SEI 2007 Structures Congress

May 19, 2007

Long Beach, CA

Seismic Design Overview of Oil

Refinery Structures

By

Rudy Mulia, S.E.

Chevron
Energy Technology Company
 Topic of Discussion

„ Typical Refinery Structures

„ Structural Design Codes and Standards
„ Design Loadings
„ Challenges in design of petrochemical
structures
„ Seismic Design and Analysis
Methodology
 Typical Refinery Structures

„ Vertical Vessels
„ Horizontal Vessels
„ Pipeways
„ Finfan (air cooled heat exchanger)
„ Furnaces
„ Spheres
„ Storage Tank
„ Cooling Towers
 Vertical Vessels

„ Process Columns &

Reactors
„ 4 to 25 ft in diam. and
up to 200+ ft tall
„ Supported on steel
skirt, legs or elephant
stool
„ Founded on octagon
concrete pedestal and
mat or piled foundation
Vertical Vessels
Vertical Vessels
 Horizontal Vessels

„ Heat Exchangers and

storage drums
„ 2 -10 ft in diam. and up
to 80 ft in length
„ Supported on steel saddle
and concrete pedestals
„ Two to three vessels may
be stacked together
„ Have one fixed end and
one sliding end
„ Founded on spread
footing or pile foundation
Horizontal Vessels
 Pipeways

„ Steel or Concrete Frame

„ Moment frame in the
transverse direction
„ Braced in the longitudinal
direction at every 7th to 8th
bay for off-plot pipeways
and every 3rd to 4th bay for
on-plot pipeways
„ 25’ x 30’ per bay and one to
four levels of pipes
„ Design DL = 40 psf
„ Support air cooled heat
exchanger (Finfan) at the
top story
 Finfan

„ Air-cooled heat
exchanger
„ Weight approx. 100 to
150 psf
„ Supported on steel
legs braced in both
directions
„ Subject to vibration
problem
 Furnaces

„ Rectangular or Circular shape

„ Have three sections – main
body, convection breech, and
stack
„ Steel moment frame in the
transverse direction and brace
frame or steel shear wall in
the longitudinal direction
„ May be elevated on concrete
piers
„ High damping since all piping
in the furnace is loosely
supported
 Spheres

„ Contain LPG
„ Very large in
diameter (>80+ ft)
„ Elevated on braced
steel legs
„ May be ground
supported on steel
chair
 Storage Tanks

„ Up to 260 ft diam. x 60 ft
high
„ Floating or Fixed Roof
„ Mechanically or Self
anchored
„ Seismic Design per API 650
App. E
„ Foundation types
- compacted soil
- concrete or crushed
rock ringwall
- concrete slab
 Cooling Tower

„ Wooden CWT is typical

„ Cooling fans are on roof
deck
„ Braced in both directions
with tension steel rod or
wood trusses.
„ Reinforced Fiberglass
CWT is getting more
popular now
 Codes and Standards

„ Structures
– IBC, ASCE7
– AISC Manual-ASD/LRFD, ANSI/AISC 360 & 341
– ANSI/AISI Cold Forms Steel
– ACI318, 350, 355 & 530
– AF & PA NDS
„ Pressure vessels - ASME BP&V, Sec. VIII
„ Boiler – ASME BP&V, Sec. I
„ Furnace – API Standard 560
„ Process Piping - ASME ANSI B31.3
„ Storage Tank - API 620 & 650
„ Cooling Tower – CTI Code Tower Standard Specification
 Design Loading for Petrochemical
Structures
„ Dead Load
¾ Weight of support structures
¾ Equipment empty weight
¾ Weight of Contents
„ Live Load
¾ Plant occupational live load (~75 psf)
¾ Temporary equipment/tool
„ Surge/Upset Load
„ Blast load due to Vapor Cloud Explosion (VCE)
„ Test Load (hydrostatic test load)
„ Lateral loads due to Wind and Seismic
„ Maintenance Load: Bundles pull, rigging, etc.
 What are the Challenges

