10/22/2016 Piping Expansion Loop.

Purpose and Definition

Karen Oliver Piay

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1. Introduction.
A pipe rack is a structure designed to support in an orderly manner the pipes on an industrial
plant. If the racks were not used the industrial plants would have a confusing mess in the
distribution and layout of pipes.

The pipe racks are placed strategically, so they allow the interconnection between equipment
items of an individual unit process (Process Pipe Racks) or allow the interconnection between
different units (Interconnection Pipe Racks).

On this session it will be developed a methodology for treating rack lines and determining the
pre-sizing of expansion loop.

The approach presented in this session, is usually the first step in the development of a project
and represents one of the most important early activities, because as a result of this analysis
we will have the configuration of the rack, which is normally the most important structure in a
unit.

2. Pipe Rack: basic concepts

The main elements that constitute a pipe rack are described.

2.1 Main Structural Elements

The figure 1 shows a sketch of a pipe rack indicating the main structural elements.

Figure 1 Structural elements on a pipe rack

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COLUMNS: Are the columns of the structure, allowing the transmission of loads to the
concrete foundations of the rack. Usually they are the major structural element of the pipe
rack. They can be made of concrete or structural steel.

They are also strategic points to tie or connect additional extensions for support pipes or
electrical / instrument trays.

CROSS BEAMS: Also known as support beams, they are located between two columns
belonging to the same cross section of a rack. These elements are responsible for supporting
the pipes.

RACK SECTIONS: It is the name given to the structural assembly formed by the columns and
the cross beams (support beams) within the same cross section.

LONGITUDINAL BEAMS: there are the beams that join two rack sections. These beams
allow the support of the lines that enter and leave the rack to connect to the respective
equipments. They are usually smaller than the cross beams.

In addition to these structural elements, there are the stiffener beams, which are elements
used to stiffen the structure and are placed in different planes depending which direction
should be stiffened.

These elements do not have any use for piping department, because they cannot be used to
support any load.

2.2 Pipe Distribution on Trays

The pipes on a pipe rack are grouped into “Pipe Trays”. A pipe tray is a specific level of cross
beams in a rack section. Pipes trays are usually grouped into the following groups:

 Process Tray

 Utilities Tray

 Flare Tray

The following figure shows an example of the pipe trays distribution.

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Figure 2. Trays distribution

PROCESS TRAY: Are the trays that are used to locate the lines that interconnect process
equipments. The process trays are often located at the first rack elevations and the pipes that
pass by, often have short runs to the rack, depending on how close the interconnected
equipment is. For this reason this tray usually have many entering and leaving of pipes.

The figure 3 shows a typical process tray in an industrial plant. The different entering and
leaving of pipes can be appreciated on the picture.

Figure 3. Typical Process Tray

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On figures 4 and 5 the entering and leaving of pipes can be appreciated in detail from a
transverse view. The longitudinal beams to support the pipes can also be seen.

Figure 4. Detail of pipes leaving the process tray from above

Figure 5. Detail of pipes leaving the process tray from bellow

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UTILITIES TRAY:

Plant air, cooling water, cooling water return, nitrogen, etc. are examples of some of the
common services to different equipments in a process unit. These services are usually
supplied in a distribution scheme with main headers supplies and branches. Usually they are
generated outside of the unit and imported to the process unit through the battery limit.

Under this scheme of distribution, a utility header line can cross the entire length of the rack,
as it is used to bring the service to each equipment item of the plant.

All the utilities lines are grouped in the utilities trays.

FLARE TRAY:

The flare is always outside the battery limit of the unit, so before leaving the unit the
condensates are usually collected in a collecting vessel. The dimensions of this vessel,
together with the need to go all the length of the rack with a slope for a free drainage condition,
makes that the header of the flare system usually stay in a separate tray at the highest
elevation below the air coolers.

As a general rule in a rack structure, the lines are arranged so that the larger diameter and
hotter lines are placed as close as possible to the columns of the rack for structural support
reasons.

3. Analysis of thermal expansion of pipes on pipe racks

The lines on racks must satisfy some minimum design conditions to guarantee a correct
function of the system.

The main conditions are:

1. - The mass of the lines (inertia) must be perfectly controlled in all directions.

Is a highly recommended practice to control the lateral movement of the lines, so that they do
not clash with adjacent lines. This control is done by using lateral guides.

