Transactions, SMiRT 16, Washington DC, August 2001

Paper # 1619

T H E R M A L L Y - I N D U C E D PRESSURIZATION OF WATER-SOLID PIPE SEGMENTS

Charles G. Hammer U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC ABSTRACT Pipe segments filled with subcooled water and sealed off at the ends (for example by closing valves) are sometimes subsequently heated by connected structures or by the surrounding environment. When the temperature of the piping and water increase, both the piping and the water expand. However, the water volume tends to expand more than the accommodating pipe volume, causing the water to pressurize and the pipe to deform. The resulting water pressure and pipe stress depend on several considerations including the temperature change, the pipe thickness, and the pipe material properties. This paper provides a method for determining thermally-induced pressurization in relatively simple piping configurations using thermodynamic and structural principles. Both the thick pipe wall and thin pipe wall stress formulations for elastic pipe deformation are presented, and the effects of various sources of error in making the pressurization estimates are discussed.
INTRODUCTION

Pressure vessels and piping systems are routinely designed for peak pressures occurring as a result of the heating or pumping of the system fluid, and there are several analysis techniques for determining the pressurization which may be possible under various normal and transient design conditions. A common technique involves determining the fluid pressure independent of the deformation of the containing structure (i.e., the vessel or pipe). This provides a conservative estimate of the resulting pressure and is used in many configurations where the system fluid is sufficiently compressible (or communicates with a compressible fluid) such that considering the flexibility of the fluid container adds little to the solution accuracy. However, in the special case of an isolated water-solid pipe segment, the coupling of the fluid pressurization with the pipe deformation may be important. The case considered herein is that of water trapped in steel pipe; however, the basic governing principles presented are applicable to other configurations and other fluids.
DERIVATION OF P R E S S U R I Z A T I O N

There are several key aspects to determining the pressurization due to heating of isolated fluid, and it is helpful to make some simplifying assumptions. First, it will be assumed that the heating is uniform such that the fluid and its container are always at the same temperature. While heat transfer occurs over time, and it is likely that the pipe will heat up faster than the water, it is conservative to assume that the entire water volume is heated as the pipe heats, since this will result in greater pressure. Second, it is assumed that there is no water leakage and there is no compressibility due to air bubble formation. Again, this provides a more conservative estimate of pressure. The basic formulation for determining thermally-induced pressurization involves equating the changes in volume of the water and pipe. The technique of superposition is used where the water (or the pipe) is heated isobarically then pressurized (or stressed) isothermally. That is, the water expands and compresses by the same volume as the pipe expands and stretches,
or:

avow-

avow-

+a

(1)

The subscript FW denotes the free thermal expansion of water, CW denotes compression of water, FP denotes free thermal expansion of the pipe, and SP denotes stress expansion of the pipe. To obtain the change in volume of the water due to free thermal expansion, use the volumetric coefficient of thermal expansion of water, which is:

10V
V OTp

(2)

which varies significantly with temperature and can be approximated with a fitted polynomial as a function of temperature:

~3(T) - b 0 + b i T + b2 T2

+
o . .

(3)

The b coefficients are determined by the least squares method. This expression is easily integrated over temperature. Rearranging and integrating over temperature at constant pressure and using the average [3 times AT as a shorthand notation to represent the integral operation"

f dV = ff3(r)dTV

(4)

In V _ [3AT

(5)

v0

A VFw - Vo ( e ~AT - 1)

(6)

where the original unheated water volume is:

Vo

_ ~ d2L 0 ~ 0

(7)

Then, the volumetric compressibility of the water is:

_=

10V
V OP T

(8)

Similarly, integrating over pressure results in the change in volume for isothermal compression of the water:

fv

dV

= fC(P)dP

- CAP

(9)

AVcw _ Vo(e &xP _ 1)

(10)

C varies significantly with temperature, but varies very little with pressure, so the average C may be assumed to be just C at the final temperature. Also, the compression term may be conservatively estimated when a simpler linear approximation of the volume change is used:

AVcw-

VoCTAP

(11)

(It should be noted that unlike the above thermal expansion term, the use of a linear compression term results in a conservative calculation of pressure.) CT is also approximated with a fitted polynomial as a function of temperature. Now for the pipe, using the linear coefficient of thermal expansion of the pipe material: 10d 10L

d aT,,

L aT,,

(12)

This can also be approximated with a fitted polynomial as a function of temperature. Again, integrating at constant stress (or pressure):

dL f d(d) =fL =f ( ar- Ar a

which results in the following:

