Hi all,

I had a discussion with a senior today and I don't agree with him, so please give me your opinion.

situation: a vertical pump pumping cooling water from the harbour into the piping system. Directly on the outlet nozzle there is currently a XJ with tie-rods. Then we have some pipe and after that a 90 degr. bend in the horizontal plane.

My senior says we have to remove the tie-rods and we have to restrict the bend in the direction of the pump nozzle. Imo this will create an "extra" external force (pressure*ID area) on the pump which the pump housing has to transfer to the foundation. This load has to be added to the other external nozzle loads. My senior however says that force will work on the inner of the pump and not on the nozzle directly and should not be used to check the max allowable nozzle loads.

I think we better keep the tie-rods and give the pipe some freedom in the direction of the pump-nozzle so the complete force resulting from the pressure is balanced in the system (pump - XJ with tie rods - bend).

Your opinions please.