FEM, Earthquake vs. thermal exp.

[sveinho]

Hi,
I am calculating pipes for a geothermal power plant under external load (earthquake load). The question is do I calculate the thermal expansion and the earthquake load at the same time or do I calculate it seperately?

Regards,
Sveinho

 

[corus]

The question to ask yourself is whether or not you'd expect thermal expansion and an earthquake to occur together. I'd say yes.
The other question to ask is how you assess any stresses that would occur. The stresses from the earthquake, I would have thought, would have different design limits to those that would occur with thermal stresses and earthquake loads combined. In that respect, assess the earthquake separate from thermal loads, and then together.

corus

http://www.corusresearch.com

 

[pjhype]

If you are performing a linear static analysis using the peak g-loading from the earthquake, and if you are calculating the steady-state thermal expansion, you can analyze the loads separately then combine the results in your post-processor. You could then determine the maximum allowable thermal expansion in order to survive the earthquake load.

pj