Hello to everyone,

We are currently analyzing a large diameter pipe which is mainly supported with Spring Hangers due to large thermal movements resulting from the pipe's high operating temperature.

My question is whether we should model Rigid Elements at each supporting location to take into account the radial growth of the pipe, so as to define the actual hanger travel.

For example, assuming a 52" Stainless Steel pipe with 500 degrees Celsius Design Temperature, the radial growth of the pipe would be around 6mm.

Assuming that the node in CAESAR calculation which corresponds to a spring hanger moves 10mm down, it means that the actual hanger travel (attached on the top of the pipe) would be around 4mm down because of the pipe's radial growth.

Is my understanding correct?
Is this a standard approach when modeling such lines?

Any help/suggestion will be highly appreciated!

Alex