Theory and Development of Pipe Stress Requirements

Basic Stress Concepts

Normal Stresses: Normal stresses are those acting in a direction normal to the f
ace of the crystal structure of the material, and may either be tensile or compr
essive in nature. In fact in piping, normal stresses tend more to be in tension
due to the predominant nature of internal pressure as a load case. Normal stress
es may be applied in more than one direction, and may develop from a number of d
ifferent types of loads. For a piping system these are:
Longitudinal Stress: Longitudinal or axial stress is the normal stress acting al
ong the axis of the pipe. This may be caused by an internal force acting axially
in the pipe.
Where:
Longitudinal Stress
Internal axial force acting on cross section
Cross sectional area of pipe ( )
Outer diameter
Inner diameter
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CAESAR II Statics Training
Theory and Development of Pipe Stress Requirements
A specific instance of longitudinal stress is that due to internal pressure:
/
Design pressure
Internal area of pipe /
Replacing the terms for the internal and metal areas of the pipe, the previous e
quation may be written as
/ Or:
/
For convenience the longitudinal pressure stress is often conservatively approxi
mated as
Bending Stress: Another component of axial normal stress is bending stress. Bend
ing stress is zero at the neutral axis of the pipe and varies linearly across th
e cross-section from the maximum compressive outer fibre to the maximum tensile
outer fibre. Calculating the stress as linearly proportional to the distance fro
m the neutral axis:
/
Where:
Bending moment acting on cross section
Distance of point of interest from neutral axis of cross section
Moment of inertial of cross section
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CAESAR II Statics Training
Theory and Development of Pipe Stress Requirements
the maximum value c can be
The maximum bending stress occurs where c is highest
is equal to the radius of the pipe.
/ =
Where:
Outer radius of pipe.
Section modulus of pipe
Summing all components of longitudinal normal stress (for axial and bending):
Hoop Stress: Hoop stress is another of the normal stresses present in the pipe a
nd is caused by internal pressure. This stress acts in a direction parallel to t
he pipe circumference.
The magnitude of the hoop stress varies through the pipe wall and can be calcula
ted by Lame s equation as: ( )
Where:
Hoop stress due to pressure
Inner radius of pipe

Outer Radius of pipe

Radial position where stress is being considered
The hoop stress can be approximated conservatively for thin-wall cylinders by as
suming that the pressure force applied over an arbitrary length of pipe, l is re
sisted uniformly by the pipe wall over that same arbitrary length.
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CAESAR II Statics Training
Theory and Development of Pipe Stress Requirements
Or conservatively
Radial Stress: Radial Stress is the third normal stress present in the pipe wall
. It acts in the third orthogonal direction
parallel to the pipe radius. Radial
stress is caused by internal pressure and varies between a stress equal to the i
nternal pressure at the pipe s inner surface, and a stress equal the atmospheric p
ressure at the pipe s external surface. Assuming that there is no external pressur
e, radial stress is calculated as:
Where
Radial stress due to pressure
Note that radial stress is zero at the outer radius of the pipe, where the bendi
ng stresses are maximised. For this reason, this stress component has traditiona
lly been ignored during the stress calculations.
Shear Stresses: Shear Stresses are applied in a direction parallel to the face o
f the plane of the crystal structure of the material and tend to cause adjacent
planes of the crystal to slip against each other. Shear stresses may be caused b
y more than one type of applied load. For example, shear stress may be caused by
shear forces acting on the cross section.
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Theory and Development of Pipe Stress Requirements
Where:
Maximum shear stress
shear force
shear form factor. Dimensionless quantity (1.333 for solid circular section)
These shear stresses are distributed such that they are at the maximum at the ne
utral axis of the pipe and zero at the maximum distance from the neutral axis. S
ince this is the opposite of the case with bending stresses and since these Shea
r stresses are usually small, shear stresses due to forces are traditionally neg
lected during pipe stress analysis.
Shear Stresses may also be caused by torsional loads.
/
Where:
Internal torsional moment acting on cross-section
distance of point of interest from torsional centre (intersection of neutral axe
s) or cross section
torsional resistance of cross section
( )
Maximum torsional stress occurs where c is maximised. Again at the outer radius.
/
Summing the individual components of the shear stress, the maximum shear stress
acting on the pipe cross section is:
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CAESAR II Statics Training
Theory and Development of Pipe Stress Requirements
As noted above, a number of the stress components described above have been negl
ected for convenience during calculation of pipe stresses. Most piping codes req
uire stresses to be calculated using some form of the following equations:
Longitudinal Stress:
Shear Stress:

