Design Conditions for Pipe Stress Analysis

Line expansion is normal line addressed into the process line design, with expansion joints or loops.

• There would be no point in taking minimum zero degrees centigrade if the pipe were never exposed to such temperatures, were it installed in Singapore ambient for example.
• Likewise with 40 degrees centigrade were it to be installed in Tromso ambient.

It is the ambient conditions overlaid with the process conditions that determines the temperature range that the pipe will experience, and these temperatures are the ones to be considered in the design. In the example stated, the maximum is 84degC and the minimum 0degC.

Simples.

Just my opinion:
- Design Temperature if a fictitious number and should only be used for pipe wall calculations.
- The Maximum/Minimum Operating Temperature is a real temperature and is the proper factor to use for Thermal expansion/contraction calculations for Piping systems.
If you use the Design Temperature then you are 'over designing' the system resulting in added cost.

its a small, small world.

If I were designing a system, I consider the maximum and minimum temperatures tha t the system COULD be e=possibly exposed to.