Pipe Stress

Stress analysis and troubleshooting

pipeline station

Greenfields pipe stress analysis

We work closely with your engineers and designers to produce a safe design with a minimum of fuss. We produce a stress analysis report including stress isometrics and pipe support loads for applications such as:

  • Process piping
  • Onshore pipelines and stations
  • Rotating equipment piping
  • Wellhead flowlines and buried gas gathering lines
  • Subsea skid pipework
  • Risers
If desired we can also provide piping design, piping engineering and structural engineering of pipe supports.
 

Troubleshooting

Pipe with flow induced vibration
pipe on structural model
Interaction between pipe and structure captured via combined model

Your critical piping systems are the lifeblood of your facility, so their safe operation is paramount to your plant and people. Our engineers have extensive experience in helping clients solve the hard problems when it comes to piping engineering and stress analysis. When any of the following are causing you concern, call on us for expert assistance –

  • Increasing throughput safely
  • Vibration problems
  • Lifting operating pipework for refurbishment
  • Piping operating with defects
  • Cyclic line fatigue
  • Dynamic loading such as wave, blast, slug and surge
  • Finite Element Analysis checks
  • Structural interaction effects. We model the combined structure and piping to capture stiffness and interaction effects. We can use results directly in structural code checks.
Flow Induced Vibration

We have experience in both design stage prevention of FIV and in taming vibrating lines that may be hampering production. We can assist with or direct field vibration measurements, model the piping system and calibrate our dynamic model against the field readings. We can then calculate likelihood of fatigue failure and specify new static or dynamic restraints to bring the pipe back under control. See our article for a more in-depth discussion.

Acoustic Vibration

We can assist during FEED and detailed design to help get this important aspect of your plant right. We employ our own software which has been used for years by top-tier clients for flare system vibration checks. We can customise the checks performed as required to account for client preferences. Where necessary we can also employ FEA for advanced assessment of critical components.

Staff Augmentation

We can provide experienced pipe stress engineers to supplement your project team as required.