Piping Flexibility - Thermal Expansion of

pipe
Abstract

One major requirement in piping design is to provide adequate flexibility for

absorbing the thermal expansion of the pipe. However, due to lack of quick method
of checking, pipings are often laid-out to be either too stiff or too flexible. In either
case, valuable time and material are wasted.
This article presents some of the quick methods for checking piping flexibility. These
methods include visual, hand calculation, and micro computer approaches. They are
all quick and easy for designers to use in planning their layouts. Once the designers
have taken care of the flexibility problem, the iterative procedure between the stress
engineers and the designers become simpler. The project schedule can also be
improved.

Piping flexibility
As the pipe temperature changes from the installation condition to the operating
condition, it expands or contracts. In the general term, both expansion and
contraction are called thermal expansion. When a pipe expands it has the potential
of generating enormous force and stress in the system. However, if the piping is
flexible enough, the expansion can be absorbed without creating undue force or
stress. Providing the proper flexibility is one of the major tasks in the design of
piping system.
Piping is used to convey a certain amonut of fluid from one point to another. It is
obvious that the shorter the pipe is used the lesser the capital expenditure is
required. The long pipe may also generate excessive pressure drop making it
unsuitable for the proper operation. However, the direct shortest layovt generally is
not acceptable for absorbing the thermal expansion.
Figure 1 shows what will happen when a straight pipe is directly connected from one
point to another. First, consider that only one end is connected and the other end is
loose. The loose end will expands an amount equal to

=eL

However, since the other end is not loose, this expansion is to be absorbed by the
piping. This is equivalent to squeezing the pipe to move the end back an ~ distance.
This amount of squczzing creates a stress of the magnitude

Figure 1

S = E (/L) = E e

Where,
= thermal expansion, in
L e = expansion rate, in/in
L = pipe length, in
s = axial stress, psi
F E = modulus of elasticity, psi
A = pipe cross section area, inZ
F = axial force, lbs
The force required to squeeze this amount is

F=AS=AEe

Take a 6-inch standard wall carbon steel pipe for instance, an increase of
temperature from 70F ambient to 300F operating creates an axial stress of 42300
psi and an axial force of 236000 lbs in the pipe. These are excessive even though
the temperature is only 300F. It is clear that the straight line direct layout is not
acceptable to most of the piping, Flexibility has to be provided.

Expansion loop
Piping flexibility are provided in many different ways. The turns and offsets needed
for running the pipe from one point to another provides some flexibility by themself.
This inherent flexibility may or may not be sufficient depending on the individual
cases.
Additional flexibility can be provided by adding expansion loops or expansion joints.
In the straight line example discussed above, the stress can be reduced by loops
installed as shown below. The idea is to provide some pipe perpendicular to the
direction of expansion. In this way when the pipe expands it bends the loop leg first
before transmitting any load to the anchor. The longer the loop leg the lesser the
force will be created.

The force created is inversely proportional to the cube of the loop length and the
stress generated is roughly Hard Piping inversely proportional to the square of the
loop length. The loop sometimes can take considerably more space and piping than

what is available, or economically justifiable. This is especially true for large high
temperature low pressure pipings.
In this case the better method is to use expansion joint. Expansion joints are more
sophisticated than the pipe loops which are just extra lengths of the same piping.
For this and other reasons, engineers tend to favor piping loops over expansion
joints.
However, expansion joints can be used effectively in many applications when they
are properly designed. One of the major requirements in the design of expansion
joint system is to install sufficient restraints for maintaining the stability. This article
deals mainly the loop approach.

The Critical Path

In designing a plant, the piping is generally routed or laid-out by the piping
designers then checked by the stress engineers.
There is a marked difference in the layout done by the experienced and the
inexperienced designers. The experienced designers know the importance of the
flexibility. However, they tend to provide too much flexibility in contrast to the
inexperienced ones who tend to provide little flexibility. In either case, the resulL is
an over priced project.
The layout done by an inexperienced designer is normally too stiff because the
designer does not know how or too timid to add loops or offsets. If a piping system
is too stiff, the stress engineer will almost certain to find it out.
The stress engineer will send the design, with recommended loops, back to the
designer for revision. At this time, the designer have made some more layouts in the
same area making the revision very difficulty. On the other hand, a layout done by
an experienced designer often contains the loops which are excessive or not needed.
The excessive loops are normally maintained without revision, becuase it is a
common prctice not to change something which works. The experienced one might
have saved the manhour needed for the revision. The cost of the excessive loops can
be prohibitive.
The cost of the project can be reduced substantially if ~he right amount of flexibility
is built in the piping at the initial layout stage. This requires some quick methods
which can be used br the designers to check the piping flexibility.
Source: L.C. Peng, Peng Engineering, Houston, Texas
Quick Check on Piping Flexibility

