Piping Stress Analysis
In order to ensure the integrity and compliance of a new or existing piping system, Caesar II or AutoPIPE will be used to evaluate the piping stresses resulting from thermal cycles, static pressure, pipe and fitting weights and other environmental design conditions as per all industry piping codes, such as B31.3, B31.8, PD-8010, DNV and others. Considering the complexity of the system, other speciality software such as FEpipe, NozzlePRO might also be required.
The modal analysis will also be carried out to evaluate the modal shapes and natural frequency of all piping systems due to their importance in a safe operating environment.
Piping Vibration
Failures of piping systems have always been one of the major causes of fires, explosions and fatalities in oil and gas plants. Excessive vibration of process piping is one of the most important reasons for these failures and accidents.
Recent studies show 20% of process pipework failures are due to vibration-induced fatigue which mainly happens in the following standard high-risk areas of piping systems:
- Small bore connections (SBC)
- Equipment nozzles connections
- Tees
- Transient conditions like the fluid hammer
- PSV and relief systems, bypass lines