Introduction  

impose some movements to the piping at the connection due to expansion of the shell. The bulging
of the shell, as in a low-type tank connection, may also impose some rotation to the piping. The ac-
ceptability of the piping load is determined by the local shell stress produced. In some cases, manu-
facturers of equipment, such as a heat exchanger, may specify the allowable forces and moments for
the connection on its equipment. Normally, piping stress engineers will work with vessel engineers
to decide if the piping load is acceptable. However, to expedite the validation process, piping stress
engineers will first calculate the local vessel stress, which is integrated in the piping stress analysis, of
the connection before giving the piping load to vessel engineers for approval. When calculating the
piping load at a shell connection, there is often a disagreement between the vessel engineer and the
piping engineer about the flexibility of the shell. Some vessel engineers insist that the flexibility of the
shell should not be included in the piping analysis, so the resulting piping load is artificially increased
to protect the vessel. This is actually very short sighted and may result in a very shaky design of the
piping. Detailed discussions of shell connections are given in the chapter dealing with stationary
interfaces.
(k)  Tube bundle header connections.  Another type of stationary interface is the header con-
nected to tube bundles. Steam boilers, fired heaters, and air coolers are some examples. This type of
interface generally has a given set of allowable forces and moments, which are provided either by the
manufacturer or by an applicable industry standard. Because this type of interface generally does not
have a precise boundary point, the piping may have to include all or part of the tube bundles in the
analysis. Detailed discussions on this type of interface are given in the chapter dealing with stationary
interfaces.
( l)  Rotating equipment connections.  The biggest challenge to pipe stress engineers is the piping
connected to rotating equipment such as pumps, compressors, and turbines. Because of its extremely
low permissible force and moment, a rotating equipment piping system is normally stress-engineered
by an experienced piping mechanical engineer. Yet, it still requires considerably more effort to accom-
plish the stress engineering than to accomplish the same for a system that is not connected to rotating
equipment. The problem is that rotating equipment cannot endure even a very slight deformation, or
else risk the consequence of shaft misalignment. To maintain smooth operation of the rotating equip-
ment, the shaft needs to be kept in perfect alignment without causing binding at the bearings and
interference of the internal parts. Therefore, the acceptance criterion of rotating equipment piping is
the strain rather than the stress. In the case of rotating equipment piping, the allowable strain is only
equivalent to about one-fifth of the allowable piping stress criterion for a medium-size piping. The al-
lowable is even smaller for larger pipes. See Chapter 9 for details.

1.3  MODES OF FAILURE

The main purpose of the piping mechanical work is to prevent piping failure. Therefore, it is im-
portant to find out how the pipe fails. The pipe can fail in many different modes with many different
mechanisms. Some of the common modes of failure are discussed in the following subsections.

1.3.1  Static Stress Rupture

The pipe will fail when it is stressed to beyond its strength, as measured by testing. That is the defini-
tion of the strength of the material. Static stress means no time element is involved. The failure occurs
as soon as stress reaches the limit. Because the pipe material will not take any stress higher than this
limit, the limit is also called ultimate strength of the material. Other modes of failure may take con-
siderably less stress than the ultimate strength. As the pipe material is statically stressed, it begins to
deform (Fig. 1.3). The area under the curve represents the energy required for the failure. This area is
also referred to as the energy absorbing capacity, or the toughness. In general, static rupture can be
further classified into two categories: ductile rupture and brittle rupture.