I am looking out for calculation of pipe support span for thin wall piping?
My question is :
1)do the local indentation of pipe affects the span calculation?
2)what are the consideration to avoid reinforcement pad at support?
3)Is welded support shoe recommended for thin wall piping or shall we use clamped shoes?
4)Any recommendation for ready to use software or excel sheet available for this calculations?


Raj

1. Yes, avoidance of indentation is an obvious limit on pipe span loads.

2. If you want to avoid re-pads, restrict the imposed load by limiting the span.

3. Clamped shoes may have better load distribution into a thin pipe wall, welded shoes are usually necessary if there is an imposed load such as at a line-stop.

4. Buy decent software that is properly validated, or write it yourself and have a professional engineer check it. Don't rely on anonymous and probably incorrect Excel or similar calcs.

Also,

2) Can increase pipe wall thickness; costs money, but so does reducing span

5) If it is a vapour line, can discuss with project about providing temporary supports during hydrotest and designing long-term just for the vapour case. Not the most robust solution.

Can any one share the formula/book reference for span calculation limited by Pipe Indentation?

Regards,
raj

Have a look at Roark.

In my 7th Edition local indentation of a cylinder is covered in Table 13.3 section 8b.This is a common basis for a span limitation due to local loads.