Three-dimensional thermal and stress analysis of a piping tee. Final report

A study was made to determine the most effective three-dimensional solid finite element formulation to use for piping tee analysis. An optimized, compatible mesh was developed for ensuing thermal and stress analysis effort. A thermal analysis was then performed to obtain a steady-state thermal map for the mixing of two fluids having a 4800F bulk fluid temperature difference. The thermal gradients resulting from this analysis were applied to the three-dimensional thermal and stress analysis model, developed for one quadrant of a three inch piping tee, and an elastic stress analysis was performed to obtain the resulting stress contours. These results were then used to perform a fatigue life evaluation. A significant result of this project was the development of a generalized piping tee mesh generator for use with the MARC-CDC soft-ware