Nozzle Load and Piping
Nozzle Load and Piping
Amin Almasi
Abstract
The piping designers always want higher allowable machinery nozzle loads to simplify piping designs, while the rotating
machine manufacturers want smaller allowable nozzle loads to assure good alignment, higher reliability and fewer
operation complaints. From the power plant operators point of view, where long-term reliability is a very important
factor, the vote should go to the manufacturer. Optimum power piping design, support arrangement and layout configuration for rotating machines of a power plant (turbines, pumps, others) are addressed. Modern practical notes, new
guidelines, recent lessons learned and latest achievements on power piping, power machinery nozzle load optimization,
stress analysis and piping flexibility review are discussed.
Keywords
Power plant, rotating machine, piping
Date received: 16 November 2011; accepted: 5 September 2012
Introduction
The lower the piping loads on the nozzle of power
plant machinery (steam turbines, pumps, gas turbines,
others), the easier machinery alignment could be done
and maintained.14 Use of some common general
plant piping practices could lead to real problems in
power plant machinery piping systems. The support
type selection based on thermal displacement, too
exible support system, dead weight balance at operating condition approach and anchors for an expansion joint near a machinery should be prevented. The
dead weight of the rotating machine piping system
should be entirely absorbed by suitable supports at
ambient condition. Only loads induced by temperature and pressure (or similar) at operating condition
may be compensated by support pre-stressing (or
springing). The misalignment of piping ange and
machinery nozzle ange should be carefully controlled
to limit additional nozzle loads.2,5
Almasi
For the power plant fuel gas compression service,
centrifugal compressors, screw compressors or sometimes reciprocating compressors are used.6 For centrifugal compressors, API 61711 species load limits
around 1.85 times NEMA SM23. For screw compressors, nozzle loads are recommended at API 619.12
Reciprocating compressor nozzle loads are left for
vendor/purchaser to agree.6 Generally, screw and reciprocating compressors are oered as packages and
allowable nozzle loads at the vendor interfaces need
to be agreed.
For rotating machinery designed for low pressures
(such as axial compressors, low-pressure overhung
compressors, machinery designed with open impellers,
integrally geared machines, etc.) which rely upon close
radial and axial clearances of the rotating components
(impeller, rotor, etc.) to the casing, special care should
be taken for allowable forces and moments on nozzles.6,1012 For these rotating machines, usually lower
nozzle loads compared to standard values should be
considered.6,11 Suitable loads must be agreed with
vendor before the order of machine.
An Optimum exibility should be designed into the
piping to prevent distortion of the rotating machine
alignment or component damage (also to keep pipingmachinery system vibration within certain limits).1316
For rotating machines, two eects of nozzle loads
should carefully be considered.1719
1. Distortion of the equipment casing.
2. Misalignment of various machine shafts in a
machinery train.
To minimize the misalignment of the various machinery shafts (in a train) due to piping load eects, the
train casings and train base-plate(s) should be constructed with sucient structural stiness to limit displacements of casings and shafts at various locations
including at the drive-end of the shaft, at the register
t of the coupling hub, and others. Various thermal
growth, piping fabrication errors, and dierent alignment errors all contribute to the actual deection
values and nal nozzle load achieved in the eld.2,4,5
Rotating machine should operate without leakage,
without internal contact between rotating and stationary components and without losing alignment while
simultaneously subject to the maximum operating
conditions (temperature, pressure, speed, power,
etc.) and the worst case combination of allowable
nozzle loads from piping.2
Excessive pipe loads on a rotating machine could
cause both internal and external alignment problems.
Some of the rotating machine designs such as steam
turbines are more vulnerable to the internal misalignment from external forces.4,7 If the internal components become misaligned, accelerated wear, rubbing
and early failure could occur. The eects of external
misalignment may not be as obvious as those from
internal problems but will in time reduce the length
237
of machinery operation. The vibration levels increase
as the couplings become misaligned and the high
vibration trip system may cause an unscheduled
outage. An extended operation at high levels of misalignment may cause a coupling failure, possibly bearing damages or even a catastrophic failure.
