How to design saddle supports which hanging on the platform?

santhosh kumar shanmugamat

in our case 273 kg heat exchanger is hanging on the platform. so kindly explain
how loads will get increased due to gravity and how to design this kind of saddle
supports.
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10 days ago
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6 comments

Arjun
Arjun Prasad, P.E.
Consulting Engineer at URS
If you cannot convince the customer that it is not a good idea to hang the heat exchanger (HE) from platform
structures, then you may design the support system like pipe hangers. As the HE weighs only about 300 kgs, it
should have small diameter and perhaps made out of DN (NPS) pipe. You may contact Pipe Support Group for
the best way to support the HE.

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You may use saddle type supports at the top of the shell but every member of saddle will be in tension and shall
be designed as such. The Zick's Method of the saddle analysis will not be applicable in this case. The weld
attaching the saddle to the shell shall be checked against the maximum operating weight including the weight of
the fluid in the shell and tubes. The anchor bolts will be of sufficient size and strength to support the HE
including wind/seismic loads. Design should also include consideration of thermal expansion.
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9 days ago

santhosh kumar
santhosh kumar shanmugam
at
Hello sir,
Thanks for your prompt response for my query,
Our client insist us to go saddle supports instead of pipe hangers . In this circumstance if I have carried out fea
analysis for saddle support what kind of loads I should consider.
Regards

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S.santhosh
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9 days ago

HACHICHA
HACHICHA Anis
Project Manager chez Global Group

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in my opinion you should take into consideration when you make study the gross Weight (tare structure+tare
volume)
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8 days ago

Arjun
Arjun Prasad, P.E.
Consulting Engineer at URS

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When you are performing FEA, every possible loads on the heat exchanger should be considered for accurate
design. Assumptions that some loads are negligible and would not affect the results should be minimized. Loads
indicated in my above post are the basic loads for considerations in the support design. It appears FEA is
becoming very common and affordable these days in area of pressure vessels.
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8 days ago

Christopher
Christopher Wright P.E.
Consulting Engineer
If this were my problem I think I'd build a couple of circumferential stiffening rings into the vessel walls at the
vessel support locations and mount the vessel off two fairly stiff support frames that connect to the mounting
rings. I suspect you'll have lateral wind and seismic loading along with incident or flow-related vibration that
will need to be carried into the platform -- you won't want the vessel to have a lot of lateral motion or sway. And
thermal expansion will need to be considered.
Rings, instead of saddles, will make for s stiffer support and help distribute the support loads into the vessel
walls. You can size the rings using formulas fro Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain and check everything
with FEA when you have a design you like. I don't mean to sound snarky, but I'm not so sanguine about FEA on
a structure like this. I don't think FEA should be used by anyone who can't estimate the loading and figure out a

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design approach beforehand. With all the loads that need to be considered, FEA of this problem isn't rocket
science, but it's by no means trivial. Santosh shouldn't try this himself.
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7 days ago

Sanjeev
Sanjeev Shukla
Sr Mechanical Engineer at PTTEP
273 kg exchanger is a very small equipment and can be easily provided with a simple longitudinally welded
plate as support, bolted to the structure.

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What type of exchanger it is, generally on offshore platforms, temperature is not very high and therefore do not
expect any big issue for expansion.
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6 days ago