A Special Pipe Support Analysis

Abstract:

There are many cases in the usual engineering practice when the pipes have to be supported with special items like horizontal and vertical trunions on elbows. Usually these special supports have a geometrical configuration in which the ratio d/D has to be less than 1(d represents the main diameter of the trunion and D the main diameter of the elbows or pipes). In the paper is presented a special finite element analysis for trunions based on the requirements of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Cod, Section VIII, Division 2. The analysis is limited for the 1.5D bends. The study is realized in two main cases: when the boundary conditions are imposed to the end of a trunion with a limited length and when the boundary conditions are imposed at the end of the real length of the trunion. There are also analyzed some different geometries of trunions in order to obtain the most favorable ratio between the main diameters of the supports and elbows. The forces and moments imposed as boundary conditions for the trunions have been calculated using Coade Caesar 5.30 program. The analysis has been performed in the main load cases such as: sustained, expansion and occasional. The results obtained present the stresses and deflections both in elbows and trunions in order to compare the maximum equivalent stresses with the allowable values. The calculation of the trunions has been completed taking into consideration the heavy thermal loads on the pipes. Some cases of thermal distributions on the trunion have been considered in order to check the most dangerous situation. This study contains also the effect of the corrosion of the pipes and elbows that are connected directly with the trunions.

• Periodical: Key Engineering Materials (Volume 601)
• Pages: 80-83
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/KEM.601.80
• Online since: March 2014
• Authors: Costin Ilinca, Serban Vasilescu
• Keywords: Bend, Finite Element Analysis (FEA), Pipe Support, Trunion

References

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