Hoop Stress:
Example
This example calculation illustrates for a 6 nominal diameter, standard schedule
pipe (assuming the piping loads are known):
Cross sectional properties
Outside diameter
Mean thickness
Inside diameter
154.076mm
Cross sectional Area ( )
( )
Moment of Inertia (
)
( )
Section Modulus /
/
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CAESAR II Statics Training
Theory and Development of Pipe Stress Requirements
Piping loads
Bending Moment
Axial Force
Internal Pressure
Torsional Moment
Stresses
Longitudinal Stress
Shear Stress
Hoop Stress
Bending Component of
Longitudinal stress
is the radius where the stress is being considered. This will be at a maximum va
lue at the outer surface where /
( )
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CAESAR II Statics Training
Theory and Development of Pipe Stress Requirements
Torsional Stress The maximum torsional stress occurs at the outer radius where a
gain
at the outer surface
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Theory and Development of Pipe Stress Requirements
3D State of Stress in the Pipe Wall
During operation, pipes are subject to all these types of stresses. Examining a
small cube of metal form the most highly stressed point of the pipe wall, the st
resses are distributed as so:
There are an infinite number of orientations in which this cube could have been
selected, each with a different combination of normal and shear stresses on the
faces. For example, there is one orientation of the orthogonal stress axes for w
hich one normal stress is maximised and another for which one normal stress is m
inimised
in both cases; all shear stress components are zero. In orientation in
which the shear stress is zero, the resulting normal components of the stress ar
e termed the principal stresses. For 3-dimensional analyses, there are three of
them and they are designated S1 (the maximum), S2 and S3 (the minimum). Note tha
t regardless of the orientation of the stress axes, the sum of the orthogonal st
ress components is always equal, i.e.:
The converse of these orientations is that in which the shear stress component i
s maximised (there is also an orientation in which the shear stress is minimised

, but this is ignored since the magnitudes of the minimum and maximum shear stre
sses are the same); this is appropriately called the orientation of maximum shea
r stress. The maximum shear stress in a three dimensional state of stress is equ
al to the difference between the largest and smallest of the principal stresses
(S1 and S3).
The values of the principal and maximum shear stress can be determined through t
he use of Mohr s circle. The Mohr s circle analysis can be simplified by neglecting
the radial stress component, therefore considering a less complex (i.e. 2D) stat
e of stress. A Mohr s circle can be developed by plotting the normal vs. shear str
esses for the two known orientations (i.e. longitudinal stress vs. shear and hoo
p stress vs. shear), and constructing a circle through the two points. The infin
ite combinations of normal and shear stresses around the circle represent the co
mbinations present in the infinite number of possible orientations of the local
stress axes.
A differential element at the outer radius of the pipe (where bending and torsio
nal stresses are maximised and the radial normal and force-induced shear stresse
s are usually zero) is subject to 2D plane stress and thus the principal stress
terms can be computed from the following Mohr s circle:
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CAESAR II Statics Training
Theory and Development of Pipe Stress Requirements
The centre of the circle is at and the radius is equal to(* + ) . Therefore the
principal stresses S1 and S2 are equal to the centre of the circle, plus or minu
s the radius respectively. The principal stresses are calculated as: *( ) +
and *( ) +
As noted above, the maximum shear stress present in any orientation is equal to
or :
Continuing our example:
Mohr s Circle of Stress
Centre of circle
Radius of Circle v( )
v( )
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Theory and Development of Pipe Stress Requirements
Maximum Principal Stress S1 v( )