Thanks Caesar III for sharing. Actually, I haven't seen in detail the connection to cooling tower. I haven't performed one also a Cooling tower piping stress analysis. But maybe in FEED stage, it is better to include in the quotation that Vendor must perform detailed stress analysis during Detail Engineering (maybe they can give it to a consultant if they don't have in-house engineer to perform such analysis) and include it as part of their deliverable. Instead of simply saying zero load which is hard to document in the stress package. If this is really a weak connection, then maybe it is warranted to prove how weak is weak. Anyway, it all boils down into cost. As what Michael pointed out, if this is the case then the stress analysis will just be for information only.

Any other opinion is highly appreciated. I want to know also how other stress engineers who have real experience in this cooling tower have overcome such requirement.

Cheers!!!