Can we use WRC-297 nozzle flexibility to provide unreinf fabricated tee branch flexibility when NozzlePRO/FE/Pipe is not available ? Is it a reasonably safe approach ? Obviousely, within the limitations of WRC-297 like d/D < 0.5, this can only be tried.

In 2002 Ed of ASME B 31.3 Appendix D, flexibility factor is 1 for all the types of branch types to make the design conservative. By introducing realistic flexibility, many cases the requirement of reinforcement pads at fabricated branch can be avoided.

regards,

sam

Sam,

I would recommend not to use WRC 297 for that purpose.Reason : the boundary condition for development of the WRC 297 document is not typically what we encounter in a tee junction.

I would recommend class I branch flexibility factor in absence of any other data.

Regards

It is standard practice in our office to ignore the benefits of flexiblity for stress analysis.