Designing Piping Systems Against Acoustically Induced Structural Fatigue

Abstract

Piping systems adapted for handling fluids such as steam and various process and hydrocarbon gases through a pressure-reducing device at high pressure and velocity conditions can produce severe acoustic vibration and metal fatigue in the system. It has been determined that such vibrations and fatigue are minimized by relating the acoustic power level (PWL) to being a function of the ratio of downstream pipe inside diameter D2 to its thickness t2. Additionally, such vibration and fatigue can be further minimized by relating the fluid pressure drop and downstream Mach number to a function of the ratio of downstream piping inside diameter to the pipe wall thickness, as expressed by M2 Δp = f(D2/t2). Pressure-reducing piping systems designed according to these criteria exhibit minimal vibrations and metal fatigue failures and have long operating life.