On-Line Remaining Life Assessment of Hot Reheat Pipe Bend

An ageing in-service Hot Reheat (HRH) pipe bend before Intermediate Pressure (IP) Stop/ Control Valve of a Utility was identified for real-time creep-fatigue damage assessment. A data acquisition system has been installed to record thermal hydraulic parameters, such as pressure, temperature and flow on real time basis. The HRH piping including low pressure bypass line incorporating various supports such as directional restraints, constant weight hangers and spring hangers, was modeled using straight and bend elements. Static stress analysis was performed to find out the forces and moments at either ends of the pipe-bend for sustained and expansion loadings using piping analysis program CAESAR-II. A detailed 3-D Finite Element Model of the pipe bend was also developed using 20-noded brick elements. The 3-D FE model along with material parameters and loading are used by code BOSSES for on-line monitoring of damage. The nodal temperatures (obtained by temperature transient analysis), recorded internal pressure, associated piping loads, etc. are then used in a stress analysis module to calculate stresses at different gauss points of the pipe bend. The temperatures and stresses at different time are then used to compute fatigue and creep damage and to assess growth of different postulated cracks at various locations of pipe bend, as well as remaining life. All the information are upgraded and restart files are saved for successive computation. The real-time process data of the pipe bend are made available to the Researcher’s Desk through Client-Server Network.

Finite Element Formulation and Vibration Frequency Analysis of a Fluid Filled Pipe

This paper presents the formulation of a finite element model and vibration frequency analysis of a fluid filled pipe having variable cross sections. The finite element method with consideration of Coriolis force developed in [1] was adopted for frequency analysis of a pipe in this study. The stiffness matrix, the c-matrix (Coriolis force) and mass (for dynamic analysis) matrix that contain all parameters of the fluids properties and flow conditions have been developed. The numerical model was employed to simulate the dynamic performance of the piping system with the specific configurations for an application. A critical relationship between the natural frequencies and pipe geometry has been established. The results of frequencies analysis of the piping system gave us an insight whether a resonance frequency might occur.

On Determining Reference Stresses for High Temperature Thin/Thick Tube Bends

It is well known that tube/pipe bends have some degree of ovality caused during their manufacture. For the first time, based on limit analysis, the authors previously presented an explicit expression for calculation of the reference stress of tube/pipe bends with varying degrees of ovality that are subjected to uniform internal pressure. The present paper assesses this expression using an elastic-creep finite volume analysis. This is due to availability of an in-house finite volume code. It is shown that the references stresses predicted by proposed expression correlate well with those computed using elastic-creep analyses for tube/pipe bends with various degrees of ovality.

Studies on Onset of Ratcheting in Pipe Bends and Effect of Thickness on Strain Accumulation

This paper intends to provide an overview of various possibilities of ratcheting in pipelines subjected to cyclic thermal and mechanical loadings. The present work deals with review on results from the studies of research papers providing experimental data and analytical study on ratcheting. There has been no well-defined material model and analysis procedure to predict this phenomenon accurately. An analysis carried out on 2-inch NPS SS304 pipe bends with different thickness (Schedule 40 and Schedule 80) using ABAQUS, non-linear FEA software to predict the strain accumulation and their influences on ratcheting failure is presented. The results and their inferences are included.

Multi-Scale Analysis of a Refractory Composite

A refractory composite for a high temperature application was studied at various length scales, and its effective thermo-mechanical properties were computed. The analysis considered a micro-scale model made of a representative carbon fiber, a matrix layer, and a coating layer. The model included weak tangential bonding of the intra-layer of the matrix material in order to reduce the thermal stress occurring in the coating material caused by mismatch of coefficients of thermal expansions. In addition, unit-cell models for a 3-D braided composite and a plane-weave composite were also studied. The modeling technique developed in this study can be used as a design tool for an optimal refractory composite for a given application.

Dynamics of Multiply Expansion Bellows With Elastically Restrained Ends

The paper presents study of the dynamic aspects of the multiply bellows with elastically restrained ends and under rotatory inertia. The influence of rotational restraint and internal pressure loading on dynamic response of such bellows configuration has been attempted here. An attempt has been made here to establish relations that are simple and compatible in computing the frequency of bellows. The “Rayleigh Quotient”, method is used for this purpose. The coupled responses obtained are compared with exact analysis for multiply configuration. Two cases are considered — bellows having same material and different materials for plies.

