SEISMIC ANALYSIS AND COMPONENT DESIGN OF REFINERY PIPING SYSTEMS

In petroleum industries, especially in refineries installations, hundreds of miles of pipes are installed to transfer row and refined material (fluid and gas) from a point to another of the plant, connecting all the components involved in the transformation process (tanks, distillations columns, furnaces, etc..).Recent seismic events showed a quite high vulnerability of these structures, where damage ranges from the simple failure of joints to the failure of supporting structures. For these reasons, initially the seismic analysis and component design of refinery piping systems is here analysed. A review of the current approaches imposed by European (EN13480:3) and American (ASME B31.3) standards is illustrated by using a proper case study of a piping system on a pipe-rack. The analysis permitted to identify the limits of the design standards and to identify the critical aspects of the problem, i.e., dynamic interaction between pipes and rack, correct definition of the response factor, strain versus stress approach. Finally, the preliminary phases of an experimental investigation on flanged joints are also illustrated. Fabrizio Paolacci, Md. Shahin Reza and Oreste S. Bursi 2