GRP Piping - Stress Analysis
GRP Piping - Stress Analysis
GRP Piping - Stress Analysis
Fig. 1
Above table is an example for a 6 GRP pipe as an example. Kindly make changes to line size as
required.
Few tips:
3)Use pad under pipe .These pads are usually made up of the same pipe and hence adjust the CL of
the pipe properly.
Imp:
Once all inputs as mentioned above are ready with you open the Caesar II spread sheet. By
default Caesar will show B 31.3 as governing code. Now refer to Fig. 2 and change the
parameters as mentioned below:
Fig. 2
Change the default code to ISO 14692.
Change the material to FRP (Caesar Database Material Number 20) as shown in Fig.
2. It will fill few parameters from Caesar database. Update those parameters from
vendor information.
Enter pipe OD and thickness from vendor information.
Keep corrosion allowance as 0.
Input T1, T2, P1, HP and fluid density from line list.
Update pipe density from vendor information sheet, if vendor does not provide
density of pipe then you can keep this value unchanged.
On the right side below the code, enter the failure envelop data received from vendor.
Enter thermal factor=0.85 if pipe is carrying liquid, enter 0.8 if the pipe carries gas.
After you have mentioned all the highlighted fields proceed modelling by providing
dimensions from the isometric/piping GA drawing. Add supports at proper location
from isometric drawing.
Now click on environment button and then on special execution parameter. It will
open the window as mentioned in figure 3.
Now Refer Fig. 3 and change the highlighted parts from available data.
ISO 14692 informs to prepare 3 load cases: Sustained, Sustained with thermal and Hydro test.
So accordingly the following load cases are sufficient to analyse GRP piping system
1. WW+HP .HYDRO
2. W+T1+P1 ..OPERATING-DESIGN TEMPERATURE
3. W+T2+P1 ..OPERATING-OPERATING TEMPERATURE
4. W+P1 ..SUSTAINED
The expansion load cases are not required to create as no allowable stress is available for
them as per the code.
While preparing the above load cases you have to specify the occasional load factors for each load
case in load case options menu as shown in Fig. 5. ISO 14692 considers hydro test case as an
occasional case. In higher versions of Caesar II software (Caesar II-2016 and Caesar II-2017) these
load factors are taken care by default. So you need not enter the values. The option of these value
entry will be available only if you define the stress type as occasional for those software versions.
The default values of occasional load factors are 1.33 for occasional case, 1.24 for operating
case and 1.0 for sustained case. This occasional load factors are multiplied with system
design factor (normally 0.67) to calculate the part factor for loading f2.
For aboveground GRP piping the above load cases are sufficient. But if the Line is laid
undeground then two different caesar II files are required. One for sustained and operating
stress check. And the other for hydrotesting stress check as the buried depth during
hydrotesting is different from the original operation. Also buried depth may vary in many
places. So caesar II modelling should be done meticulosly to take care exact effects.
For buried modelling one need to split the long lengths into shorter elements to get proper results.
Element length of 3 m or less is advisable. Sometimes buried model contains slope, Those sloved are
required to model properly to get accurate results.
Both stress and load data need to be checked for GRP piping. Normally the stresses are more than
90% (Even sometimes it may be as high as 99.9%).