SIMPLIFIED ANALYSIS OF STEAMHAMMER PIPE ‘SUPPORT LOADS EC. Goodling, Jr. Gilbert/Commonwesith, Inc. Reading, Pennsyivanie aasTBACT Rigorous analysis of steashanwer loads tn pover plant piping generally requires the use of computer seintrane Progra to perform the dynante transient analysis and Eine history enalyeis in order co quantify steasheamer forces and piping systen response Tesulting from sudden scopvalve closure folloving 4 unit trip th a steam power plant. This paper offers a sinplified proc fer approsiaace mantal calculation of the wozentaty Ancernil onbslenced forces dua to steashamer and the Pipe. fare approxinate but are of 1 degree Sf accurscy consistent with the fopue date required 15 the perfornance of rigorous couputer-dared anelysis, and shoulé cherefore be adequate for the design of foeetl plant piping and the nen-eafety piping in raclear plants. pover plant can result in Large ponentary unbalanced forces in the steam piping as the systen seeks to Festore equilibrioa. then che main steam stop valve closes, steaa velocity at the valve entrance 1s quickly ‘stopped in vhatever tine interval it takes for the Valve 9 close, AE the {nstant of clorure, there is StH 4 flov of steam into the boiler end of the pipe at the superheater connection. A vave of increasing pressure tamedtately begins foraing in the steam at the turbine end and cravele back upstrean covard the boiler ae sonte velocity [1][2]. At the suse tine, 9 steilar event {5 taking place in'the cold reheat piping except that the steam flov inte the pipe at the high pressure turbine dlacharge 1s suddenly halted vhile rteam flow continues into the reheater at the boiler end, Eeauleing in a vave of decreasing pressure forming the turbine and craveling at sonic speed tovaré the Feheater. Meawhile slaiLar events are taking place in the hot Fehear piping, vich a vave of increasing preamure foreing behiad the closed Feheater etep valve, Exaveling back upstraan to the reheater outlet, us “ORIGINAL FAX” ‘These traveling waves of increasing or decreasing pressure create mousntary unbalanced forces in the piping slong each Tongitudinal run of pipe, their Raguitudes being primarily « function of initial race of steam flov, Ton lengeh and stop valve closure tine (3). Ax the pressure vove pokes its pass chrowgh © pipe run and makes a (typically) right angle turn st the end of the run, the pipe and its restrainss conserve nopencun in either or a combination of to ways (8)(10}: a. By the pty Fesponse vo the tapules ave and/or Decoming sat into aotion in of the pressure Direct reaction of the vave-tnductd force in the pipe supporta, restraints, and anchor Tae magnitude of the force im my given run of pipe Teaches ‘piping systen is a function of ice the stiffer and pore massive @ pi in, the nore sluggishly it responds to an inpslse loed such as steamhamner. A very heavy pipe such es the ‘Shin’ steam pipe in a large pover plant may respond very Little to steashanaer, valle the much thinner Wail cold Esheat piping, vich much less mass, say Jusp 2 foot or fore under an equivaleat steashamer load, RIGOROUS ANALYSIS. ‘The analysis of the steashamer forces in pover plant piping is eypieally carried. out vith the use of & Computer program evch as UAVENET [6] oF REL (5), vhich caleulate « 1, The shepe and aaplitude of the pressure wave generated by a rapidly closing valve 4m the ateas Line and2. The unbslanced reactions du to the vave ar Gifterent sections of che piping sysces bere the changes An direction occur. ‘the total wave may be thought of as being made up of « Tories of superposed vavelets, each of which ts GEneraced by the valve closure