(13)

dFp
--

LFp
-~ e

rxAT
(14)

do

L0

- ZC[do(er~Ar)2Lo(er~Ar - d2Lo ] - Vo(e3~AT-1) )

4

(15)

Next, determine the change in volume of the pipe due to pressure. From reference [ 1], using the thick wall formulation for stress and strain, the changes in diameter and length are:

A P d 0 [ ( - ~ +t0)2(1 + v ) +

(-~)2(1-2v)] (16)

Adsp =
E r [ ( - ~ +t0 )2 - (_~)2]

APL o (-~-) (1 - 2v)

ALsp ET[(_~ + to)2_ (_~)2] (17)

do 2

Then, since the changes in diameter and length are small relative to the initial dimensions, the approximate change in volume due to stress can be expressed as"

AVsp ~ A~sPrtdoLo + ~ o sir' 7r'd2AL

(18)

which results in:

2VoAP E~ d +1)
to

[(

)2(

--7) + --(l+v) +l+v] to

(19)

Substituting equations (6), (11), (15), and (19) into equation (1) and solving for the pressurization, we obtain:

AP= (~)2( 5 -

e 13AT _ e 3~tAT V) +

2(d t 0 1)(1 + v) + + Cr

(20)

ET( d + 1)

ta

Equation (20) may be normalized with respect to the modulus of elasticity at the reference temperature, Eo, and plotted for various d0/to ratios (see Figure 1) as a function of normalized temperature, (T-T0)/T0, where To is the absolute reference temperature in o K (or oR.) The reference temperature for Figure 1 is 277.8 K (or 500 R) and E0 = 196,039 MPa (or 28,433,000 psi). As can be seen, extremely high pressures result from temperature changes which typically occur in many piping systems. It is interesting to note that the Figure 1 curves are computed for austenitic stainless steel properties, and curves for carbon steel are very similar since they are normalized to E0. (Plots for both materials almost overlay one another in the range shown.) It should be noted that equation (20) is valid only for elastic pipe material deformation and only when the strain is uniform throughout the pipe length. To determine if the material stress is within the yield stress, first calculate the maximum hoop stress using the thick wall formula in reference [1 ] for the total gage pressure (i.e., the sum of the thermally-induced pressure and the initial system pressure) as shown below in equation (21).

do/to = 5

25

0.0005 0.00045 0.0004 0.00035

AP/E o do/to = 60
................... i.................................................. i ............................ i~ i /

..........................................................

do/to= 100

0.0003 0.00025 0.0002 0.00015 0.0001 ............... ..... i i ........... i..;../". 5e-05
. . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . .

:i............................

...............................

:~.

i...........

..........

ii~,.../

/
f"

..........

i..............

i ...............

i..............

t .......................

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25
(T-T~)/To

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

Figure I

Normalized Pressure vs. Normalized Temperature

do/to = 100

,60

25

0.005 0.0045 0.004

i
........ ii- "

i
ii

i
" !i

~'
"i

i
....... i. . . . .

i
i ...... //'"

.Z
ii............ i "

i
i ........

i
i.........

~h max/Eo

0.0035 ............. ii ....... 0.003 0.0025 0.002 0.0015 0.001 0.0005 0 0.05
............~

!.

ii

............ . . . ....... . ............... , ........... ......... : . . , , . .

~;
/l

} ;.~U ....... ......~ ~ i ,.."i ! i

...... ~ ................. i i !

ii ...... "

-i-i!

i I /"~ '" "

;," ".... 'i i................ "~ i.. i....... ~ i '~ ~i .,f' ?. ii..... i ...

i ........ '......

do/to = 5

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25
(T-To)/T o

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

0.5

Figure 2 - N o r m a l i z e d H o o p S t r e s s vs. N o r m a l i z e d Temperature

p ( do2 do ~ + ~ + 1 ) 2t 2 to
~hma x -do

(21)

+1

to
This stress occurs at the inside radius of the pipe wall. Then, using the Von Mises distortion energy theory for a closed-end pipe, the effective stress in the material may be estimated by:

Yeff "~

vq
2
~ hmax

(22)

