There have a 48" cooling water pipe from underground to piperack.For the poor backfilled soil condition of this jobsite,a big settlement will occur.In my concern,an expansion joint should be selected to absorb the sttlement.But the client think it's not necessary,their supported reason is the pipe will move down when buried into the soil,the later movement will be very small,can be ignored.
I am not convinced.The big settlement can destroy the beam of the piperack,because more weight of the pipe have to be withstanded by the first support in piperack.
Any concerns about this topic will be appreciated!