce an elongation of 1% (creep) in 100,000 hr.

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 ASME B 31.1 - Power piping
code
Other important data
 The thermal expansion data for the various materials are listed in
Table B-1 of Appendix-B of the code.
 The modulus of elasticity data for the ferrous materials are listed in
table C-1 of Appendix-C of the code.
 The formulae for the SIF and flexibility factors for various pipe
components are listed in Table D-1 of Appendix-D of the code.

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 ASME B 31.1 - Power piping
code
Comments on allowable stress values of Appendix-A
 The values listed include weld joint efficiency factors where
applicable. Weld joint efficiencies affect only the hoop direction and
not the longitudinal pipe direction. Since in stress analysis, we are
interested in the longitudinal stresses only, the allowable stress for
stress calculation must be obtained by dividing the values from
appendix-A by the appropriate weld efficiency factor.
 The actual stress may exceed the allowable for occasional short
periods by the following factors:
– 15% for events duration < 8 hrs at any one time and 800 hrs/year
– 20% for events duration < 1 hrs at any one time and 80 hrs/year
The allowables may be exceeded due to external occasional loads or
due to pressure-temperature excursions (which would bring down the
allowables).

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 ASME B 31.1 - Power piping
code
Comments on allowable stress values of Appendix-A
 The allowable stress in shear can be taken as 80% of the allowables
listed in appendix-A.
 The allowable stress in bearing can be taken as 160% of the
allowables listed in appendix-A.
 The stress in pipe during hydrotest can be considered as high as
90% of yield stress.

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 ASME B 31.1 - Power piping
code
Code qualification equations
 Stress due to sustained loads (Clause 104.8.1 of B31.1)
– SL = (PDO/4Tn) + (0.75iMA/Z) < 1.0Sh
Where MA = resultant moment loading on cross section due to all sustained loads
The above relation can be easily derived by considering the stress
state of fig-1 and applying the Maximum shear stress theory.
From maximum shear stress theory, failure would occur when the
max shear stress is > half of allowable stress in tension.
Max shear stress can be calculated from mohr's circle (fig-2) as follows:
2tmax = 2 x radius of mohr's circle
= {(sh-sl)2 + 4t2}1/2
= {(PDO /4t + BM/Z)2 + 4 (TM/J)2 }1/2
= {(PDO /4t)2 + (M/Z)2 + 2 . PDO /4t . BM/Z}1/2 Where M = (Mx2 +My 2 +Mz2 )1/2
= PDO/4t + M/Z ( by substituting BM with M; this makes the calculated tmax slightly conservative)

To avoid failure, PDO/4t + M/Z < Sh

Incorporating fitting SIF into the above eqn gives the 31.1 code eqn for sustained stresses
PDO/4t + 0.75iMA/Z < Sh

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 ASME B 31.1 - Power piping
code
Code qualification equations (cont…)
 Stress due to occasional loads (Clause 104.8.2 of B31.1)
– (PDO/4Tn) + (0.75iMA/Z) + (0.75iMB/Z) < k.Sh
Where MB = resultant moment loading on cross section due to all occasional loads
k = stress exceeding factor (1.15 or 1.20 depending on occasional load
duration)
 Thermal expansion stress range (Clause 104.8.3 of B31.1)
– SE = iMC / Z < SA + f (Sh-SL)
Where MC = range of resultant moments on cross section due to thermal expansion
SA = Allowable stress range
= f (1.25 Sc + 0.25 Sh)
Sc = basic material allowable stress (appendix-A) at cold temperature
Sh = basic material allowable stress (appendix-A) at hot temperature
f = stress range reduction factor for cyclic loading (= 1 for general power
plant applications)

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 ASME B 31.1 - Power piping
code
Code qualification equations (cont…)
 Understanding allowable stress range
From figure-3, Total stress range
ST = Shy + Scy
= 1.5 Sh + 1.5 Sc

Taking only 83.3% so as to have margin,

ST = 1.25 Sh + 1.25 Sc

Thus for thermal expansion, the allowable stress range

SA = 0.25 Sh + 1.25 Sc (deducting 1.Sh for sustained loading)

Incorporating the fatigue factor gives the 31.1 code equation

SA = f .(0.25 Sh + 1.25 Sc)

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 ASME B 31.1 - Power piping
code
Important code considerations
 Modulus of elasticity - The code stipulates that the stress must be

evaluated considering the cold modulus of elasticity. However,

forces and moments on anchors and

restraints can be evaluated considering the
hot modulus.
 Corrosion allowance and mill tolerance - The stress analysis
including evaluation of restraint loads is to be done on the nominal
pipe thickness. Corrosion allowance and mill tolerance are not
considered.

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 Linear and non linear supports

What are Linear and non linear supports

 Linear Supports
– These supports do not change their stiffness over the
complete range of pipe displacement in the direction of their
application. All bi-directional restraints without gap and
friction and spring hangers fall in this category

 Non linear supports

– These supports change their stiffness when the pipe moves
from cold to hot position. All restraints with gap and friction
and single directional restraints fall in this category.

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 Effect of supports on stress

Pipe supports & stress

 When a pipe lifts up in hot condition, the
Cold
position change in stress from cold to hot position
can be considered as secondary stress
only if the displacement is minor.
 In case of significant displacements, the
Upward pipe

stress assumes both - primary and

movement

Hot
position secondary stress characteristics and
hence must be checked against the
primary & secondary stress allowables
simultaneously.

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 Effect of supports on stress

Spring hangers & stress

 Similarly in case of spring hangers, when pipe
moves from cold to hot position, the stress
level in the pipe changes due to change in the

supporting effort of the spring. The

Hot
position change in the stress level has
primary characteristics and
Cold hence should be limited to 25%
position
to ensure a safe design.

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