process over an interval ‘fee typteally +02 seconie. The folloving typical Uieumpeions are necessary in developing the Sethceaties] nodel for generating the pressure vave Shenomena [6] (the assumptions vary for different. Prepress, some nay not be needed): 1 Menopneou sngle phase one ieansteat 2. The change of steam properties caused by tthe pressure veve cakes place ‘The steam Se crested as a perfect ges. 4, The temperature 19 constant. Flow is considered frictionleas. Losses at valven, bends, reducers, ete. are neglected. ‘im aedseion to these, certain other assumptions must be Rhee vith regard to the boiler, i.e. zero fendvater ow into the econosizer at the posent of stop valve closure, jaded to the boiler during vave (ipagatton, behavior of the boiler as an infinite ceerboir. "Thee the #top valve closing curve (flov fa vs. tine) Bust be modeled. Lith all of these factors incorporated into the sodel, Che computer pregram calculates « theoretical sarin GBeaitede of the pressure veve, ard then deceraines the GRhalanced reactions 4n every run of the piping systen. YE there is nore than'one pressure vave in a particular in of pipe, the program typically applies Tuperpocition to deterine the combined effects of the altiple waves. ‘the output of the execution of a transient analysis 1s Pet cf forces ecting on each node point of the piping Sodel, vith « dtfferenc set of forces for each tine Seep in che selected tine interval. A typical interval SED seconds vith « .02 second tine step vould result $5 ol sece of forces to be read inco the tine-history analysts program podel, vhich {2 then used to calculete the piping system response and the time-dependent forces’ on the pipe anchors and restraints. Despite the sbundence of computer codes available for Eanstent snalyeis and tine-history analysis of ‘Steashanaer effects on piping systens, the uss of such Godes requires chat the analyst have sufficient Jnovledge and experience in assessing the FeasonsSleness ef the analysis results. A disturbing face grequently encountered in analysis 1s chat Steashasser loads shom in che outputs of different stugrace for ehe sane problem may aifter by a factor of Joie ore, This situation may be caused by inadequate Rheoretical development, incorrect interpretation of Segue instrvetions' in# poorly-vricten user's panel, Toeorrect selection of tins step, or siaply an input Trer or incorrect initial conditions. An Anexperienced analyst may end up with fictitiously high Joade wiehove being able to recognize thea as auch. ‘The result sey be forces on supports and restraints 160 beyond che capsbi2ity of any reasonable herdvare design BL SIMPLIFIED ANALYSIS Steanhaner forces, Fiping systen response, and Festraint reactions nay be estizeted by the use of « relatively #iaple procedure to calculate the maxims Somentaty unbslanced forces in each run of the piping, ‘these forces can then be used to detaraine the Spproxiaate ays je to the forces and tO itinace the forcer co be used im designing the Flexible or rigid restraints needed to control the piping movenents and keap pipe stresses vithin an Hecopeable range. Salcvlation of Unbalanced Forces ‘The wobalanced forces {n each pipe num say be colculated ax follows: 1, Start with an isosserie draving of the “, gystem to ba analyzed, From this, prepare Datepiified teoprerie sketch shoving the fyoten {deelized as follove: 1s, Traat the elbove and bends as sharp turns of negligible bend radius. Straighten out slight angular changes in direction; for example, {f « pipe ‘runw 30 feat tn one direction, chen fume 15. éegrece before continuing for another 20 feee, treat the pipe sepeent as a straight 50-fo0t rin. Show the Lengths, directions, and Glanetere of each run in the féeclized system, and label the ibows and bends ‘in some conventent celeulate sonte velocity in the steam flov: e(abeigpy)!