This assumes that the effective material stress is a direct result of the pressure load alone, which may not be true, and stresses from other loads should also be considered in determining the effective stress. The effective material stress may also be limited by a more restrictive allowable stress according to the piping design code. A plot of the normalized thick wall hoop stress (due to thermally-induced pressurization alone) as a function of normalized temperature for various d0/t0 ratios is shown on Figure 2. Again, Figure 2 is for stainless steel, but a plot of the hoop stress for carbon steel is similar in this region. It is also interesting to note that if a thin wall stress formulation were used to determine the pressurization, a more simple equation results:

e [3AT _

e 3r~AT

AP-

d (-5 - v) +c
toE r 4 r

(23)

Equation (23) is fairly accurate for thin wall piping. To evaluate how accurate it is, the results of this equation have been compared to Equation (20). The pressurization for the thin wall formulation exceeds the thick wall formulation by less than 2% for d0/t0 > 5. However, if the thin wall formula for stress is used,

Pd o
15h -

2t

(24)

instead of using Equation (21), the error is much greater for stress. The average hoop stress calculated by the thin wall formula is approximately 18% less than the maximum thick wall hoop stress for do/t0 = 5.
F U R T H E R REFINEMENTS TO PRESSURIZATION M E T H O D O L O G Y

The method outlined above is one method for obtaining quick estimates of thermally-induced pressurization of relatively simple water-solid piping segments. This method provides an estimate only for uniform thickness piping configurations which are uniformly heated, and actual plant piping may not be a simple segment of this type. However, the constitutive equations presented above can be revisited in order to develop a solution method for variations of the simple uniform thickness pipe configuration having a uniform temperature change. Where the thickness is not uniform, such as where a thinner pipe is connected to a thicker pipe, the thinner pipe deforms more than the thicker pipe. An estimate of the pressurization may be obtained by coupling the thinner and thicker sections

with the fluid shared by both sections. It can be seen that the change in volume due to stress (AVsp) becomes a summation of terms, one for each pipe segment. For a common inside diameter, this results in the following equation.

AP= (d)2( 5 Lo[

=1

eI3AT _ e3~AT

-v)

2( d tj

1)(1

v)] + Cr

(25)

LoAEr( d + 1)

Note that in this formulation, the lengths of the pipe segments relative to the overall length are important. The effect of heat transfer may also be modeled in cases where the external heating is very transient or where part of the pipe is heated while part is cooled. For example, the limiting heat transfer condition may be for a transient which has a rapid temperature spike followed by a much longer period of slower heating. For heat transfer analyses, care must be taken in modeling heat transfer coefficients and natural circulation phenomena to assure that the calculation is conservative. Uncertainties in the parameters should also be evaluated. For large temperature changes, the pressurization becomes so great that the elastic limit of the pipe material may be exceeded, especially when other applied loads are considered. To estimate the nonlinear plastic response of the piping material, the assumption of linear elastic behavior is modified to replace the linear stress-strain relationship with a curve. Also, where the linear method outlined above assumes the wall thickness does not change with load, a nonlinear method should consider the change in the thickness of the pipe as it undergoes large displacement. A closed form solution similar to the above derivation may be developed, but is difficult to apply since the combination of the thermal pressurization with other loads by linear superposition is not possible. For this type of analysis, a nonlinear finite element structural calculation using a properly verified computer code may be the best and most practical solution. S U M M A R Y AND C O N C L U S I O N Thermally-induced pressurization of isolated water-solid pipe segments may be evaluated by a closed-form expression for simple piping configurations. An evaluation of the changes in volume of the water and the pipe has resulted in the solution of pressure as a function of temperature for linear elastic material deformation. The pipe stress due to thermally-induced pressure should be combined with stresses from other loads, and care must be taken to assure that the pipe material stress does not exceed the yield stress or a more limiting allowable stress for the solution to remain valid. NOMENCLATURE Variables: b = polynomial coefficients in 13temperature function C = compressibility of water, 1/MPa [1/psi] d = pipe inside diameter, m [in] E = modulus of elasticity of pipe, MPa [psi] L = pipe length, m [in] N = number of pipe segments P = pressure, MPa [psi] t = pipe wall thickness, m [in] T = temperature, K [R] V = volume, m 3 [in 3] a = linear coefficient of thermal expansion of pipe, 1/K [1/R] 13= volumetric coefficient of thermal expansion of water, 1/K [1/R] v = Poisson's ratio (0.3 for steel) = stress, MPa [psi]

Subscripts:
0 = initial temperature condition eft = effective stress C W = isothermal compression of water F W = free thermal expansion of water FP = free thermal expansion of pipe h = hoop component of stress j = pipe segment number OA = overall (all segments together) SP = stress expansion of pipe T = final temperature condition

REFERENCE
Young, Warren C., Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1989.