I am working on a multi building facility in a non-seismic zone. The client is suggesting to design the pipe rack which runs as a spine with buildings branching off each side, such that in the event of a building collapse there is isolation and the rack will not tear down additional buildings. I know there are u-bend type isolators with flexible joints available, but I have never designed to these conditions before. Does anyone have any experience, suggestions? My initial response is that it's unnecessary and flexibility could be designed into the piping that would sufficiently handle this or, designing to a catastrophic event is overkill... There are no code requirements that I have been able to find that would necesitate this type of criteria. Any advice would be appreciated.

You did say "non seismic zone", right? So "just in case a building happens to collapse?" Perhaps you should suggest designing the buildings so that they don't randomly collapse instead

(joke, it was a joke)
Shannon

I have never heard of anything like this..... Wow