Pipe spring settings

In the case of horizontal installation, spring supports are generally not required, as the pump is a moving device. During installation, the pipe connections must be made without any stress; that is, in the cold state, the flanges of the pipes should be aligned freely with those of the pump body, so as to minimize the stress on the pump’s pipe connections. If springs are used, it is very difficult to achieve a stress-free connection due to the effect of spring stiffness. Moreover, after operating for a period of time, the stiffness of the springs changes, which inevitably imposes additional loads on the pump inlet flange; therefore, spring supports are generally not allowed to be used at horizontal inlets. The best approach is to make the first bracket near the pump inlet an adjustable one, to facilitate stress-free connection during installation.

Although we have not heard of this theory, in reality a considerable number of pump inlet pipelines are equipped with spring supports, all of which were designed by reputable design institutes. What was said on the first floor makes some sense, but for high-temperature pumps, it seems reasonable to use elastic supports, right?

For larger pumps, where the inlet and outlet pipelines are relatively large and the temperature of the fluid is high, springs are inevitably installed on these pipelines. Otherwise, the thermal stress on the pipeline will be very high. However, the spring should not be too close to the pump nozzle; the nozzle must have a certain degree of stiffness

For pumps with top-mounted inlets, spring hangers can certainly be used, and this has no impact on a stress-free connection. However, for pumps with inlet ports at the ends, spring supports should not be used regardless of the temperature, as this will affect the pump’s service life; the load requirements should be met by changing the direction of the pipes or altering the location and type of rigid supports. Installing spring supports at the pump inlet is a lazy approach taken by stress analysts, as it avoids the need to modify the pipeline layout and saves everyone time. Theoretical calculations show that the stresses on the pump inlet are manageable, but in practice this approach is unreasonable.

For some bottom pump systems where the temperature is high and the pipe diameter is large, with low inlet pressure drops required, springs are sometimes installed at a certain point along the inlet pipeline to share the load on the piping system under hot conditions and reduce the stress on the nozzles.