Nozzle Pro – Unreinforced Tee

unreinforced branch meshed for FEA

The example will create a model in NozzlePro using minimal user input (3 clicks and 4 numerical entries) to obtain useful information.  This article will also highlight a somewhat controversial aspect of how the B31.3 code treats reducing tees (which is expected to change soon). One reason for the popularity of NozzlePro is that specified … Read more

Easy vacuum checks for piping

buckled pipe

A client recently asked us whether vacuum may be a problem for her piping system. She was aware that the piping codes pointed to the external pressure check in ASME VIII Division 1. I won’t make this out to be a simple topic and indeed there is still ongoing research in the area. But for … Read more

Improving LNG Plant Piping

This video presentation discusses challenges inherent to LNG piping, including large diameters, cryogenic temperatures, stainless steel materials, and large D/T ratios. It also covers various items which are not addressed by the B31 codes. Robert WeyerRobert has over 15 years’ experience in the mechanical engineering industry with proven expertise in mechanical and piping design. His … Read more

Piping fatigue and corrosion

ASME B31.3 contains the footnote ‘Corrosion can sharply decrease cyclic life; therefore, corrosion resistant materials should be considered where a large number of major stress cycles is anticipated’. But what happens if carbon steel with high corrosion allowance has been selected and changes are out of the question? Or you may be assessing an existing … Read more

Calculating pressure containment of welding tees

photo of B16.9 tee

There are at least three recognised methods for assessment of branch intersections. These are most often applied to fabricated connections on pressure vessels and piping rather than welding tees. Welding tees to ASME B16.9 are normally qualified by vendor burst tests, but that doesn’t help if you need to assess a corroded or eroded fitting, … Read more

B31.3 branch stress own-goal

image of stress at reducing branch from CAESAR II

Quick summary This article may pique your curiosity if you’re interested in the finer details of pipe stress analysis, but if you’d rather just get the overall takeaway – Sustained bending stresses in ASME B31.3 2016 calculations are underpredicted at some branches As long as the stress analyst remembers to split the branch pipe model … Read more

Pipe Support Selection for Bare Pipe

There are many ways to go about supporting pipe, from putting it straight on steel to sophisticated sliding shoe designs. Too often, this aspect of piping design is not given enough thought, resulting in problems later on in the life of a facility. Early on in detail design, the responsible party should prepare a flow-chart … Read more

Salad Postprocessor for CAESAR II

Salad Postprocessor

The Salad Post-processor takes data exported from CAESAR II to do additional calculations and summaries. The software is now updated to version 1.40, and is available at no cost here. Lets go through some of the things you can do with this software . Make a summary of your stress model On one page you … Read more

Niekie Jooste – Welder Destiny (Part 2)

In Part 2 of this interview, welding engineer and futurist Niekie Jooste addresses a wide range of future-facing topics including Education, Resource-based companies/countries, Blockchain, QA/QC, Google, Science fiction and career planning.

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