Importance & Impact of Stress Intensification Factor (SIF) : A Presentation

Importance & Impact of Stress Intensification Factor (SIF): A
Presentation
January 10, 2018 No Comment ASME B 31.3, B 31.3, Detail Design, Pipe fitting, Piping
Design, Piping Engineering,Piping Layout, piping system, Piping Technology, SIF, SIF of a bend, SIF of an
elbow, Stress Intensification factor
SIF : As per ASME Section III Code SIF is defined as the Fatigue Correlation Factors that
compare the fatigue life of Piping Components (Tees, branch connections) to that of girth butt
welds in straight pipe subjected to bending moments.
HISTORY:
MARKL FATIGUE CURVE FOR STRAIGHT PIPE (Fig. 1): Markl stress intensification factor :
i =( CN-0.2)/S
Where i=Stress intensification factor
C=245,000 for carbon steel materials
N=Cycles to failure
S=Nominal stress amplitude
Markl SIF is based on deflection control, fully reversed, cyclic bending fatigue tests.
APPLICATION:
 Section III, for class 2 & 3 piping and B31.1
Calculated stress S = iM / Z
where M = (MX2 + MY2 + MZ2)1/2
Z=Section Modulus
i= Stress intensification factor
This approach is conservative.
 3
Thermal expansion stress SE = (Sb2 + 4St2)1/2

where
Sb=resultant bending stress
St=torsional stress = Mt/2Z
The resultant bending stress is calculated by
Sb= [((iiMi)2 + (ioMo)2) ½]/Z
where
ii = in-plane bending stress intensification factor (Refer Fig. 3)
io= out-of-plane stress intensification factor (Refer Fig. 3)
Mi = in-plane bending moment (Refer Fig. 2)
Mo = out-of-plane bending moment (Refer Fig. 2)
Eg: For 12” Std schedule long radius elbow.
a)Elbow without flange
R1 = 1.5(12) = 18”
T = 0.375” (Std) Assume same thk for pipe & elbow
r2 = ( OD-T)/2 = 6.1875”
h = (TR1 )/ (r2)2 = 0.176 (From table D-300 of B31.3)
ii = 0.9 / h2/3 = 2.86
io = 0.75/ h2/3 = 2.4
b)If one end is flanged the correction factor C1 = h1/6 = 0.7486
ii = C1 ( 0.9 ) / h2/3 = 0.7486 x 2.86 = 2.14
io = C1 ( 0.75)/ h2/3 = 0.7486 x 2.4 = 1.797
PRESSURE VS SIF:
Effect of Pressure on SIF:
FEM TECHNIQUES:
The various methods for calculating SIF Are
 Analytical Methods defined by Piping Codes

 FEM techniques
The user can see that the basic SIF procedure is:
 Build the model.

 Apply a moment through the nominal attached pipe.
 Read the highest stress from the result plot.
 Divide by M/Z to get the SIF.
The Fem Softwares widely used for calculating Sif are
 FE-pipe
 Ansys
SIF Calculations
The basic definition of a stress intensification factor (SIF) is:
SIF = (Actual Peak Stress in Part)/( Nominal Stress in Part)
The nominal stress in the part for a piping component subject to bending loads is M/Z where “M”
is the moment that the pipe exerts on the component, and Z is the section modulus of the
matching pipe welded to the part being analyzed.
Example Case:
For example, when SIFs are needed for a large D/T “Wye” Fitting, there are usually four SIFs
involved.
 one for the inplane moment about the wye,

 one for the outplane moment
 For both the main header and branch sections.
An example, demonstrating this calculation for a 32×0.375 wye fitting is shown in the example.
Markl’s definition of the SIF is the ratio of the actual stress in the part due to a moment “M”,
divided by the nominal stress in a girth (circumferential) butt weld due to a similar moment “M”.
B31 sif = Actual Stress in Part (due to M)/ Stress in Girth Butt Weld (due to M)
They are
 Operating, and
 Occasional
Various displacements and stresses from each load case are shown in Fig 6 and Fig 7.
Related Posts:
1. An article on “APPLICATION OF ANTI-CORROSIVE LININGS & COMPOSITES” :
Part 1 of 2
2. ASME B 31J & B 31J Essentials: Why these are useful in Piping Stress Analysis?
3. Piping Elbow or Bend SIF (Stress Intensification Factor)
4. Selection of Pipes for a plant: An article
5. An article on pipe support span for beginners.
6. FIXING LOCATION OF VARIOUS STATIC EQUIPMENTS: A PRESENTATION
7. An article on VIRTUAL ANCHOR LENGTH CALCULATION FOR PIPELINES
Piping Elbow or Bend SIF (Stress Intensification

