APPENDIX G

SUGGESTED GOOD PRACTICE REGARDING

PIPING REACTIONS AND DESIGN OF SUPPORTS
AND ATTACHMENTS
G-1

may be local stress concentration. A thicker wall plate

at the support may serve to reduce secondary stresses
and, if desired, a complete ring of thicker wall plates
may be installed.
(d) When superimposed forces on the vessel wall
occurring at the attachment for principal struts or gussets
and supports of any kind can produce high bending
stresses, and when thicker wall plates do not seem
appropriate, an oval or circular reinforcing plate may
be used. The attachment of such reinforcing plates
should be designed to minimize flexing of the plate
under forces normal to the surface of the vessel.

A vessel supported in a vertical or horizontal position

will have concentrated loads imposed on the shell in
the region where the supports are attached. Primary
and secondary stresses due to other loadings, such as
the weight of water present for hydrostatic test, may
exceed that due to normal internal pressure. Calculations
to resist the forces involved are not given here because
they involve so many variables depending upon the
size and weight of vessels, the temperature of service,
the internal pressure, the arrangement of the supporting
structure, and the piping attached to the vessel as
installed.

G-3
G-2

Vertical vessels may be supported on a number of

posts without substantial ring girder bracing them around
the shell, provided they attach to the shell where the
latter is reinforced in an equivalent manner by the head
of the vessel or by an intermediate partition.

The details of supports should conform to good

structural practice, bearing in mind the following items
(see Manual for Steel Construction, latest edition, by
the American Institute of Steel Construction).
(a) All supports should be designed to prevent excessive localized stresses due to temperature changes in
the vessel or deformations produced by the internal
pressure.
(b) External stays in ring girders, or any internal
framing that may support other internal parts, may also
exert a stiffening effect on the shell.
(c) Columns supporting field assembled vessels and
bearing loads which may produce high secondary
stresses in the vessel wall should be so designed at
the attachment to the wall that no high stress concentration can occur near changes in shape, gusset plates if
any, or at ends of attachment welds. It is preferable
to use details permitting continuous welds extending
completely around the periphery of the attachment and
to avoid intermittent or deadend welds at which there

G-4
Where vertical vessels are supported by lugs, legs,
or brackets attached to the shell, the supporting members
under these bearing attachments should be as close to
the shell as possible to minimize local bending stresses
in the shell.

G-5
For large and heavy vertical vessels to be supported
by skirts, the conditions of loading under hydrostatic
tests, before pressure is applied, or for any possible
combination of loadings (see UG-22) under the highest
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G-5

1998 SECTION VIII DIVISION 1

expected metal temperature in service for the normal

operating pressure, shall be compared in determining
the best location for the line of skirt attachment. In
applying UG-22 and UG-23(a) to vertical vessels supported on skirts, the following shall be considered in
addition to pressure effects:
(a) the skirt reaction:
(1) the weight of vessel and contents transmitted
in compression to the skirt by the shell above the level
of the skirt attachment;
(2) the weight of vessel and contents transmitted
to the skirt by the weight in the shell below the level
of skirt attachment;
(3) the load due to externally applied moments and
forces when these are a factor, e.g., wind, earthquake, or
piping loads.
(b) the stress in the vessel wall due to the effects
enumerated in (a) above. Localized longitudinal bending
and circumferential compressive stresses of high order
may exist in the metal of the shell and skirt near the
circle of the skirt attachment if the skirt reaction is
not substantially tangent to the vessel wall. When the
skirt is attached below the head tangent line, localized
stresses are introduced in proportion to the component
of the skirt reaction which is normal to the head surface
at the point of attachment; when the mean diameter
of skirt and shell approximately coincide and a generous
knuckle radius is used (e.g., a 2:1 ellipsoidal head), the
localized stresses are minimized and are not considered
objectionable. In other cases an investigation of local
effects may be warranted depending on the magnitude
of the loading, location of skirt attachment, etc., and
an additional thickness of vessel wall or compression
rings may be necessary.

G-9

may be reinforced by stiffening rings at intermediate

sections.2

G-7
Large horizontal storage tanks for gases under pressure may be supported by any combination of hangers,
with ring girders, stiffeners, and such other reinforcement as may be necessary to prevent stresses in the
shell in excess of those allowed by UG-23 and to
prevent excessive distortion due to the weight of the
vessel when the internal pressure is near atmospheric.

G-8
Certain attachments may serve to mount a pump,
compressor, motor, internal combustion engine, mixer,
or any other rotating or reciprocating equipment upon
a vessel. Such equipment can cause cyclic forces to
act upon the attachment, upon the attachment weld to
the vessel, upon the vessel shell, and upon the vessel
supports. For such cyclic loading, the practices advocated in G-2(c) and (d) above are of particular importance. It is important to avoid resonance between the
cyclic forces imposed by the equipment and the natural
frequency of the vessel with the equipment in place.

G-9
Additional guidance on the design of supports, attachments and piping reactions may be found in the following references:
(a) British Standard BS-5500, Specification for Fusion Welded Pressure Vessels (Advanced Design and
Construction) for Use in the Chemical, Petroleum, and
Allied Industries;
(b) Welding Research Council Bulletin #107, Local
Stresses in Spherical and Cylindrical Shells Due to
External Loadings;
(c) Welding Research Council Bulletin #198, Part
1, Secondary Stress Indices for Integral Structural Attachments to Straight Pipes; Part 2, Stress Indices at
Lug Supports on Piping Systems;
(d) Welding Research Council Bulletin 297, Local
Stresses in Spherical and Cylindrical Shells Due to
External Loadings, Supplement to WRC-107.

G-6
Horizontal vessels may be supported by means of
saddles1 or equivalent leg supports. For other than very
small vessels, the bearing afforded by the saddles shall
extend over at least one-third of the circumference of
the shell.
Supports should be as few in number as possible,
preferably two in the length of the vessel. The vessel
1 See

Stresses in Large Cylindrical Pressure Vessels on Two Saddle

Supports, p. 959, Pressure Vessels and Piping: Design and Analysis,
A Decade of Progress, Volume Two, published by ASME.

2 See

Transactions ASCE, Volume 98 1931 Design of Large

Pipe Lines.

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