Dear Mr. Baldwin,

we have been working on a project two years ago where the following guidlines for the SIF's of lateral branch connection have been used:

1. In-Plane SIF

For every degree deviating from 90° the SIF(i) had to be increased by 0,5%.

2. Out-Plan SIF

Branch connections d/D <= 0,7 with re-pad had to be treated as unreinforced tees.

For those branch conections without re-pads, with a d/D ratio > 0,7 or operating
at the creep temperatures special analysis or FEA had to be performed.

Hope this helps a bit,

Veit Bockemühl
esn GmbH
Hamburg, Germany

P.S.: Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year for all readers. vb@esn-gmbh.com