Risk-Informed Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Methods for Piping

The main objective of structural design is to insure safety, functional, and performance requirements of a structural system for selected target reliability levels, for specified period of time and for a specified environment. As this must be accomplished under conditions of uncertainty, risk and reliability analyses are deemed necessary in the development of such methods as risk-informed load and resistance factor design for piping. This paper provides a summary of the methodology and technical basis for reliability-based, load and resistance factor design suitable for the ASME Section III, Class 2/3 piping for primary loading, i.e., pressure, deadweight and seismic. The methodology includes analytical procedures, such as the First-Order Reliability Method (FORM) for calculating the LRFD-based partial safety factors for piping. These factors were developed in this paper for demonstration purposes, and they can be used ultimately in LRFD design formats to account for the uncertainties in strength and in the load effects. The technical basis provided in the paper is suitable for a proof-of-concept in that LRFD can be used in the design of piping with consistent reliability levels. Also, the results from additional projects in this area, including future research for piping secondary loads, will form the basis for future code cases.

Stresses During Impacts on Horizontal Rods

The impact of an object striking the tip of a horizontally mounted bar provides some insight into the dynamics of structural impact in general. Modeling a cylindrical bar provides significant simplifications to enable comparison between experiment and theory. In particular, experimental results available in the literature are compared herein to both elastic wave theory and vibration theory. Relating these two theories is the focus of this paper. Vibrations can be directly related to the time of impact, the maximum stress at the tip of the bar, and the frequencies of the struck bar. Once these stresses and frequencies are found, elastic wave theory can then be used to describe the stresses throughout the bar.

Methodology for Modeling of Passive Shunt Damping of Systems With Bonded Piezocomposites

An aluminum cantilever beam bonded with 1-3 piezocomposite dampers is modeled by means of ANSYS finite element and SIMULINK simulation softwares. ANSYS currently cannot account for heat dissipation in piezoelectric materials. As such, ANSYS is used to obtain strain energies to be input into the SIMULINK model to investigate the dynamic behavior of the system and calculate the damping ratio. The impact of two different shunting arrangements, a damper in conjunction with a simple resistive electrical circuit in series and parallel, is investigated. In addition, a simply supported beam and a simply supported straight pipe are also analyzed for their wide applications in industry, and as an indication of the utility of this methodology to analyze complex structural configurations. For a typical cantilever beam, energy dissipation and transient analysis are used to calculate the tip displacement as a function of time and the damping ratio. Then using ANSYS, with the parameter BETAD to incorporate damping as a stiffness multiplier, a comparison of the transient results is used to quantify the damping response of aluminum beams with bonded 1-3 piezocomposite dampers. The system loss factor due to the piezoelectric damping is also compared to the inherent loss factor of different beam materials. The results show that circuits in series provides a better damping ratio (0.000581) as compared to circuits in parallel (0.000374). In addition, for different boundary conditions (cantilever, simply supported), the damping ratios (0.000581, 0.000202) and the BETAD values (6.3 E-6, 0.7 E-6), respectively, are functions of the boundary conditions and are not directly related to each other. Finally, damping using 1-3 piezocomposites effectively increases the overall system loss factor by at least 100% to almost 300% as compared to the inherent material damping. In general, this methodology of combining finite element method (ANSYS) and transient modeling tools (SIMULINK) can be used to study damping characteristics of any structural system damped with 1-3 piezocomposites.

Mitigation of Bending Stress and Failure Due to Temperature Differentials in Piping Systems Carrying Multiphase Fluids: Using CFD and FEA

The bending of large pipes due to temperature differentials between the bottom and top of the pipe is a very serious problem. The temperature differentials can either be caused by extremely cold liquids (such as methane or ethylene flowing from a lateral into a flare header) or hot liquids flowing at the bottom of a piping system (such as in a Vacuum transfer line) while the top is exposed to atmospheric conditions. In some cases liquids may be produced by Joule-Thompson cooling of high pressure cold gas as it expands through a safety-relief or emergency depressurization valve. The liquid so formed can accumulate, for example, on the dead leg side of a flare header. The differential expansion can deform the pipe so that it lifts off its supports. It takes a finite amount of time for the heat transfer by conduction to equilibrate the temperature to a more benign level. The initial stresses induced due to large thermal differential may even cause the pipe to crack in the region of the supports and T-joints to the laterals. This phenomenon has been observed in several industries, most predominantly in the petrochemical industry. This paper recounts the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to study this important phenomenon. The liquid flowing from the lateral into the main header pipe is multiphase in the dispersed, stratified, slug or annular flow re´gime. Multiphase flows with heat transfer are analyzed using CFD. The temperatures on the walls of the pipe system are then transferred to the FEA and analyzed for heat transfer and thermal stresses. These stresses are compared to ASME standards to see if they are within allowable limits. This paper also recounts efforts to reduce the bending effect by preventing liquid accumulation on the dead leg side. Other methods that provide better supports for bent piping are studied. Further, methods of equilibrating the temperature faster to prevent the bowing of the pipe are also studied. It is hoped that this presentation will benefit people designing piping networks with varying liquid and vapor traffic by providing a safe environment free of cracks and spills.