Buried Tees in Pipelines

[Zapster]

What are the issues of overstressing buried Tees due to longitudinal movement of buried pipelines? Delta T is about 100 degF, and pressure ranges between 0 and 2500 psi. Is the prospect of Tees being overstressed due pipeline movement worth the analysis to confirm that there isn’t a problem? Anyone have any horror stories to share if this might be a problem?

 

[zdas04]

No horror stories here. I was responsible for hundreds of buried tees and never had one fail. Never heard of one failing in any of the gathering systems around here (tens of thousands of tees). I'm sure some of the folks in the forum have done the stress analysis, but it always looked to me like the load capability of a tee far exceeded the impressed load.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

http://www.muleshoe-eng.com

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