„ Building codes generally offer insufficient

guidelines for design of petrochemical
structures
„ Regulators tend to follow the letter of the
code which fit nicely for building structures
while design engineers often rely on their
interpretation of the intent of the code
„ Height limitation on non-building structure
„ Structural irregularities
 Design and Analysis Methodology

„ “Typically “Non Building Structure Similar to

Buildings” use ordinary system with conservative
estimate of seismic weight and omega zero for
connection design
„ “Non Building Structures” are designed with very
conservative R factor ( 2 - 3) with limited ductile
detailing
„ Most of refinery structures could be analyzed using
the Equivalent Static Force Procedure
„ Use Dynamic Analysis method only for extremely
irregular structures where higher modes of vibration
are important
 Design and Analysis Methodology

„ All NBSSB must be detailed per the detailing

requirement set fort in the applicable
material standards and ASCE7
„ Steel skirt supporting vessel is designed to
have adequate buckling capacity to develop
yielding of the anchor bolts or I/R=1,
whichever less
„ Ductile anchor bolts are designed to develop
yielding capacity of the bolt and with no
consideration of omega zero
 Design and Analysis Methodology

Equivalent Static Force Procedure

Design Base Shear :
Sa (g) For Structures
SD1 I SD1 TL I
SDS V = W ( for T ≤ TL ) V = W ( for T ≥ TL )
TR T 2R
SDS I
SD1 /T
VMax = W
R
SD1 VMin = 0.044 SDS W ( FUTURE CODE CHANGE )

W (when S 1≥ 0.6 g )
0.8 S 1 I
V min =
0.4 SDS SDS1*TL/T2 R

For flat bottom tank on grade

TS TL
V = Vi 2 + Vc 2
To 1.0
Impulsive Convective
Period, T (Sec.)
Vi =
Sai I
(Ws + Wr + Wf + Wi ) Vc =
SacI
(Wc )
R R
SD1 KSD1
Sai = ≤ SDS ( for Ti ≤ TL ) Sac = ≤ SDS ( for Tc ≤ TL )
Ti Tc
SD1TL KSD1TL
Sai = ( for Ti ≥ TL ) Sac = ( for Tc ≥ TL )
Ti 2 Tc 2
Sai (min) ≥ 0.01
Sai (min) ≥ 0.5S 1 ( when S 1 ≥ 0.6 g )

K=Coefficient to adjust the spectral accel.

accel. from 5% to 0.5%
damping =1.5 unless otherwise specified
Design and Analysis Methodology

Lumped Mass System

Fn - ASCE7 Equivalent Lateral Force Procedure

Wn
n n
w xh x k
Fx = T = 2π (∑ w i δi ) ( ∑ f iδ i )
2
n
*V
kn
∑wh
i =1
i i
k i =1 i =1

F1 k = 1 when T ≤ 0 . 5 sec
W2
k = 2 when T ≥ 2 . 5 sec
k2
- Equivalent Lateral Force From Modal Response
F1 Σ M i φ im
W1 Γm =
Σ M i φ im 2
Story Force at mode − m , (Fx) m = M i Γ m S am φ im
k1
Equivalent Static lateral force, Fx = [ (Fx) 2
1 + (Fx) 2
2 + ... (Fx) 2
m ]

ai ap I Wp
v Compare with the ASCE7,Eqn. 13.3-
13.3-4. Fp = * Ax
Rp
 Design and Analysis Methodology

Vertical Vessel
w/ uniform weight
Fi

ΣF
D

- Use ASCE7 Equivalent Lateral Froce Procedure H

t
− Seimic Height SCG = ( k + 1 ) H
k +2
2
⎡H ⎤ wD
SCG
− StrucuturalPeriod, T = 0.0000265⎢ ⎥
⎣D⎦ t

HS
ts

V
 Design and Analysis Methodology

Vertical Vessel
w/ varying diameter and weights

F4 w4
Use ASCE7 Equivalent Lateral Force Procedure
wxhx k
Fx = n
V F3
∑ wihi
i =1
k
w3

