Key Questions to Ask When Ordering Tailings Pipeline

Does anyone have a good reference for the analysis of Slurry or Tailings pipelines? Especially where you would have multiple piplines supported on sleepers or piperacks. This type of analysis is not the same as a conventional stress analysis, as it is not within a refinery, and many times some of the pipelines are supported only by the ground, and left to expand where they want. The systems in question use expansion (slip type) joints to account for expansion in the line. The use of these types of expansion joints increases the anchor loadings drastically due to the pressure thrust component (easily in the 300k lbf range)

I am also interested in facility piping for tailings lines. Thanks for the reply Stanier. The piping system is designed to ASME B31.11, which will give me the code requirments, I was looking more for the practical, or rules of thumb type references that provide backup to their methodologies. For example, when you have three pipelines on a single common anchor, can you design the systems with only one in upset conditions, and the other two at design or normal operating? Can you design the anchors to only a single times thrust load, or do you design to multiple times thrust loadings for each line? Do the references that you list have this type of guidance?

I have seen pipelines with teflon sliders on the supports? I see this as a total waste of money, but maybe there is an unwritten rule for some systems to do this?

Thanks What you are looking for is a basic piping engineering advice. It has little to do with slurries. It applies to all pipelines.

The design has to take into account all conditions. Yes, if there are three pipleins imposing a load on a support you have to consider the total load.

The need for sliding suports will come from your stress analysis. Teflon pads reduce friction. Graphited steel shoes have been used successfully for many years. Again it comes down to the friction coefficient used in your pipe stress analysis. Many pipes are supported on rollers to allow free movement.

Suggest you check ASME B31.3 to give greater insights.

As for references I suggest:

Piping Design-Kellogg
Piping Design and Engineering -Grinnell
Piping Engineering-Tube Turns
Piping Handbook Mohinder Nayyar
Piping and Pipeline Design George Antaki
Process Piping - Becht
Piping Handbook- Sherwood
Pipeline Rules of Thumb- McGraw Hill

Also visit You may choose to join their discussion forum. Pipeline stress is much different than you would do for process piping. Typically you are looking at a few inches of movement in process systems, with an above ground pipeline, you can be looking at feet. Plus you need to account for the line "snaking" its way down the corridor, or else you will have anchor loads of hundreds of thousands of pounds force which may be ultra conservative. Conventional stress analysis (Caesar) uses beam elements that don't allow for minor buckling of piping that iun the real world alleviates much of the stress in the piping, and it also does not adequately calculate the difference between thrust loading on expansion joints versus frictional loads on anchors.

I guess the real question is "Are there any references out there for design of above ground pipelines with slip style expansion joints acting in parallel?"

Thanks,

Porter