Dear All,

On buried oil and gas pipelines, the anchor block is given. In one of my current projects (a pipeline for gas), I was asked by civil engineer if there was any anchor block in the pipeline. I simply said "NO", as in my opinion (a junior engineer's judgement), for 3" pipeline, it will not be required. Having said all this, now I want to know how we reach at the conclusion that the anchor block is required or not. My guess is that if the buried pipeline is applying too much forces on the plant piping, (sufficient to fail it), we provide anchor block so that all the forces are taken by it and the plant piping can be isolated from the pipeline's effects.

Please enlighten me on this. What are the factors for deciding anchor block (to provide or not to provide)?