A Simple Methodology of Pipe Route for Providing Enough Flexibility

Abstract

Flexibility is the most important requirement of the pipe system. A general approach is to include pipe bends in the system to provide flexibility. The design of the pipe routing requires either rigorous pipe stress analysis or hand calculation based on the beam theory and finite element method. In this paper, a simple methodology has been developed for pipe routing to provide flexibility to absorb thermal expansion and other secondary displacements. The method uses the basic theory of beam and based on the data fitting from the pipe stress analysis results. This method provides general and simple equations of the common bends in the pipeline industry including L, Z, and U bends, for determination of the minimum length requirement for enough flexibility.