Piping

Specialty Dynamic Restraints

Sukhjinder Singh Dargan, Mrinmoy Ghosh Choudhury

Abstract
This paper discusses the use of dynamic restraints to effectively mitigate piping system vibrations because of dy-
namic loads. Topics covered include basically four types of frequently used dynamic restraints i.e., Sway Braces,
Snubbers, Rigid Struts and Dash Pots (Viscous Dampers).

Introduction tions and dynamic loading are devices called as sway

P
rocess plants like refineries, petrochemicals, fer- braces, snubbers, rigid struts, and dashpots (Viscous
tilizers, chemical plants etc. usually have a maze Dampers). There are number of other items like Pipe
of piping. There are dynamic loading cases/ Whip restraints etc. and those are not being discussed
Vibration etc. in the piping systems due to numerous here.
cases like say connection to reciprocating equipment, l Sway braces

seismic events, two phase /slug flow, blow down line, l Snubbers
PSV reaction etc. l Rigid Struts
The two main approaches for mitigating the effect l Dash pots (Viscous Dampers)
of dynamic loading are the ones to remove the reason
for dynamic loading like changing the flow of slug re- Sway Braces
gime and another is adding supports. Sway Braces are mainly used to reduce pipe vibra-
tion amplitude and at the same time it does not increase
Regarding supports, possibility is to use general
the expansion stress in operating cases. Actually, the
supports like guides, stops etc. and some specific cus-
sway brace sort of changes the stiffness of the system
tom designed supports which are called dynamic re-
and thus changes natural frequency.
straints. In some cases, the addition of dynamic re-
straints is required to keep operational vibration levels Sway braces can be defined as spring-loaded units
within acceptable limits and also minimize the stress- mounted on pipe work which are used to limit the
es in the piping or attached components because of dy- swaying or vibration induced by external forces (vibra-
namic loads. tion force) by applying an opposing force on the pipe.
They are double-acting variable spring units that can
Description handle both tensile and compressive loads. It is com-
Dynamic restraints are devices that can be used to monly used to allow unrestrained thermal movements
control piping vibration and mitigate the effect of dy- while “tuning” the system dynamically to eliminate vi-
namic loads. Some of the important categories of re- bration. It could be pre-loaded in the cold or installed
straints that can be used for mitigating piping vibra- position so that after thermal pipe movement (growth)

Sukhjinder Singh Dargan is an Engineering Professional with 16 Mrinmoy Ghosh Choudhury is an Engineering Professional with ex-
years of experience in Piping Stress analysis tensive experience in Process Plant Engineering from concept to com-
domain for process plants/refineries/fertilizers missioning, with special emphasis on Piping and
etc. He is currently working in KBR, Gurgaon, Plant Engineering, He has contributed a num-
India since 2014. He had also worked for L&T ber of papers to reputed engineering Journals.
Chiyoda, India & Fluor Daniel, India. He has worked for Reliance Engineering, Toyo
Engineering India, Chemtex Engineering India,
Engineers India Ltd. and DCL.

Chemical Industry Digest. October 2022 49

 Piping

the sway brace is less than pre-

load then there will not be any line
movement. If the load is equal to
preload, then the line will be on the
verge of movement, but then also
the line will not move. If the load is
more than the preload the line will
deflect causing the spring to com-
press further.
In Pipe stress analysis using
Figure 1: Sway Brace (Courtesy: LISEGA)
CAESAR II, the Sway braces are
modelled as bi linear restraints.
it reaches the neutral position and the load on the sys- CAESAR II helpfile gives the pro-
tem in the operating (OPE) condition is negligible (al- cedure for modelling of Sway Braces for Piping anal-
most zero). An example of a sway brace is shown in ysis.
Figure 1. Snubbers
Sway Brace: Working Principle & Usage: Snubbers are restraining devices used to control
The construction is fairly simple; the unit has 2 pres- the movement of pipe and equipment during abnor-
sure plates one on either side of the helical coil com- mal dynamic conditions such as mainly seismic dis-
pression spring connected by a single piston rod. turbances, water hammers etc. A pipe snubber is a de-
If a tensile load is applied, the top pressure plate is vice that permits pipe deflection under normal operat-
pulled down causing the spring to compress and if a ing conditions, but when subjected to an impulse load,
compressive load is applied the thrust nut / rod cou- such as an earthquake, water hammer, etc., the snub-
pling pushes the bottom pressure plate causing the ber becomes activated and acts as a rigid restraint to
spring to compress. Therefore, in both cases the spring restrict pipe movement as a result of the unwanted
gets compressed but due to design (See cut away sec- impulse loading. Snubbers are normally of no use in
tion in Fig 2) the unit is capable of handling compres- general vibration case and are used in case of impulse
sive and tensile movements / forces. loading.
The spring is pre-compressed (usually a full inch = Snubbers are basically available in two types of de-
25 mm) providing an initial force (preload) that instan- sign. Mechanical Snubbers and Hydraulic Snubbers.
taneously opposes vibration. Whenever any move- Mechanical snubbers were thought to be a better
ment from the sway brace neutral position occurs, it alternative to hydraulic snubbers because they elimi-
is opposed by a load equal to the pre-load plus travel nate the problem of hydraulic leaks. However, when a
from the neutral position times the sway brace spring mechanical snubber fails, it has a broken part which is
constant. To explain it further, if the piping load on not visible and will get unnoticed. Presently hydraulic
snubbers are used more.
The basic working principal be-
hind a hydraulic snubber is that
under slow(normal) speeds, a pis-
ton moves within a hydraulic reser-
voir pushing hydraulic fluid from
the front to the back (or vice versa)
of that reservoir. Thermal displace-
ments are slow displacements and
snubber is no restraint for thermal
case. The snubbers are not really
active in low displacement veloci-
ties of less than 2mm per second.
When an impulse load occurs and
the piston tries to move at a high
Figure 2: Sway Brace function details