/? o vuure ¢ = sonte velocity, ft/sec at constant eS Sor = specific hast oo ie constant ~ specific beat Yoluse (Let k= 1.27 for superbeated 3 > pressure, pata 3 Specific volume, cube ect/peund Detersine the folloving: steam flow vate ¥ in pounds/second at All load ction flov area A in square ‘or each pipe diameter Cros snehoee. Flow velocity ¥ in ft/sve for each pipe diameter ve eas @ 4, Effective valve closing tise t, in See, "Tule can be accomplished by ipproxiaating the valve closing curve Sith o straight Line extending the eecpest elope of the valve closing curve, and letting t, equal the tine Goeervel between the intercept points Of the etraighe Line vith the fully open Line and the fully closed line, 00. waive A open 50+ o Fig. 1 Stop valve closing curve If the valve closing curve 43 not Balleble, ty Bey be conservatively: ‘SStineted a£°0.08 second. Cetevlate the naxinuo unbalanced axial force that can exist in any run of pipe BE Fax * 1-0500/8 o Oy = prensure rise in the run, psia im. 1.05 evcsi4s whereg~ sane ‘Senekty of steam, tack eet - lve ‘This 40 the suxime force that can ext Tpiping aysten which contains one oF Tune long enough to intercept « full pressure veve, that ie, to experience the Full wepuituds of che pressure rize before he sGvencing pressure wave encounters 8 change in direction, Ccaleulate the opencery unbalanced force {0 each pipe leg (3): Fe L0stiyere oy share P= unbslanced force, pounds Lo length of etratghe pipe ‘ing being enalyzed, feet Kote: If F> Fy from Step 4, chen lee F ~ Ty ote: IT 2 Tope te eeTaopiy taat che, Fan te 30g Generaliy. F 2 Taez "he eall/sapeitute of the pressure Hise. 6. Flot the tepulse function for each pipe 181 caleulate the eritieal Length L'. Lt te che Length in feet of & Teraight ni ef pipe ac which the Unbalanced force Fyqy OCCuES. Letting F = Faux by combining, Equations (6)"and (5) and socting 1 ‘equal fo L: Ln ote o Caleulate the tine t required for che Gabelanced foree to reach « naxinun. For L>L', £* te For L< Lt, © teCl/t') Celeulete the duel tiie tg, chet 48, Che Length of tive « pipe fun greater than Livin lengeh experiences the full pagnicude Of Fagg or L> 1, the pressure tner Per aks te ar tm ey on se ae te ubetencea force of prreleing tr Sltne conseane for Toes *Bish Gncerved tg ened. cree cat yroscure eae reachon ot seeenctat Pengen aivaceion, vith the bene ert e che posanure vave, che pensing of eeecenttal slong ibe PP veerivepas reeedving t= che cae eeerta Force eeerPtog fF Faux Wists Thun, tq" eg oP : TTT ob Length Pig. 2 Preatuce differential causing saxinon Gabelanced force in a run vhere L> 1! For L=L!, the pressure rises to its Zaxious of P+ AP fm t second, but the pressure differential along the ‘run immediately begins its decline 0s The advencing front of the pressure wave resches the end of the pipe Tun. Thus, ty = 0.Fig. 3 crusing eaxims Umbelenced force tn a run where = 1? For LL"), © (and consequently ¢/T) Seeones large and DLP reaches a maximum value of 2.0 a5, EfEexceeds 0.5. In those systens vhere a pipe run L a very long (L55L") and the ru is near the stop Valve, the transient unbalanced force may behave more ‘as a Tanp function (1) as shown in Fig. 8. ‘Fin, che reflected save from the boiler vill Bie cheice direction, causing a second dynamic ‘the primary vave hes complecely passed ‘Biges [7] notes that a peculiarity of the fact that | if the rise ehrough the run his eype of load pulse Eine isa vhole multiple of the natural period, the Ferponse is the rane a8 if F had been applied Teaticelly, In ony case, che analyse should consider the porsivilicy of a reflected vave acting in the Spporite dizection in any run in the systen. 