Structural Integrity of Flexible Piping Systems Conveying Liquids

Abstract

This work presents a structural integrity model for piping systems conveying liquids which takes the axial fluid-structure interaction into account. The model is used to numerically investigate the influence of pipe motion on the degradation of the piping when fast transients are generated by valve slam. The resulting mathematical problem is formed by a system of nonlinear partial differential equations which is solved by means of an operator splitting technique, combined with Glimm’s method. Numerical results obtained for an articulated piping system indicate that high piping flexibility may induce a substantial increase in damage growth along the pipes.