50 Chemical Industry Digest. October 2022

 Piping

speed, a valve will close, thereby restricting or block- reduce dynamic loads. They act as compression as
ing the movement of the fluid within the reservoir and well as tension element. Struts can also be a good al-
subsequently locking the moving piston. An example ternative to the normal piping guide/axial stop sup-
of installation of a Snubber is shown in Figures 3 & 4. ports. The strut assembly consists of two rods joined
by a structural steel member. These components form
rigid connections from connection point to connection
point and do not permit movement of any kind in the
axial direction. As they are fitted with articulated bear-
ings, they permit slight lateral displacement.
Rigid Struts are used in Turbine and Compressor
connected lines near the nozzle connections to take ad-
vantage of very little friction whereas normal Piping
Stops and guides inherently introduce friction. Also,
struts can be used as a substitute for guide supports
where the structure is not available for using standard
guides.
An example of installation of a Snubber is shown in
Figure 5 & 6.
Figure 3: Snubber Installed to vertical & horizontal direction
(Courtesy: LISEGA)
In CAESAR II Static Analysis a Rigid Strut
Modelling can be done through
directional Stops like XRods etc.
CAESAR II help file gives the pro-
cedure for modelling of Rigid
Struts for Piping analysis.

Figure 5: Rigid Strut Installed to

Figure 4: Snubber details (Courtesy: LISEGA) vertical direction (Courtesy: LISEGA)

In Pipe stress analysis us-

ing CAESAR II, the Snubbers are
modelled in both static analysis
& dynamic analysis approaches.
CAESAR II help file gives the pro-
cedure for modelling of snubbers
for piping analysis.
Rigid Struts
A Rigid Strut is a dynamic re-
straint that is used specifically to Figure 6: Rigid Strut details (Courtesy: LISEGA)

Chemical Industry Digest. October 2022 51

 Piping

Dash Pots (Viscous Dampers) acteristics against frequency of excitation.

Viscoelastic Pipework dampers have a successful There are excellent Technical Papers available on
story of implementation for seismic upgrading and this; one is as below:
vibration control of piping systems and components “Different Approaches for the Modelling of High
for different installations: NPPs, Conventional pow- Viscous Dampers in Piping Dynamic Analysis.
er plants, industrial facilities. As a dynamic restraint Acceptable Limits for Simplifications”. By Alexey
HVD (High Viscous Dampers) is a device that works in Berkovskya, Peter Vasilyeva and Oleg Kireev
a softer manner than snubbers providing to the system
However, presently the most pragmatic approach
essential additional damping. High damping in the de-
would be to use these in consultation with the reput-
vice is a result of deformation of an extremely high vis-
ed vendors like GERB or LISEGA etc. who can assist in
cous liquid that is located in the space between damp-
formulating the analysis approach for specific use cas-
er’s piston and housing.
es also.
They can be used as a single device or in combina-
tion with spring elements to provide the required de- Conclusion
gree of damping. Viscous dampers are effective against The intention of this paper was to give an overview
both, shock loads and continuous vibrations. They of the Specialty Dynamic restraints available and used
have many benefits such as a robust design, which pro- for Piping Systems. As stated earlier there are others
vides high damping values in small spaces, and which also like Pipe Whip Restraints etc.
is almost maintenance free. Detailed technical literature /catalogue etc. are
By shearing and displacing the highly viscous flu- available from the Specialty Piping vendors for appro-
id Viscous dampers create approximately velocity priate selection and need to be referred to in different
proportional damping forces. An example of Viscous usage cases.
Damper is shown in Figure 7. Detailed technical catalogue/literature of various
The specific important features to note are: reputed vendors for selection of the appropriate item
• Reduction of operational vibrations and shock type is available. Detailed technical catalogue/literature of
displacements at the same time various reputed vendors for selection of the appropri-
ate item is available.
• Effective in all spatial directions
References
• Velocity-proportional (i.e., large resistance dur-
• Various Vendor catalogues like LISEGA etc.
ing shock loads, low resistance during slow move-
• “Newsletters” from Pipe Hangers and Supports Pvt. Ltd
ments such as thermal expansion)
• NRC2014-5017 paper on “Mitigation of Piping System
One problem of using HVDs in normal piping sys- Vibration Using Dynamic Restraints”.
tem is that unlike struts, sway brace, snubbers etc., • CAESAR II help file
the modelling of these viscous dampers are not well
• Different Approaches for the Modelling of High Viscous
defined in the generally used analysis software like Dampers in Piping Dynamic Analysis. Acceptable Limits for
CAESAR II. Simplifications”. By Alexey Berkovskya, Peter Vasilyeva and
HVDs have nonlinear damping and stiffness char- Oleg Kireev.
m

Figure 7: Viscous Dampers details (Courtesy: LISEGA)

52 Chemical Industry Digest. October 2022