Similarly, whenever possible, anchors should be placed to control the axial movements due
to the thermal expansions.

The criteria for guide spacing is typically defined in each project according to client´s
specifications and depends on the seismic conditions of the project.

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The following is recommended criteria for guide spacing on racks:

Figure 6

Note: This criterion is valid for lines on racks with rack sections each 6m.

2. - Spacing should be checked for lines that enter and leave the rack

The lines that enter the racks could be supported so the axial displacements tend to deform
the line, as is showed on the image 5.2.6.

Figure 6. Thermal deformations at the lines entering and leaving the rack.

The analyst should check that there is enough space between lines, in order to guarantee that
clashes will not occur between pipes. Whenever possible clashes between insulation must
be avoided, especially in cryogenic systems.

In the figure 6 showed above, is indicated with the number one (1) a typical design in a process
trays, in which two lines that are in the same rack tray leave the rack in different rack sections.

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In this case the stress analyst must consider the spacing left by the designer between the lines
and see that depending on where the directional anchors are located on each line, the thermal
expansion in the more severe operating condition acting simultaneously in both lines, does
not generate a clash between the lines.

The figure 7 shows two lines that are at different trays that leave the rack at the same section.

Figure 7. Thermal deformations at the lines entering and leaving the rack. Different trays

Note that while in the previous case, the most critical condition is when both lines are operating
simultaneously, in the case of point 1 on figure 7 the most critical condition in terms of spacing
between lines is when the line 104-A is operating and the line 102-C is not operating (is at
installation temperature).

It is important that the stress analyst consider these conditions when analyzing rack lines.

3. - The axial expansion of the lines should be limited to a maximum value.

Usually the client or the engineering company has their own criteria for limiting axial movement
on rack lines. One of the most used values is to limit the axial movements to a maximum of
300mm (12 in).

It is very common to see that in the pipe supports specification the length of cradles and shoes
is often defined as 300mm, and the reason is because the axial movements are limited to
300mm and it is required to guarantee that the shoe or cradle has enough length to allow this
movement without falling off the support surface.

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The pipes located on the process trays (usually the larger and hotter pipes) rarely have
sufficient length, so that despite its temperature the thermal expansion generated exceed the
300 mm. Note that if a pipe is hot and long enough to expand by a 300mm, placing a
directional anchor in the middle of the pipe, reduces the expansion is distributed to half (150
mm) on each side.

The image 5.2.8 represents how the thermal expansions can be controlled by using a
directional anchor along the pipe.

Figure 8. Use of directional anchor to control thermal expansion

4. - Use of expansion loops to reduce the thermal expansion displacements.

In service lines, the headers due to its temperature and length usually exceed the allowable
axial displacements (300 mm for this course) even using directional anchors. In this case to
provide sufficient flexibility and absorb large axial displacements, it is necessary to use
expansion loops.

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The figure 9 shows an example of the deformation of an expansion loop.

Figure 9. Deformation of an expansion loop

The expansion loops can be made of by using four (4) elbows, called “2D expansion loops” or
by using six (6) elbows, called “3D expansion loops”.

The figure 10 shows an example of a 3D expansion loop.

Figure 10. 3D expansion loop.

The 3D expansion loops have as advantages over the 2D expansion loops the following:

 Allow the build up the loop through the rest of the circulating pipes tray without making
clashes with other pipes.

 Provide more flexibility as they incorporate two additional elbows.

 Facilitate the grouping of other expansion loops, in order to save space in the rack.

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However the 3D expansion loops have the following disadvantages compared with 2D
expansion loops:

 The hydraulic losses are greater than the 2D loops, because they require two
additional elbows.

 3D expansion loops cannot be used in lines with a free drainage requirement, because
it would generate a high point for the fluid and promote the existence of air pockets.

 Requires more material, which increases the cost of the line.

The capacity of an expansion to absorb the axial displacements is easily explained using the
concept of inherent flexibility handled earlier in the course. Recalling the inherent flexibility
equation:

𝐷×𝑦
≤ 𝐾1
(𝐿 − 𝑈)2

A straight line between two anchors is known not to be valid for flexibility, as the route has no
way to absorb the expansions. The concept of inherent flexibility predicts this result, because
the difference between L and U is zero, causing the left part of the equation tends to infinity.

