Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Support Standard
Support Standard
Design: ASME B31.1, ASME B31.3, ASME Section VIII Pressure Vessels
Manufacturing: MSS-SP58 (Material, Design, Manufacture, Selection, Application &
Installation. Note:MSS SP-58-2009 Incorporates and Supersedes the contents of ANSI/MSS
SP-69-2003, MSS SP-77, MSS SP-89, and MSS SP-90), AWS-D1.1, ASTM-A36, ASTM-
A53, ASTM-A120, ASTM-A123 and A446, ASTM-A125, ASTM-A153, ASTM-307 and A325,
ASTM-C916, ASTM-D1621, ASTM-D1622, ASTM-D1623. Supports with insulation inserts
must also reference ASTM-C585.
Quality Systems: ISO 9001, ASQC Q-92, CAN3 Z299
Testing: ANSI B18.2.3
Occasional Loads:
Wind Load: Piping which are located outdoors and thus exposed to wind will be designed to
withstand the maximum wind velocity expected during the plant operating life. Wind force is
modeled as a uniform load acting upon the projected length of the pipe perpendicular to the
direction of the wind. Wind pressure for various elevations will be used to calculate wind force
using the following formula. Fw = Pw x S x A, where Fw = The total wind force, Pw = The
equivalent wind pressure, S = Wind shape factor, A = Pipe exposed area.
Seismic Load: Seismic load is one of the basic concepts of earthquake engineering which
means application of an earthquake-generated agitation to a structure. It happens at contact
surfaces of a structure either with the ground,[2] or with adjacent structures,[3] or
with gravity waves from tsunami.
Water Hammer: Water hammer (or more generally, fluid hammer) is a pressure surge or
wave caused when a fluid (usually a liquid but sometimes also a gas) in motion is forced to stop
or change direction suddenly (momentum change). Water hammer commonly occurs when a
valve closes suddenly at an end of a pipeline system, and a pressure wave propagates in the
pipe. It's also called hydraulic shock.
Steam hammer: Steam hammer, the pressure surge generated by transient flow of super-
heated or saturated steam in a steam-line due to sudden stop valve closures is considered as
an occasional load. Though the flow is transient, for the purpose of piping stress analysis, only
the unbalanced force along the pipe segment tending to induce piping vibration is calculated and
applied on the piping model as static equivalent force.
Safety Valve Discharge: Reaction forces from relief valve discharge is considered as an
occasional load. The reaction force due to steady state flow following the opening of safety relief
valve in an open discharge installation can be calculated in accordance with ASME B31.1
Appendix II and applied on the piping model as static equivalent force.
Secondary Load[edit]
Just as the primary loads have their origin in some force, secondary loads are caused by
displacement of some kind. For example, the pipe connected to a storage tank may be under load if
the tank nozzle to which it is connected moves down due to tank settlement. Similarly, pipe
connected to a vessel is pulled upwards because the vessel nozzle moves up due to vessel
expansion. Also, a pipe may vibrate due to vibrations in the rotating equipment it is attached to.
Displacement Loads:
Load due to Thermal Expansion of pipe
Load due to Thermal movement of Equipment
A pipe may experience expansion or contraction once it is subjected to temperatures higher or lower
respectively as compared to temperature at which it was assembled. The secondary loads are often
cyclic but not always. For example, load due to tank settlement is not cyclic. The load due to vessel
nozzle movement during operation is cyclic because the displacement is withdrawn during shut-
down and resurfaces again after fresh start-up. A pipe subjected to a cycle of hot and cold fluid
similarly undergoes cyclic loads and deformation.
Rigid Support
Spring Support
Snubber/Shock Absorber
Rigid Support[edit]
Rigid supports are used to restrict pipe in certain direction(s) without any flexibility (in that direction).
Main function of a rigid support can be Anchor, Rest, Guide or both Rest & Guide.
1) Stanchion/Pipe Shoe:
Rigid support can be provided either from bottom or top. In case of bottom supports generally a
stanchion or Pipe Clamp Base is used. It can be simply kept on steel structure for only rest type
supports. To simultaneously restrict in another direction separate plate or Lift up Lug can be used. A
pipe anchor is a rigid support that restricts movement in all three orthogonal directions and all three
rotational directions, i.e. restricting al the 6 degrees of freedom This usually is a
welded stanchion that is welded or bolted to steel or concrete.[2] In case of anchor which is bolted to
concrete, a special type of bolt is required called Anchor Bolt, which is used to hold the support with
concrete. In this type of support, normal force and friction force can become significant. To alleviate
the frictional effect Graphite Pad or PTFE plates are used when required.