238
be a piping-support system with unnecessary exible
supports (including spring supports), which is too
expensive, totally unreliable, inherently unstable,
and very vulnerable against various dynamic and
vibrational excitations.1316
There are some power plant piping systems designed
with several spring supports for various piping spools
near equipment nozzles due to high thermal movements and very low equipment nozzle load limits. It
was mainly because free thermal displacements were
used as criteria for the support selection. For example,
some engineers perform free thermal movement analysis and use exible supports (spring supports, snubber or similar) for all support points with a
displacement above 75 mm. Aside from very high
cost, at rst glance this design may have no problem.
The computer stress analysis would show perfect
results. However, it is unstable and vulnerable against
various dynamic issues and operational problems. This
design will present problems on site when the support
travel stops are removed because actual piping system
weight is dierent (usually heavier) that the theoretical
assumption which could result in a failure of system.
Whether actual weight is heavier or lighter (compared
to the theoretical value) the eld adjustment is not
eective (or possible) for several exible supports.
This exible support system design is unable to
absorb the uncertainty due to manufacturing tolerances, calculation simplicity, and various errors. It
always vibrates and for sure sooner and later fails.
Flexible supports should only be used where required.
Always proper rigid supports should be provided to
absorb load uncertainties (fabrication tolerances, analysis inaccuracies, etc.) and control various instabilities.
Even sometimes it may be necessary to provide rigid
supports in locations with relatively high values of free
thermal displacement and compensate movements in
other locations.
In a rotating machine that works at very high operating temperatures (such as a steam turbine), sometimes the spring support(s) is set in such a way that
spring force and piping system dead weight will balance out each other under the operating conditions.
Engineers who use this method argue it is important
to minimize operating stresses (stresses at operating
temperature and pressure). One reason could also be
insucient exibility of piping system which leads a
designer to use this method to decrease nozzle loads
at operating conditions. In addition, a low stress at a
high operating temperature is very important to control the creep. The dead weight balance at operating condition could be a practice for the general plant
piping,7,9 but it should not be used for the rotating
machine piping design. By adopting the dead weight
balance at operating condition approach, the spring
supports have to be locked in place during installation.
It makes the piping-support installation, piping spool
t-up, piping adjustment and assembly inspection very
dicult. Practically, using this method, it is almost
Practical notes
Steps for machinery piping installations are noted as
following.2,4,5,7
1. Align machinery without piping attached.
2. Adjust piping spools for proper t-up, connection
and eld weld.
3. Observe alignment of machinery with piping being
attached. If excessive movement is observed, the
piping system should be modied/adjusted until
the misalignment is brought within the limits
permitted.
A good recommendation when installing piping is to
regularly check the alignment of the coupling(s)
Almasi
within the rotating machine train. In case the machine
alignment is disturbed, corrections should be made to
the piping-support system.
It is a good recommendation that no hanger travel
indicator moves out of 1/3 of total travel range at
ambient conditions. If travel is excessive, support
modication or adjustment would be required.
239
causing severe operational problems. An expansion
joint without anchors can properly manage thermal
movements of a machine-piping system.
The symmetry and the balance are normally considered two major principles in a good piping
design.13 However, there are occasions when symmetry may also mean handicap. The three hinge
system may be used in solving a rotating machine
plane-expansion piping problem (particularly for a
large diameter piping). The only problem with this
symmetric layout is that the three hinges could be
lined up in a perfect straight line. For the middle
hinge to be active it has to move when the system is
subjected to a temperature change. Sometimes it is
almost impossible due to the perfect symmetry. In
other words, the middle hinge may be simply stuck
without any movement. In reality, certain unsymmetrical eect will be built-in in the system to allow the
middle hinge to move.
In a symmetric straight line piping system with
three hinges (one hinge at each end and one hinge at
the middle), the movement of middle hinge would be
problematic. Even when the hinge is located o the
symmetric line, the issue could still exist. In this
design, as result of any temperature change, the magnitude of middle hinge movement will be unexpectedly
high. Sometimes, the movement is too much to be
accommodated by conventional supports. The
piping system can be greatly improved by an unsymmetrical design (for example, an L shaped piping
route). In a case study, as result of a. L shaped
design, the movement is reduced to less than 7% compared to a symmetric piping (well within a normal
support system capability).
240
5. Removal of temporary support and exible support stops will cause high transient loads which
could cause serious alignment problems and sometimes machine damages.
The dead weight balance at ambient condition
approach is recommended as the best practice for a
rotating machine piping support.
Funding
This research received no specic grant from any funding
agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-prot sectors.
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