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CHAPTER 2
SURVEY OF CURRENT DESIGN PRACTICES

mica! 2.1 INTRODUCTION

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h the Thirteen design practices, for wind on pipe racks, open structures and pressure
For a vessels were reviewed. These design practices were obtained from various operating
luced companies and engineering contractors working in the petrochemical industry.
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All but one of the design practices reviewed were based on the wind loading
provisions of ASCE 7-88, "Minimum Design Loads for BUilding.~ and Other
Structures" or its predecessor (ANSI A58.J). The recommended wind speed, mean
recurrence interval and exposure coefficient (based on terrain exposure C, open
more terrain) were generally the same.
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The building classification, used for the importance factor, by all of the design
practices was ordinary structures (Category I). However, a few practices chose to
use the essential facilities category (Category III) for particular structures.

2.2 PIPE RACKS

Most of the design practices treated the rack structure as an open frame structure
with additional loads for pipe and cable trays. Since open frame structures are
discussed in another section of this report the wind loads applied directly on the
structure will not be discussed here. Table 2.1 presents the survey results in tabular
form.

The major differences between design practices is covered in Table 2.1. Note
that the determination of force coefficient, effective area, and shielding is not
addressed in ASCE 7 for piping and cable trays in a pipe rack therefore the following
definitions are used Table 2.1 as defined by the respective design practice.

A Tributary area (sq. ft).

d Depth of cable tray (ft).

2-1