2 e 38 0 et Fig. # Digg, V8 t,/T for ramp fonetion (7) The only equation to be solved then to determine Eesponee ts: Yaax ~ (F/EY(0LFY 3) = che mextoun value from the eceual oF Adealized plot of the tapulse function pipe systen stiffness Hong the run axis value read from Fig. 6 or? where F ‘mais value £01 ypqy 48 therafore an approxization of tov for a specifie‘run flexible piping systes vill Jump te a result of experiencing the sosentary wave of Gtbtlanced internel pressure resulting fros the sudden Closure of the stop valve fo helt the flov of tesa, ‘The novenent Yugy can then be used to calculate che Upset stresser aed piping reactions at connected joipaent. for conperison vith piping code stress Criteria and recomended levels for boiler and curbing Connections, If 4e turns out that stresses and/or Seactions are oo high, the syzten response Yugx can be ‘Feduced to an acceptable level by increasing the value Gf e,. This can often be accomplished by adding Mascively seiff spring restreine [8] to che pipe ron to resist the unbelenced force without completely Feacting de. A nevvalue for Ygqq can then be Teltulefed, evaluced for accopesbtlity, and then used Ce vealeulate the force experienced by the variable spring restraint. of course, if che pipe run ts fully restrained slong tes onis, k is high and the displacenent y {3 negligible. 153 ‘and the full magnitude of the force F 1s reacted directly by the restraint. DXAMPLE PROBLEM Avvain sean pipe 4p a relatively sual poverplant is Subject to eteathamaer folloving stop valve closure due to unit trip. It ie desired to calculate - 1. The steashamer load on an existing rigid hanger. 2, The maxioun axtel deflection (response) of the Tongest unrestrained horizentel run Goring steanhaaser Losds, ‘The effect on rerponse of adding « flexible Teatraint to the long berizontal rum to ‘Control axial novensnt. ‘The maximus load in the added sel restraint. % ‘The piping 1s lev Grfo steel, 10° NPS Schedule 160, The full lead operating conditions are as follovs: Pressure = 1400 Teoperature = 938 degrees F Steen flev = 450,000 pounds per hour Galsulations Dray an isooetrie sketch of the portion of the piping system containing the runs to be analysed. (See Fig. 9) Gelealate sonte velocity in the stean flow. c= (1tdigeey 2 a eel? B= 32:2 f0/see? 3 > 1400 pede, 3 Lovssee eetay ¢ = (¢1469 (1.279 (32.2) (1400) (0.5566)] 7? + 21A2 ft/sec Determine the folloving: 4, Steas flow rate, 1b/s00 1 = (450,000 18/29/3600 se, = 125 Lb/s a cad Flow area of pipe A= 56.74 in? for 10" Sch 160 pipe €. Flow veloctty in pipe v= lew = (464) (0.5566) 125)/56.74 176.6 ft/sec @ 4. Stop valve closing tive = 0,040 c0e, (fdealized) See Pig 1.Fig. 9 Tagnecrte sheteh of piping conbset 10" Hrs, Sebeduie 160 ocatton and identifier opport soaked to rigid Higaa supper end or connection ideatifier Sypecheciea! spring esteaint —F" = 9606 1 — Fe e733 1b wtf fctige «oe Fig. 10 Tdesiized triangular inpulse function for Run 5-6 in the example problen 5. Momentary unbalanced force in the pipe Feax ~ 1,05 i/p oy “05 (2142) €125)/32.2 F- 1,05m1/ete fo} 2 a7 8. Por the vertical run 4-5 or, alternatively + Leae Faux” MOP (4) F = (2.059125) (619/(92.2) (0.06) ap = Lose We/1ue 2 eis erase since Fogg = 8733 1b, 4¢ Ls apparent = '1/(0.5566)(32,2) thet che"Tun ts not iong enough £0 7 ofsi6 1b see?