Factor)
The term SIF is too confusing for many of the piping engineers. Thats why the following article is
taken to explain the bend SIFs in simple language.
Every piping Engineer who possess a little basic of Piping Stress Analysis theory must be aware
of the term SIF or Stress Intensification Factor. The term indicates a multiplier of Bending and
Torsional stresses. This Intensifier acts local to a piping Component ( tees, elbows, bends, Olets
,etc) and Its value depends on component geometry. The minimum value of SIF is 1.0. It is widely
used by piping stress engineers in places where the actual stress calculation is quite difficult due
to its difficult geometry (Varying thickness, cross section, curvature etc) as unlike straight Pipes
the simple Beam theory is not applicable. So in this situation it is required to assume additional
stresses by suitably incorporating a SIF. The following article will provide an example of SIF
calculation of piping elbow or piping bends following process piping code ASME B31.3.
Stress Intensification Factor for a Piping Bend/Elbow:
 In layman’s language the SIF of a bend or elbow can be defined as the ratio of bending
stress of an elbow to that of straight pipe of same diameter and thickness when subjected
to same bending moment. Whenever the same bending moment is applied to a bend
because of ovalization the bending stress of the elbow will be much higher than that of
strainght pipe. That is why the SIF value will always be greater than or equal to 1.0 (for
straight pipe).
 The process piping code ASME B 31.3 provides a simple formula to calculate the SIF of
a bend or elbow. As per that code
SIF in-plane = 0.9 / h^(2/3)

SIF out-plane = 0.75 / h^(2/3)
Here h=T R1 / r2^2
h =Flexibility characteristics, dimensionless
T =Nominal wall thickness of bend, in
R1 =Bend radius, in
r2 =Mean radius of matching pipe, in
The inplane and outplane concept for a bend can be obtained from the attached figure from code
or in layman’s language the same can be explained as follows:
The in-plane bending moment is the bending moment which causes elbow to close or open in the
plane formed by two limbs of elbow.
In a similar way the out plane bending moment can be defined as the bending moment which
causes one limb of elbow to move out of the plane keeping other limb steady.
From the above mentioned equations the following can be interpreted:
For the same pipe size and same pipe thickness
1. A short radius elbow is having more SIF as compared to a long radius elbow.
2. With increase in bend radius the SIF decreases and finally reaches to 1.0 for straight
pipe.
3. The SIF for a 45 degree elbow and a 90 degree elbow is same as bend radius is same.
4. With increase in nominal pipe thickness or schedule the SIF of a bend (90 degree) keeps
on decreasing till its value is equal to 1.0.
Related Posts:
1. Importance & Impact of Stress Intensification Factor (SIF): A Presentation

2. Piping Elbows and Bends: A useful detailed literature for piping engineers
3. ASME B 31J & B 31J Essentials: Why these are useful in Piping Stress Analysis?
4. Consideration of Flanged Bend while modeling in Caesar II
5. Major Stress related differences in Between 2012 edition and 2010 edition of
ASME B 31.3
6. Methods for flange leakage checking by Pressure Equivalent Method using
Caesar II
7. Step by Step Methods for WRC 107 and WRC 297 Checking in Caesar II

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What is stress intensification factor (SIF) and how is it used?

How does SIF vary based on pipe geometry?

Importance & Impact of Stress Intensification Factor (SIF): A

Thermal expansion stress SE = (Sb2 + 4St2)1/2

 Analytical Methods defined by Piping Codes

 Build the model.

The Fem Softwares widely used for calculating Sif are

 one for the inplane moment about the wye,

Piping Elbow or Bend SIF (Stress Intensification

Stress Intensification Factor for a Piping Bend/Elbow:

SIF in-plane = 0.9 / h^(2/3)

h =Flexibility characteristics, dimensionless

T =Nominal wall thickness of bend, in

r2 =Mean radius of matching pipe, in

From the above mentioned equations the following can be interpreted:

For the same pipe size and same pipe thickness

1. Importance & Impact of Stress Intensification Factor (SIF): A Presentation

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