Spring supports (or Flexible supports) use helical coil compression springs ( to accommodate loads
and associated pipe movements due to thermal expansions). They are broadly classified into
Variables Effort support & Constant effort support. The critical component in both the type of
supports are Helical Coil Compression springs. Spring hanger & supports usually use Helical coil
compression springs.
Variable effort supports also known as variable hangers or variables are used to support pipe lines
subjected to moderate (approximately up to 50mm) vertical thermal movements. VES units (Variable
effort supports) are used to support the weight of pipe work or equipment along with weight of fluids (
gases are considered weightless) while allowing certain quantum of movement with respect to the
structure supporting it. Spring supports may also be used to support lines subject to relative
movements occurring typically due to subsidence or earthquakes. A VES unit is fairly simple in
construction with the pipe virtually suspended directly from a helical coil compression spring as the
cut away sectional sketch shows below. The main components being:
1. Top Plate
2. Pressure plate or Piston Plate
3. Bottom plate or base plate
4. Helical Spring
5. Turnbuckle assembly
6. Locking Rods
7. Name Plate
8. Can section or cover
Normally Clients / Engineering Consultants will furnish the following data when issuing enquires for
Variable effort units.
1. Hot Load
2. Thermal Movement (with direction i.e. up or + & down or -)
3. Maximum Load variation in Percentage (LV % max), if Max LV is not specified then it is
assumed to be 25% as per MM-SP58.
4. Type of Support i.e. whether hanging type, foot mounted type etc.
5. Special features such as travel limit stop required if any.
6. Preferred surface protection / Paint / Finish.
Hot load is the working load of the support in the “Hot” condition i.e. when the pipe has traveled from
the cold condition to the hot or working condition. Normally MSS-SP58 specifies max Load Variation
( popularly called LV) as 25%.[4]
Salient Features-
When confronted with large vertical movements typically 150 mm or 250 mm, there is no choice but
to select a constant effort support (CES). When the Load variation percentage exceeds 25% or the
specified max LV% in a variable hanger, it is choice less but to go for a CES. For pipes which are
critical to the performance of the system or so called critical piping where no residual stresses are to
be transferred to the pipe it is a common practice to use CES. In a constant effort support the load
remains constant when the pipe moves from its cold position to the hot position. Thus irrespective of
travel the load remains constant over the complete range of movement. Therefore, it is called a
constant load hanger. Compared to a variable load hanger where with movement the load varies &
the hot load & cold load are two different values governed by the travel & spring constant. A CES
unit does not have any spring rate.
Most prevalent work principle for CSH is Bell Crank Mechanism. The Bell crank lever rotates around
the Fulcrum point. One end of the Bell crank lever is connected to the pipe ‘P’, the other end is
connected to the spring by the tie rod. Thus when the pipe moves down from cold to hot condition,
the point P moves down, and as it moves down the Bell crank lever will rotate in the anti clock wise
direction & tie rod connected to the spring will be pulled in, by which the spring gets further
compressed. When the pipe moves up the bell crank lever will rotate (in the clock wise direction) &
the tie rod connected to spring will be pushed out thus allowing the spring to expand or relax.
Another popular principle is three spring or adjusting spring mechanism. In this case one main
vertical spring takes the main load of the pipe. There are situated other two spring with horizontal
orientation to balance any extra load coming in upward or downward direction.
An engineered spring support upholds a specific load, including the weight of the pipe,
commodity, flanges, valves, refractory, and insulation. Spring supports also allow the supported
load to travel through a predetermined thermal deflection cycle from its installed condition to its
operational condition.
Materials[edit]
Pipe supports are fabricated from a variety of materials including structural steel, carbon
steel, stainless steel, galvanized steel, aluminum, ductile iron and FRP composites. Most pipe
supports are coated to protect against moisture and corrosion. [6] Some methods for corrosion
protection include: painting, zinc coatings, hot dip galvanizing or a combination of these. [7] In the case
of FRP composite pipe supports, the elements required to form a corrosion cell aren't present, so no
additional coatings or protections are necessary.[8]