Stress analysis of flexible vacuum insulated pipe.

[alfmar]

Hi all,

I have to carry out a stress analysis for a cryogenic network made of flexible vacuum insulated pipes.

The structural integrity under thermal and seismic loading has to be checked. Normally these kind of analysis are performed following a piping code that gives acceptance criteria and guidance to perform the analysis. For a "conventional" rigid piping system, a beam theory approach is usual, and there are a lot of software applications available to do it (Caesar II, Autopipe, Rohr, etc).

However, neither ASME nor EN codes address this kind of pipes, nor the mentioned software is able to deal with them.

Does anyone have experience in somewhat similar?

Thanks for your replies

 

[someguy79]

Most of the piping codes/standards I've used have not been prescriptive of exact methods for stress calculation. There are methods in ASME B31.3 but nothing of the level of detail you seem to request.

As far as codes go, I think ASME B31.3 is applicable, but it will not give you a lot of guidance on how to calculate stress for complex shapes. You have to rely on your good engineering practices for that. If not, there are plenty of consultants who can do it.