If an expansion loop is placed between anchors the distance U will not change, but the
distance L (total length of pipe between anchors) is significantly increased. By increasing the
denominator, the value of the left term of the equation is reduced until the system has enough
flexibility.

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There are many rules and diagrams to make a preliminary estimate of the size of an expansion
loop to absorb a specific thermal expansion. Unfortunately most of them have intellectual
property rights and therefore cannot be distributed freely.

During this course we are going to use a method taken from the book "Introduction to Pipe
Stress Analysis" of Sam Kannappan, PE [1] shown in the figure 11.

Figure 11. Nomograph used to dimensioning piping expansion loops.

The nomograph is created for a 2D expansion loops, but it can also be used for a 3D expansion
loops because the final result will be more conservative.

The use of this method will be explained in the following section with an example.

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4. Examples and Excercise

The objective of this section is to develop practical examples of sizing expansion loops, which
will allow the student to become familiar with the theoretical concepts specified in the previous
sections.

It is very important that students focus on understanding the working philosophy based on
finding a calculation method to ensure conservative results, rather than trying to take the
exercises done as if they were absolute and unique results.

It must be understood that the main objective of the analyst is flexibility to ensure the
mechanical integrity of a piping system.

As described above, this method is the one to be used during the course, so the stress analyst
always uses the most used of the project´s specifications and methods.

4.1 Example
Calculated the dimension for an expansion loop to absorb a thermal expansion for a 150m of
a 12 in pipe of carbon steel at an operation temperature of 260ºC and installation temperature
of 21ºC.

Thermal expansion coefficient:

𝑚𝑚
𝛼 = 1.26 × 10−5
𝑚𝑚. º𝐶

Solution

The first step is to calculate the thermal expansion that the loop must absorb.

The thermal expansion that the loop must absorb is:

∆=∝× 𝐿 × (𝑇 − 𝑇𝑎𝑚𝑏 ) = 1.26 × 10−5 × 150000 × (260 − 21)

∆= 451 𝑚𝑚

The expansion loops needs to absorb 451 mm of thermal expansion. To establish the
dimension of the loops, use the nomograph of figure 11.

Note that the thermal expansion to be absorbed by the loop in the nomograph is in inches (in)
and the required length (2H+W) is in feet (ft), so the calculated thermal expansion must be
converted.

∆= 451 𝑚𝑚 = 17.8 𝑖𝑛 ≈ 18 𝑖𝑛

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To use the nomograph, first it is necessary to locate the diameter of the pipe (12 in) and draw
a straight line to the third graph (bend length) by passing for the value (18 in) of the expansion
to be absorbed by the loop (second graph; expansion to be absorbed).

The following image shows the procedure described above:

Figure 12.

From the nomograph is obtained that the total length of the loop (2H+W) should be at least 92
ft (28 m).

The next step is to determine the values of H and W. Usually these dimensions are set taking
into consideration the available support structures. For this example we are going to select a
value of W equal to H, that is:

2𝐻 + 𝐻 = 28 𝐻 = 9.33 𝑚 ≈ 9.5 𝑚

The final configuration of the loop is:

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Figure 13.

Another possible configuration is to set the width (W) of the loop as half of the height (H/2),
that would be:

𝐻
2𝐻 + = 28 𝐻 = 11.2 𝑚 ≈ 11.5 𝑚
2

Figure 14

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The two configurations shown above correspond to the configurations that are the extremes
for the loop of the example, since they correspond to the maximum and minimum width that
the loop can have to ensure proper operation.

The final configuration will depend in most cases of the availability of support structures.

The required conditions when dimensioning loops is that the sum of all segments of the loop
(2H + W) complies with the value obtained from the nomograph and the equation H/2 <= W
<= H, is satisfied.

4.2 Excercise

The following figure shows an arrangement of four lines on a pipe rack.

Figure 15

It is required to determine:

a) Number of expansion loops required for each line

b) Location and dimensions for each expansion loop

c) Required restrictions for each line

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5. Bibliography

[1] Sam Kannappan E.S. Introduction to pipe stress Analysis John Wiley & sons 1986

[2]Timoshenko, Stephen and Gere, James. Mechanics of Materials. Cengage Learning.

Fourth Edition.

[3] M.W. Kellog Company, 1956. Design of Piping Systems. John Wiley & Sons.

[4] Peng, L.C and Peng Alvin, 2009. Pipe Stress Engineering. ASME Press

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