/te ineereept « fol] pressure vave. ‘Therefore the uibslanced force’ in ap = (1.05)(0.0558)0176.6) Shia run ts Less hen Fyuye (aun /ase = 154 poh b. For the hortzental run 5-6 Faax 7 (36,7675) ae = —=203-—— = a7 F = (1.059 ¢125)(103)/(32.2) (0.06) = 10,496 1Tak, Pipe Bun 4-5 dur since Fyyy = 1733 2b, te te dperent RE ce ron ts'Iong trough Winterope a fal peaneore ve Tereterey the full St Diiieied treat owe? ream we ‘The thne-dependent tupulse functions. Critical length L' required for full pressure vave to develop in pipe Fim: vee, = (2fa2) 0.06) 05.7 fe Cy Tine ty required for che unbalanced force Eo reach # maximus: For Pipe Run 4-5, LL! (61'<85.7") nd = feo Fell) = 0f04(63,85.7) T o.028s see For Pipe Run 5-6, IDL! and so - tye fe - 0.080 see Deel tive tg for Fygy in a run vbere BL For Pipe Run 4-5 tg = 0 since 1a". For Pipe Bun 5-6 tar tel /L')-2) ofoayc103/as.79-11 0,008 see Total tine duration t of the load impolse. ene t ty A For Pipe Run 4-5 = © = 210.0285) +0 20,087 see For Pipe Run 5-6» = 2(0,040) + 0.0082 = 0.0881 Force va. tine plots. 10. A 9606 cansa 7 Le coser =! ec Pipe Run 5-6 185 Wore chat the ploe for Run 5-6 has been idealized slightly to curn it dato a triangular inpulee function as described by Biggs [7]. This results fn a slight conservative increase in the maximum force ffou F of 8735°1 to FT of 9606 Ib, vhich 1s used sn the renaindar of the calculations for Ron 5-6, If FY vere substantially Aigher chen F, sey 30% or more, as 1t would for higher values for L and td, Se aay be sore eppropriate to represent the steashsnmer load fonceion for Run 5-6 as « rectangular fepalse as in Fig. 7 (7)[10) oF amp function (see [7] Fig. 2.9). Stiffness K and the natural period T for the piping system. Pipe Run 4-5 4s supported rigichy along ics xls by Hanger KSH-8. Te therefore has © ‘ery high etiffnens i and very,snall natural peried. For a k of 10° 1b/in, ics futwrel period vould be about 0.002 sec. Pipe Run 5.6 4s unrestrained along its els: it therefore has been found to have & Felffness K of about 350 Ib/in along it (ele and « natural period T of 3 sec. Dynante Load Factor DLP. oting that the force vs. tine plots for Doth pipe rune are essenctally triangular fonctions, DLE fer both can be determine fron Fig. 6. For Pipe Run 4-5, t/T is >>4.0; therefore Du = 1.0 Yor PIPE Run 5-6, €/T ts sbout 0.03; harefore pur = 0.1 Maxima deflection due co the dynamic transient force F. For Pipe Run 4-5, che high stiffn Fenuits in exsentially zero deflection, For Pipe Run 5-6, maxinun deflection fo4x ta caleulated by’ - pou) o "= (96067350) (0.1) 227 in Maxima transient load in rigid hanger ¥su-8, Since there {s essentially zero deflection in the vertical run 4-5, and since the quturel period 4+ high resulcing in DLP of ~ Tie, the maximum transient load in Hanger NSU-0 te F of 6216 1b. Hovever, Sf the net inupport stiffness, considering the coobined fleibinicy of the bullding seructure and ‘other components in che support assenbly Feruite in a value of ~ 0.9 for t/%, thene DLP could reach a peak of 1.55. Bizgs (7) cbserves that for the triangular loading fonction, the maxima dynanie effect occurs Shen the duration of leading 8 “pprotisately equal co the natural period cf ebe eystan. Te vould therefore be Govisuble co consider this peak value for DLP in analysing or designing « rigid support. Effect of adding an ental restraint to Pipe han 5-6. If a rigid restraint vere installed to Fence the axial eteasbamser loed in this run, ft vould be subject to the full Sagnteude ef the losd F” of 9606 1b, eto the BLY effects cited by Biggs Ti} for pipe rune vich « navoral period Ghue approtisates che duration of loading. Consider nov the effoee of adding a stift Spring restraint along the axis