Calculate Shipping Saddles
Pressure Vessel, Heat Exchanger, Saddles randy bogard Pressure Vessel, Heat Exchanger, Saddles randy bogard

Calculate Shipping Saddles

How is your equipment making it from Point A to Point B? Please consider shipping saddles as an important part of the design.

Shipping saddles are just what the name sounds like. Saddles created for the sole purpose of transporting equipment. Since they do not remain with the equipment, they are often disregarded as an afterthought.

However, transporting equipment horizontally by truck, train, or barge may put stresses on vertically installed equipment that it was never designed for. It is important to calculate these stresses before placing the equipment on shipping saddles. “We think it will work!” and “We hope it makes it okay…” are not design strategies. Shipping loads should be considered in the original design because it’s the easiest time to fix any issues that may arise.

Each mode of transportation affects equipment stresses differently so each one should be considered individually. Owner/Operators should insist on reviewing these calculations before delivery.

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Calculate Uplift for Bolting
Mechanical Engineering, Pressure Vessel, Heat Exchanger, Risk Management, COMPRESS, Wind, Seismic, Bolts, Bolting randy bogard Mechanical Engineering, Pressure Vessel, Heat Exchanger, Risk Management, COMPRESS, Wind, Seismic, Bolts, Bolting randy bogard

Calculate Uplift for Bolting

Are your bolts designed to handle the uplift from moments caused by external forces like wind and seismic loads? 

I commonly see equipment where only the operating case is checked and I’ve even seen cases where the bolt uplift calculation is ignored altogether. Don’t be fooled into ignoring this simple calculation as catastrophic bolt failure can cause severe damage to your equipment.
The empty condition often governs because process weight helps to prevent uplift. Please calculate all design conditions to determine the governing case.

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Calculate Required Slotted Bolt Hole Length
Mechanical Engineering, Pressure Vessel, Heat Exchanger, Risk Management, COMPRESS, Bolting, Saddles, PIP VEFV1100 randy bogard Mechanical Engineering, Pressure Vessel, Heat Exchanger, Risk Management, COMPRESS, Bolting, Saddles, PIP VEFV1100 randy bogard

Calculate Required Slotted Bolt Hole Length

Can your saddle bolt holes handle the effects of thermal expansion in your equipment?

Bent saddles and sheared bolts from undersized slotted bolt holes pose a major operational risk that is often overlooked. It is much easier to design for thermal expansion before fabrication than it is to try to fix an inadequate slotted bolt hole length while in service. There is a simple calculation to determine if your slotted bolt hole length is enough to handle thermal expansion at design temperature. 

Please review PIP VEFV1100 for more information regarding the design of supports and other attachments.

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