⎡H ⎤
T =⎢
2
∑ wΔα + (1 / H )∑ Pβ ref [1]
H
⎣100 ⎥⎦ ∑ E D tΔγ
3
H4 F2
H3 w2 t

W
H2 F1
w1
H1 HS
Ref[1]: Mitchell, W.W., “Determination of Period
ts
Multi-Diameter Columns by Method Based on
of Multi-
Rayleigh’s Principle”
Rayleigh’ Principle”, Engineering Department
of the Standard and Oil Co. of Calif., San V
Francisco, 1962
Design and Analysis Methodology

Horizontal Vessel

F2
W2
Use ASCE7 Equivalent Lateral
Force Procedure
wxhx k
F1 Fx =
W1 n
V
∑wh
i =1
i i
k

∑ wi δ i
n

T = 2π i =1

∑ fi δ i
n
g
i =1

Typically, this vessel is very rigid.

V
Fixed Sliding
Design and Analysis Methodology

Pipeway

40 psf
F2 Use ASCE7 Equivalent Lateral
Force Procedure
40 psf wxhx k
F1 Fx = n
V
∑wh
i =1
i i
k

∑ wi δ i
n

T = 2π i =1

∑ fi δ i
n
g
i =1

V
Design and Analysis Methodology

Finfan Use ASCE7 Equivalent Lateral

Force Procedure
100 to 125 wxhx k
F3 Fx = V
psf n
(approx.)
∑wh
i =1
i i
k

∑ wi δ i
n

40 psf F2
T = 2π i =1

∑ fi δ i
n
g
i =1

40 psf F1 Note:Pipeway designer must provide the lateral force “F3”

to Finfan vendor. Alternatively use the component force
method , per ASCE7, section 13.3

0.4 ap.SDS.Ip. z
Fp = .(1 + 2 ).Wp (Eqn.
Eqn. 13.3-
13.3-1)
Rp h
(Or)
ai ap I Wp
V Fp = * Ax (Eqn.13.3-
(Eqn.13.3-4)
Rp
 Design and Analysis Methodology

F3 Furnace
Stack
Use ASCE7 Equivalent Lateral
Force Procedure

Breeching F2 wxhx k
Fx = n
V
∑wh i i
k

F1 i =1

Main Body
∑ wi δ i
n

T = 2π i =1

∑ fi δ i
n
g
i =1

V
Design and Analysis Methodology

Sphere •Consider as a single lumped mass system

•Not an inverted pendulum system
•Consider the sphere as a rigid diaphragm
V
W Lateral force distribution
Vp1 to each panel:
θ 2V cos θx
Vpn =
n

2V
Vp max =
n
Where:
V V V= ASCE7 Seismic Base Shear
θ = angle between panel and base shear
n = number of braced panel
 Design and Analysis Methodology

Tank „Use API 650 Appendix-E Criteria/ASCE7-05

„Determine if the tank could be self anchored or
needs to be mechanically anchored
„Evaluate the compressive stress in the tank shell
V2
Structural Periods
W2
where :
Ci H ⎡ ρ ⎤
Impulsive Ti = ⎢ ⎥ Ci = Coefficientfrom Figure E − 1
2tu ⎣⎢ E ⎦⎥
H ρ = fluid density
X2 V1
D
Convective Tc =1.8 Ks D tu = shell thickness
WL
D = Diameter of tank
X1 W1 Total BaseShear ,V = Vi 2 + Vc 2
H = Safe oil height
Sai I
Vi = Wi E = Modulus of elasticity of tank shell
R
Sac I 0.578
fs Vc = Wc Ks =
1.5 ⎛ 3.68H ⎞
tanh⎜ ⎟
⎝ D ⎠
Vertical Seismic
qs
Qvert . = 0.2 SDS I γL
D
V
Design and Analysis Methodology

Cooling Tower

F4 Use ASCE7 Equivalent Lateral

Force Procedure
F3
wxhx k
Fx = n
V
F2 ∑wh
i =1
i i
k

∑ wi δ i
n
F1
T = 2π i =1

∑ fi δ i
n
g
i =1