Hello Nald,

Classical pipe stress analysis programs use piping beam elements that are constrained to the limitations inherent with beam elements. For example, beam elements do not capture the effect of ovalization where the cross section of the pipe deforms away from the unloaded round geometry. To compensate for the limitations, correction factors are applied to the beam models to more closely match the flexibility and stresses of the pipe to reality. The correction factors, flexibilities and stress intensification factors (SIFs), are based on analytical and empirical relations correlated to piping component geometries. The accuracy of the correlations depends on the geometries of the piping components.

FE-SIF and FE107 from PAULIN RESEARCH GROUP, bring finite element analysis (FEA) to the piping designer's toolkit to provide accurate SIF and flexibility factor calculations for all geometries and load conditions. FE-SIF can be used to calculate correction factors for components outside the correlational limits of standardized design codes and for components with no guidance in the design codes. You can click on link below to find out more about this issue.

http://www.paulin.com/WEBfe107-1.aspx