DESIGN OF PIPE RACK 1

DESIGN OF PIPE RACK BY STAAD AND US CODES

AUTHOR: BARJINDER SINGH GHAI

STRUCTURAL ENGINEER
Pipe Rack Design in STAAD Pro (US Codes)
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INTRODUCTION
Pipe Racks are structures that may support small and large pipes, power cables and their trays. Sometimes some small
equipment, vessels or valves may also be installed on the pipe rack as per the process requirements. They may be
classified as non-building structures.
Author is penning this paper and making this course as structural designers’ needs to understand the code requirements
as most of the codal requirements are somewhat not specific. This course explains the US codes requirements and at
present design offices practice criteria being followed.

STRUCTURAL SYSTEM
The transverse frames are typically moment resisting frames that are designed to resist lateral loads such as wind and
earthquake that may act transverse to the pipe rack and may make it unstable. The frame columns act as cantilevers to
resist lateral loads longitudinal to the pipe rack.

Supporting conditions of the pipe racks may be fixed or pinned, depending on how much flexibility we have related to
deformation of the piping. If the piping can displace in lateral direction by small distance, supports can be pinned. To
provide rigidity and robust system, allowing for minimum displacement, we need to provide fixed end condition.
Usually, vertical bracings are provided, and for very large spans, sometimes, plan bracings may also be provided to
increase the integrity of the structure.

DESIGN CRITERIA

The governing loads and load combinations are prescribed in ASCE 7. AISC 360 governs the design of steel members.
For Steel seismic requirements, AISC 341 and AISC 358 can be referred. Being a non-building structures, there are
specific industrial guidelines, which may be followed for their design. These guidelines may be considered as a
supplement to the building design codes.

TYPES OF LOADS

Dead Loads (D)

They may be classified as the weight of the materials of construction including but not limited to the structural items
including the weight of the fixed service equipment’s, such as cranes, plumbing stacks, electrical feeders etc.

Structural Dead Load – This includes the weight of the materials forming the structure and all permanently attached
appurtenances. It may also include the fire protection material, which is usually applied over the structural steel members.
It may not include the weight of the piping, cable trays etc.

Operating Dead Load – It may include the weight of the piping, insulation, cable trays, process equipment, vessels and
their contents. Usually piping loads will be based on the client requirements and process engineering requirements.
Designer needs to get this data before he/she can proceeds further.

Test Dead Load – This may include the empty weight of pipes summing up with the weight of the test medium.

Designer needs to maintain the balance between approximations and reality loads. As the usage of large approximate
uniform loads may govern the design of members and connections but it may result in lower value for uplifting and
overturning moments, which may result in un conservative design.

WIND LOADS
Wind pressure on the pipe rack may be calculated while considering no shielding on the four horizontal directions or an
open structure. Sometimes, designers may omit the wind loads on horizontal bracings and interior members as the
structural steel members on their surroundings usually shield them. This approach can be considered as a reasonable
approach as the wind may not reach the interiors and the piping may shield these members further to add on their
protection against the wind loads.
The determination of wind loads has already been covered in the video lecture series. They are preferable applied as
the point loads.
Considering torsion due to wind, striking on the handrail may be considered conservative or undesirable, as the value
may be very less.
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SNOW LOADS
Engineering judgement is used to calculate the snow load on pipe racks. The area could be based on the solidity ratio
in the plan view. Example, the piping are very close or at less spacing, the snow load may be higher as compared to
the condition in which the pipes are very far thus decreasing the solidity ratio and only small amount of snow will
accumulate on the pipes.

LIVE LOADS
Live loads are the loads produced by the use of the occupancy of the structure. Live loads are usually applied to the
platforms and stairs and shall meet the minimum loading requirements of ASCE – 07 or other relevant industrial design
specifications.
Stairs shall be designed for a minimum 100 psf uniform load or 300 lb point load over an area pf 4 in2 whichever produces
the adverse effects.
Platforms shall be designed for minimum 60 psf uniform loads.

THERMAL LOADS
Thermal loads are defined as self-straining forces arising from the expansion and contraction. The loads may be raised
from the ambient temperature and temperature change due to operating temperature of the pipe.
Thermal loads may be defined as forces caused by changes in the temperature of piping. These forces may occur due
to outer temperature variation or as a result of hot fluid that may pass through the piping and may result in thermal
stresses.
Pipe supports must be designed to resist longitudinal loads arising from pipe thermal expansion and contraction. On the
average pipe way, the lines expand and contract varying amounts at random times. These loads are applied to the
supporting transverse beams either through friction or through pipe anchors. Thermal loads shall be considered as dead
load and included in the appropriate load combinations. For Pipe Rack design, both friction forces (FF) and anchor
forces (AF) shall be considered.

