FEA

PIPE TO PIPE CONNECTION

WITH HEADER FULL ENCIRCLEMENT

E(v-M)S as the friction coefficient between header and

HFE varies
 SCOPE OF WORK

The scope of the work in this document is to perform a FEA on a pipe to pipe connection to understand how the
E(v-M)S varies as the coefficient of friction between the HFE(*) and the header varies.

Five FEA will be performed with the following friction coefficients:

FEA No. FRICTION COEFFICIENT

1 μ1 0.3 [-]
2 μ2 0.4 [-]
3 μ3 0.5 [-]
4 μ4 0.6 [-]
5 μ5 0.7 [-]

In the following slides all the calculation details will be illustrated.

(*) HFE: HEADER FULL ENCIRCLEMENT

 3D MODEL AND INPUT DATA
ISOMETRIC VIEW

BRANCH
CIRCUMFERENTIAL CIRCUMFERENTIAL
WELD 3 WELD 2

CIRCUMFERENTIAL
WELD 1

HEADER LONGITUDINAL VIEW

HEADER FULL
ENCIRCLEMENT

NOTE: In the 3D model, the longitudinal weld that joins the two shells of the header full
encirclement was neglected because it was assumed that it would not touch the run pipe.
 INPUT DATA
HEADER BRANCH HEADER FULL ENCIRCLEMENT PRESSURE AND TEMPERTURE
OD 100 [mm] OD 50 [mm] OD 102 [mm] P 2 [MPa]
ID 98 [mm] ID 48 [mm] ID 100 [mm] H PC 49 [MPa]
THKFEA 1 [mm] THKFEA 1 [mm] THKFEA 1 [mm] B PC 24 [MPa]
E 200000 [MPa] E 200000 [MPa] E 200000 [MPa] T 21 [°C]

B PC

FIXED
SUPPORT

H PC
P
 CONTACTS
BONDED CONTACT FRICTIONAL CONTACT

BRANCH

WELD 2

HEADER

WELD 1

WELD 3

- THE CONTACTS BETWEEN THE WELDS AND

HEADER FULL
THE PIPES HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED BONDED
ENCIRCLEMENT
- THE CONTACT BETWEEN THE HEADER,
BRANCH AND HEADER FULL ENCIRCLEMENT
HAS BEEN CONSIDERED FRICTIONAL
FEA No.1 - RESULTS – E(v-M)S – FRICTION COEFFICIENT μ1=0.3

MAX E(v-M)S = 321.89 [MPa]

FEA No.2 - RESULTS – E(v-M)S – FRICTION COEFFICIENT μ2=0.4

MAX E(v-M)S = 315.54 [MPa]

FEA No.3 - RESULTS – E(v-M)S – FRICTION COEFFICIENT μ3=0.5

MAX E(v-M)S = 308.63 [MPa]

FEA No.4 - RESULTS – E(v-M)S – FRICTION COEFFICIENT μ4=0.6

MAX E(v-M)S = 306.81 [MPa]

FEA No.5 - RESULTS – E(v-M)S – FRICTION COEFFICIENT μ5=0.7

MAX E(v-M)S = 307.4 [MPa]

 FEA No.6 - RESULTS – BONDED CONTACT BETWEEN HFE AND RUN PIPE
A further FEA was performed to highlight the differences between bonded and frictional contacts.
In the FEA No.6 of which I highlight the details below, the contact between the header full encirclement and the run pipe is considered
bonded.
The boundary conditions were kept identical to previous analyses, please see slide No.4 for reference.

THE HEADER RED SURFACE AND THE MAX E(v-M)S = 307.64 [MPa]
HFE BLUE SURFACE ARE JOINED BY A
BONDED CONTACT
 RESULTS – CONCLUSIONS
The table below shows the Equivalent von-Mises Stress and Local Primary Membrane Equivalent Stress (PL) as a function of the
friction coefficient.
The columns in red highlight the percentages of each FEA with respect to the E(v-M)S and Local Primary Membrane Equivalent
Stress (PL) with a friction coefficient equal to 0.3. As can be seen, the E(v-M)S and PL values ​decrease as the friction coefficient
increases with the exception of FEA No.5 E(v-M)S where, however, the difference compared to FEA No.4 is 0.59 Mpa.

μ-E(v-M)S
μn E(v-M)S % PL - H %
324 FEA No. [-] [MPa] E(v-M)S [MPa] PL - H
322 1 0.3 321.89 - 216.88 -
321.89
2 0.4 315.54 2.01 216.25 0.29
320 3 0.5 308.63 4.30 214.98 0.88
318 4 0.6 306.81 4.92 213.21 1.72
5 0.7 307.4 4.71 212.34 2.14
316
E(v-M)S

315.54 6 - 307.64 4.63 184.25 17.71

[MPa]

314
312
310 308.63
306.81
In the highest stress zone, the difference
308
307.4 between the Local Primary Membrane
306 Equivalent Stress of FEA No.5 and FEA No.6
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
FRICTION COEFFICIENT
is 28.09 MPa
[-]

NOTE: The Local Primary Membrane Equivalent Stress (PL) was taken in the most stressed area of ​the header