Quality Tool Box Talk

Mechanical – Final Shaft Alignment (Cold)

Discipline : Mechanical Doc No : QC-TBT-MEC-008
Activity : Shaft Alignment – Rotating Equipment Sub Activity : Final Shaft Alignment (Cold)
Date : 05/11/2014

Final shaft alignment is carried out on rotating equipment to verify the driver and driven shafts remain in
acceptable stress-free collinear position after permanent piping is connected to the equipment nozzle flanges.
The topics to be discussed are:
A) Piping Alignment Requirements
B) Piping Alignment
C) Piping Strain Measurement
D) Spring Hanger & Spring Support Function Check
E) Ambient Off-set
F) Soft Foot
G) Alignment Tolerances
H) Final Cold Alignment (pipe-off/pipe-on)
I) Flange Face Parallelism, Gap & Bolt Off-set
J) Operating Temperature Alignment

A) PIPING ALIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS

The following is to be noted:

1) Flanges of connecting piping should not spring into position
2) Flange bolt holes shall be lined up with machinery nozzle bolt holes within 1.5 millimeters maximum
offset from bolt bole center
3) Machine and piping flange parallelism shall be within applicable tolerances (Table 1)
4) Flange face separation shall be within gasket spacing plus or minus 1.5 millimeters
5) Hydro test completed on process piping and released for machinery hook up
6) Only one gasket per flanged connection shall be used

B) PIPING ALIGNMENT

The following to be noted:

1) All temporary supports for piping alignment (such as chain falls, wedges, etc) shall be removed during
piping alignment readings and bolt-up
2) Piping shall be supported by permanent fixed and spring supports and hangers in accordance with
drawings
3) Piping shall not be binding on pipe guides or restraints
4) No heating of pipes without approval

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C) PIPING STRAIN MEASUREMENT

The following to be noted:

1) The dial indicators shall be mounted on the coupling hub to measure vertical and horizontal movement
on the opposite machine as the pipe flange bolts are being tightened using a torque wrench
2) Flange bolt tightening/torquing shall be carried out starting from snug fit, 30%, 60% and finally 100%.
The maximum shaft movement in either the vertical or horizontal directions after the flange
tightening/torquing is completed shall not be more than 0.05 mm
3) The readings shall be recorded for the vertical and horizontal movements

D) SPRING HANGER/SPRING SUPPORT FUNCTION CHECK

During final alignment:
1) Spring Hanger turnbuckle locknuts shall be verified as tight
2) Spring Hanger and Support load indicators shall be at cold setting
3) Spring Hanger and Support shall neither top-out or bottom-out when stops are removed
4) The removed stops shall be reinstalled for final piping strain check

E) AMBIENT OFF-SET

Ambient off-set is the practice of misaligning two shaft centerlines at ambient conditions to account for
the estimated relative changes in shaft centerlines from ambient to operating conditions. It is a
predetermined value that is provided by machinery manufacturer/vendor and which shall be taken into
consideration during final cold alignment.

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F) SOFT FOOT

Soft foot check shall be done during final alignment with piping disconnected from the equipment body that is
to be checked. Maximum permissible movement is 0.05 millimeters at each foot.
Steps for checking soft foot:
1) All hold down bolts shall first be tightened (at specified torque if applicable)
2) Measurement shall be taken as the bolt is loosened
3) The hold down bolt shall be tightened before proceeding to the next foot
4) Unless specified otherwise, soft foot checks shall be made on each foot of the equipment and not at
the coupling

1 2 3
Loose Foot Cocked Foot Bad Shims
4 5 6
Debris under foot Irregular base Cocked foot
surface

Any one of the above conditions may result in this:-

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G) ALIGNMENT TOLERANCES

Activity Tolerances Remarks

Unless a closer tolerance is
Reverse Rim 0.05 mm TIR at both indicator locations specified by manufacturer or
vendor

Rim & Face 0.05 mm angularity & at centre of coupling -do-

DBSE/DBCE (flexible
+ 0.25 mm when machine’s rotating elements
element & spacer -do-
are in the axial operational position
couplings)

DBSE/DBCE (elastomeric + 0.75 mm when machine’s rotating elements

-do-
coupling) are in the axial operational position

Soft Foot Maximum: 0.05 mm on any foot -do-

0.01 mm/cm of pipe flange outer Φ up to a

Flange Parallelism -do-
maximum of 0.75 mm

Flange Parallelism

(piping flange outer Φ 0.250 mm or less -do-

below 250 mm)

Flange Bolt Hole Off set 1.50 mm (vertical/horizontal) -do-

Flange Gap or
±1.5 mm -do-
Separation

Shaft movement not more than 0.05 mm in

Pipe stress/strain -do-
either vertical or horizontal direction

Bracket sag ≤0.08 mm/meter -do-

H) FINAL COLD ALIGNMENT (PIPE-OFF/PIPE-ON)

Final Alignment shall not be done until the process piping has been hydro-tested. If the piping is disturbed after
final alignment has been accepted, train alignment shall be rechecked.
If equipment movement was not monitored during the piping changes, the entire alignment check shall be
redone starting with the piping disconnected and the flanges separated.
The process for carrying out final cold alignment (pipe-off/pipe-on) is the same as preliminary shaft alignment.

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I) FLANGE FACE PARALLELISM, GAP & BOLT OFFSET

Flange Face Parallelism

J) OPERATING TEMPERATURE ALIGNMENT

It is the process of determining the relative change in alignment from the ambient condition to operating
conditions.
Operating temperature alignment or hot alignment may be required when the equipment train operates above
150°C and when specified by machinery manufacturer/vendor.

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