FRICTION FORCES
Friction forces are caused by hot lines sliding across a pipe support during start-up and shut-down and are assumed to
be partially resisted by adjacent cold lines. The resultant longitudinal friction force is recommended to be taken as the
larger of the following:
a. 10% of the total operating weight of all lines tributary to the support
b. 30% of the total operating weight of those lines tributary to the support, which will expand or contract
simultaneously.
Pipe friction loads are recommended not to be combined with wind or seismic loads for the design of pipe racks because
during high wind or earthquake, the vibration and deflection of the supports under load will likely relieve the friction
forces.

ANCHOR FORCES
Anchor and guide forces and locations shall be obtained from the piping stress analysis and piping isometric drawings.
Anchor and pipe forces shall be obtained from the checked pipe stress analysis. Anchor and guide loads (excluding
their friction component) are recommended to be combined with wind or seismic loads.

CONNECTIONS
In most of the countries, bolted end plate connections are desirable. Selecting bolted end plate connections reduces
the requirements of the field welding on which the quality may not be of the required level. AISC Steel Design Guide 4
may be referred for the design of the steel connections.

DRIFT AND DEFLECTION

The factor that determines the columns size is the allowable drift or the maximum amount of displacement, that the
piping can handle without affecting the process.
The recommended deflection requirements for Pipe Rack beams and transverse bents is as follows:
(a) The recommended maximum allowable beam deflection Dmax due to total load shall be as follows:
Dmax = L/240 (L = Span Length)
(b) The recommended maximum allowable drift limits for Pipe Rack shall not exceed
Hmax = H/150 (H = Pipe Rack height)
The maximum allowable seismic drift limits for Pipe Rack shall be in accordance with ASCE 7 – 16.
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COATINGS ON THE STRUCTURAL STEEL MATERIAL FOR ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION

There are three types of coatings that may be applied on the pipe rack structural steel members.

Hot Dip Galvanizing – This type is the most common type of coating being used in industry nowadays, reason being
the lowest life cycle cost. The only disadvantage of opting for this type is that once done, field welding is not allowed.
Paint – Paints are usually shop applied or field applied. The only disadvantage is the higher life cycle cost.
Hot Dip Galvanized and Painted – For Extreme exposure conditions, both of the method may be summed up and the
structural steel members may be protected from the corrosive environments, which may be harmful or the structure.
The reason, why some designers avoid the back to back angles and may opt for single bracing member is that back to
back angles or channels can’t be painted without disassembling, which may increase the cost of maintenance eventually.

COATINGS ON THE STRUCTURAL STEEL MATERIAL FOR FIRE PROTECTION

Industrial Structures need to be fire rated for minimum two to four hours. Typical passive weight includes normal weight
concrete, lightweight concrete, and spray on coatings or intumescent coatings. These coating may be applied on the
field or at the shop. The factor of selecting the type of coatings depend on the budget or local statutory requirements.
Most of the time, when pipe racks are installed near inflammable chemical production, they are fire protected by concrete
encasing. Specific standard that may be referred is National Fire Protection Association Guidelines.
Usually, the design factor that we need to take care are
1. Additional Dead Load must be taken care of and should be included in the mass calculation for seismic
calculations.
2. As the width of the member may increase by applying fire proofing, the increased size needs to be considered
while calculating the wind loads.
3. Connections must be taken care of while calculating the fire protection.

COLUMN BASES
Column Base Plates are either pinned or fixed depending on the deflection requirements. If the bracings are not provided,
then it is recommended to opt for fixed base. If the structure is thoroughly braced, base may be pinned.
In case of pinned base, only axial and horizontal forces exist on the base and may result in heavier structural steel
sections and smaller foundations. Reason being , moment has to be balanced up to the base only , and due to presence
of only forces and absence of moments at the foundation level, foundation sizes comes out to be less as compared to
the fixed foundation.
In case of fixed base, moment can come at the base level resulting in lighter structural steel members at superstructure
level, and foundation at the bottom level needs to be checked for the moments being developed, sometimes being
biaxial may result in the heavier foundations.
As per standard specifications, there shall be minimum four number of bolt with some minimum moment taking capacity
to account for accidental moments, which may come at the base level. In reality, it may occur that due to soil acting as
springs, the foundation may rotate a little, which may be stimulated as a pinned at the foundation level, and may rotate
a little, to account for the balancing of the wind and seismic loads.

SUBSTRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS (FOUNDATIONS)

Foundation type solely depends on the soil conditions. Geotechnical report needs to be referred for the foundation
design specifications. If the soil conditions are good, independent spread footings are recommended. If the soil is not
good, pile with pile caps and grade beam system is recommended.

CONCLUSION

Pipe Racks are the non – building structures that can be assumed somewhat similar to structural steel buildings and
additional loads and design consideration need to be considered. The main problem with building codes is that they do
not dictate all the design requirements as they are written for buildings. The aspects of design of pipe rack is somewhat
left out in the codes.
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To sort this situation, several industrial references exist to help the designer apply the indent of codes and follow a
certain path i.e. specific engineering practices. Similarly Engineering practices to design pipe racks vary from country
to country. Most of the times, it is influenced by client requirements.
As per my review, specific design guides are needed along with the awareness to design these type of non-building
structures.