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Pharmaceutical pipe dead-legs: what's that all

about?

Purifie d wate r (drink ing wate r tre ate d using m illion pound purification
industry during the m anufacture of table ts and m e dicine s. This wate r
points-of-use using high quality proce ss pipe work . The installation of
de ad-le g zone . This de ad-le g can contam inate the e ntire distribution
product and down tim e for cle aning.
plants) is fre que ntly use d in the pharm ace utical
is distribute d throughout the m anufacturing facility to
a pipe te e in this pipe work ofte n cre ate s a stagnant
ne twork re sulting in lost production, contam inate d

C onside rable basic re se arch is re quire d to addre ss the lack of unde rstanding of this proble m and to assist during de sign,
m anufacture , installation and ope ration of the se critical syste m s. R e se arch work within the School of Me chanical and
Manufacturing Engine e ring at Dublin C ity Unive rsity involve s the application of C FD software (C om putational Fluid Dynam ics)
to the study of pipe de ad-le gs. The outcom e of this re se arch will be ne fit de signe rs of ne x t ge ne ration ste rile and hygie nic
piping syste m s.

The form al de finition of a pipe de ad-le g as give n by the Food and Drug Adm inistration (the FDA) is:
Pipe line s for the transm ission of purifie d wate r for m anufacturing or final rinse should not have an unuse d portion gre ate r in
le ngth than 6 diam e te rs (the 6D rule ) of the unuse d portion of pipe m e asure d from the ax is of the pipe in use .

Le ft: Ve locity contours R ight: C om putational grid.

The FDA sugge st the above 6D rule will he lp pre ve nt contam ination: howe ve r industrial e x pe rts are de signing syste m s with
de ad le gs lim ite d to 3D or le ss. Som e syste m s and fittings claim to have ze ro de ad le gs. The re sult of this confusion is an
e scalation in de sign and m anufacture cost within an alre ady highly e x pe nsive industry. C urre nt re se arch include s the
de ve lopm e nt of a C FD m ode l of a pipe te e and the application of turbule nt m ode ls to analyse flow profile s within the te e
branch (se e illustration). R e ce nt re sults indicate that the 6D rule is inde e d insufficie nt to pre ve nt stagnation and that are as
e x ist within the branch of the te e which are undisturbe d by the turbule nt flow in the m ain loop pipe . Future work will involve
the inve stigation of turbule nce inte nsity and wall she ar stre ss in the ne ar wall re gion, and close inve stigation of the viscous
sub-laye r.
C ontact: Mr Brian C orcoran;
Te l: 01-700-8047; E-m ail: Brian.C orcoran@dcu.ie

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