Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pipe Expansion 101: (The Condensed Version)
Pipe Expansion 101: (The Condensed Version)
Z-Bend
U-Bend
WHY?
Anchor
The two have completely different applications, act upon the pipe
differently, and must be installed in a different way.
Unrestrained Type Typically used to accommodate axial movement in
piping systems. Simple bellows joints and packed slip type expansion
joints fall into this category.
Restrained Type Used to take up offset and angular displacements.
Tied bellows, hinge joints, gimbal joints and packed flexible ball joints
are examples.
Universal Bellows
Single Bellows
convolutions.
With slip type expansion joints it is the cross sectional area of the pipe.
PRIMARY
GUIDE
ANCHOR
INTERMEDIATE
GUIDE
ANCHOR
EXPANSION JOINT
First Guide
Second Guide
Balance
Bellows
4 Pipe Diameters
14 Pipe
Diameters
Industry
Standard
Slip Joint
Industry
Standard
Industry
Standard
Tied Bellows
Universal
Tied Bellows
Hinged Joint
Gimbal Joint
Double
Hinged Joint
Double
Gimbal Joint
Movement Type
Axial
Lateral
Bending
Rotational
Pressure
Thrust
Single
Bellows
Yes
small
small
No
Yes
Packed Slip
Joint
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Universal
Tied Bellows
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Hinged
No
No
Yes
(1 Plane)
No
No
Gimbal
No
No
Yes
(2 Planes)
No
No
Packed Ball
Joint
No
No
Yes
(Any Plane)
Yes
No
replaced if damaged.
When failure occurs the system must be shut down.
Chance of personal and/or property damage when failure occurs.
Installer can easily misuse joints when correcting for pipe
misalignment.
Packed Joints
In-Plane Squirm
Column Squirm
Fatigue
Creep Fatigue
NONE
(If properly installed & maintained)
When selecting what type of expansion joint to use, the designer must
first review the system design parameters:
Piping layout, including the locations of any equipment connections.
Service (Steam, Condensate, etc.); including pressure & temperature.
The availability of supporting structures for anchors, supports and
guides.
The magnitude and direction of thermal displacements that will occur
Just as there are different types of expansion joints; there are different
Standards and Codes which govern their design.
Bellows Joints: Expansion Joint Manufacturers Association (EJMA)
Slip Type Expansion Joints: ASTM F 1007 (2007)
One of the most important parts of a piping system; and often the most
overlooked; are the anchors.
Properly designed, located and installed anchors are critical to the safe
uninterrupted operation of a piping system.
1,800 buildings within a 1 mile radius were essentially destroyed and buildings as far as 8 miles away
experienced structural damage.
The blast was heard and felt as far as 25 miles away.
Piping drawings and details were requested as well as any information that
could be provided relative to each of the failures.
An ASME Code stress analysis was performed on the system based on the
information receive.
dont automatically assume that it is the fault of the joint. Many times,
the failure is due to deficiencies in the piping system itself.
If you need help with an expansion problem.
Ask an Expert
Questions?
Edward W. Patnode, P.E.
President/CEO