of this run of 10,000 Tb/in. The Folloving.chenges In the dynante characteristics of the system occur: a, The setttne £ the system vith the pew spring restraint becones ~ wokrek 20,000 + 350 2 101350 Tein b. The, natural pertod chen changes because of the added stiffness - re taney? T 3038010, 3501/2 058 9 fc. The value for ¢/T" then becowes ~ wr = 0,0881/0.55 Tole and DLT from Fig. 6 is read off as 06. Compare thi with DLF of 0.1 for this rm with no restraint, 4, The peximn deflection of the podified aysten under the transient teashamer load becones = = (9606/10,350)(0.6) 20,557 tn’ Coupare this vith 2.74 tn for this run with no restrai ‘Toe maxinue load Fy in the restraint Teeelf becomes = Re fo"680) (0.557 = 3570 ‘This taplies that Se taker only 5570 Yh to restrain the transient load of 9606 tb and bring che pipe co a helt {in 0.557 in, shoving that auch of che energy 1n the transient wax Hastpeted dn setting the pipe in potion ich the renainder sbsorbed in Ceopreseing the spring restraint. Sumas ‘The exanple probis be celevieted through the use of the simplified preach outlined im this paper: 1. Maximun design value for steenhamer force tn any nun of pipe. 2.‘ Maxtoun theoreticel response (deflection Geder erenelent load) tn any run. 3. Maximum design load in rigid or flexible restraints. 4b. Rfects of modifying che ayscen by adding Higid or flexible restraints, ‘The actual detatis of calculacing piping system covered Stiffness and natural period are not re, as they are best handled by desk-top computer-based general purpore strosquzal ox pipe stress prograns oF Sy eppronioate wethots outlined by Biggs (7), Kellogs (81, er Seow (20). conctusrons Unbslanced forces and piping systen response to eeanhenser can be rigorously calculated vith the aid Sf coopucer codes videh perform flutd cransient and Cieecbiatory analyses. Hovever, the simplifying [snuaptions wade vith regard to many of the Anpur perantters ond theis effect on the accuracy of che Pogults of the rigorous analysis raises « question of Whether the trouble ond expense of such analysis 15 Justifted, Tais payer suggests a simplifies ‘(ternative oethod of perforaing a steashamer anelys a Pebesed pipe atrese progras is helpful in calculating Piping aysten stiffness and natural period, but Feascrable approxiastions may be obtained by nanual caleulations alone. AcKROMLEDCHENTS ‘The author expresses his appreciation to Dr. H. 2. Lee Of Licton Industries, R. L. Brinker of Fennsylvania Elecerte Company, and RL. Heisler Of Clibert/comoneatch for their helpful comencs in the preparation of this paper. REFERENCES. 1 Teauetez, edieee by C. Papadakis and ihe Searton, ASHE 1978, pp. 17-23 PO Pressure in Boller Steam Lines", Fluid ““Jngustry, edited by C. Papedakis and Agearton, ASME 1978, ype 22-16Lae, 1. and Goodhing, F.C. Optintzacion, ASME Pressure Vessels. and. Piping Conference, Orlando, 1982, PvP-Vel. 69, pp. i-1é. Rt, Bredshav, VAVENET - Vaves in Flutd Networks, Program User Guide 1.0, 1976 Ranson, V.E., e€ al, RELAPS/HOD1 Code Mamual, B666°Tdab0,"Ine., Idaho Fails, Maren i982 Rochine, A.P., unpublished procedures tor Steashaswer analysis *Stemshamer Sn Pover Plant Piping Restraine Design and Diggs, J-M., Introduction to Structural viccrew-HELL, Ine., New York, pp. 229-230 Goodling, F.C.,*The Dise Spring Pipe Restraint’, ASME Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference, Pittsburgh, 1988, PvP-Vel. 164, pp. 187-192. Kellogg, W.W. Co., Desimm of Piping 20d Eaicion, Wiley, Hew York, 1936, pp- 260-266. Snow, R.A., "Use of Dyninie Loed Factors Lese than 1.0 for Shore Tere Transient Leads", GiTbert/Comonvealth, Inc., Dee. 1988,