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Piping Support Systems for Process Plants 239

this can occur in the design condition or when the spring is in the non-
operating position (“cold” position in the case of hot operating piping).
This force is

F  Fe  WP Eq. 5-2

where WP  pipe, pipe contents, and insulation weight

To reduce the amount of variability, it is desirable to use the smallest

type of spring available that is required in the function used. The piping
movements, or deflections, must never exceed those of the range of the
spring. Typical spring sizes and ranges are shown in Table 5-1.
Depending on the amount of pipe movement and loading, the spring
type is selected from the table. Variable springs are typically used for pipe
movements up to 2 in., but some can accommodate movements up to 5 in.,
as shown in Table 5-1. The more the pipe moves, the taller and larger
the spring required will be. Variable springs are made by using a single
spring, or by using two springs stacked on top each other (decreasing the
spring constant by half), or by stacking three or four springs on top of each
other. The spring constant decreases by the number of springs added (or
basically, using a longer single spring). Usually when a pipe moves over
2 in., constant springs should be considered, depending on the application.
The variable spring is selected using a spring manufacturer’s table like
that in Table 5-1. The engineer selects the “cold” load to be in the middle of
the table. Then the operating, or “hot” load, must be in the range of the
spring size selected. Variable springs typically have 14% displacement
reserved for spring loading, that is, the spring must compress about 14% for
the load indicator to register “zero.” This indicator is shown in Figure 5-2
where the load indicator is a plate attached to a hole made in the spring can.
Similarly, there is approximately 14% of reserve displacement for excessive
spring movements and the higher load end. When the spring manufacturer
loads the spring into the can, a calibrated compression column compresses
the spring into the can. When an operating company is not familiar with a
new spring vendor, the inspectors working for the operating company need
to verify that the machine has been correctly calibrated before the new
springs are installed.
As an example of sizing a variable spring, we consider the following. A
computer analysis shows that a pipe at a given location in the piping
system, a “node” in the computer analysis, moves 0.247 in. upward from
its cold position to the hot position. The amount of load required in the
cold position is 1627 lb. This is the theoretical installed load. Note that the
pipe weight does not change throughout its cold to hot cycle, whereas
the support load varies. The theoretical installed load is equal to the weight