Calculating
The first step in accommodating thermal movement is to compute the exact change
in the linear length of the piping system over the distance of interest, along with a
suitable safety factor.

The actual expansion of 100-foot pipe lengths has been computed at different
temperatures for the most common piping materials (carbon steel, stainless steel
and copper tubing) and are shown in the table on the right. These values should not
be applied to pipe of alternate materials as they will vary. Expansion coefficients
may vary 5% or more when obtained from different sources and should be taken
into account.
Thermal Expansion of Pipe
Inches per 100 ft.
mm per 100 meters
Temp.
F/C

Carbon
Steel

Copper

Stainless
Steel

-40
-40

-0.288
-24.0

-0.421
-35.1

-0.461
-38.4

-20
-28

-0.145
-12.1

-0.210
-17.4

-0.230
-19.0

0
-17

0
0

0
0

0
0

20
-6

0.148
12.5

0.238
19.7

0.230
19.0

32
0

0.230
19.0

0.366
30.5

0.369
30.8

40
4

0.300
24.9

0.451
37.7

0.461
38.4

60
15

0.448
37.4

0.684
57.1

0.691
57.7

80
26

0.580
48.2

0.896
74.8

0.922
76.8

100
37

0.753
62.7

1.134
94.5

1.152
96.1

120
48

0.910
75.8

1.366
113.9

1.382
115.2

140
60

1.064
88.6

1.590
132.6

1.613
134.5

160
71

1.200
100.1

1.804
150.3

1.843
153.6

180
82

1.360
113.2

2.051
170.9

2.074
172.9

200
93

1.520
126.6

2.296
191.3

2.304
191.9

212
100

1.610
134.2

2.428
202.4

2.442
203.4

220
104

1.680
140.1

2.516
209.7

2.534
211.3

230
110

1.760
146.7

2.636
219.8

2.650
220.8

260
126

2.020
168.3

...
...

...
...

280
137

2.180
181.8

...
...

...
...

300
148

2.350
195.9

...
...

...
...

320
160

2.530
211.0

...
...

...
...

340
171

2.700
225.1

...
...

...
...

350
176

2.790
232.6

...
...

...
...

An example illustrating the use of the table on the right follows:

Given: 240-foot long carbon steel pipe

Maximum operating temperature

= 220F (104C)

Minimum operating temperature

= 40F (4C)

Temperature at time of installation

= 80F (26C)

Calculation: From the table on the right, carbon steel pipe expansion

220F (104C) 1.680" per 100 ft. of carbon steel pipe

40F (4C) 0.300" per 100 ft. of carbon steel pipe

Difference: 1.380" per 100 ft. of carbon steel pipe for temperatures 40F to
220F

Therefore, 240-feet of pipe = 240/100 (1.380) = 3.312"

This 3.312" of movement should have a suitable safety factor applied, which varies
as determined by the system designer, to account for any errors in predicting
operating extremes, etc. These examples were calculated without a safety factor
applied.
To determine the positioning of the expansion joint at the time of installation:
Installation to cold condition (80F to 40F)

80F (26C) 0.580" per 100 ft.

40F (4C) 0.300" per 100 ft.

Difference: 0.280" per 100 ft. or 0.672" per 240 ft.

Installation to hot condition (80F to 220F)

220F(104C) 1.680" per 100 ft.

80F(26C) 0.580" per 100 ft.

Difference: 1.100" per 100 ft. or 2.640" per 240 ft.

Therefore, the expansion joint is to be set up with at least the capability to allow
0.672" of pipe contraction and at least 2.640" of pipe expansion when installed at
80F (26C).

Photograph - Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd, Expansion Loop in the Low Pressure Steam
Pipe, Kodak Factory, Coburg, 1964