Support Details — Companion Article

What this tool does

The page draws a typical pipe support and lists its parts. It has eleven support types. You pick a type, a nominal size, a schedule, and an insulation thickness. The page draws an end or section view and an elevation, with a title block, and builds a parts table.

The sizes follow the PipingDesigners generic rules. The page is not a pipe datasheet and it does not rate a support. Every detail carries the note: Typical detail, check against project standards.

The page runs in the browser. It opens on the grid of support types. The sketch appears when you pick a type, at NPS 6, Schedule 40 (STD), with no insulation.

When to use it

Use it to show a typical support on a sketch, an isometric note, or a support schedule, and to get first sizes for the shoe, the plates, the rod, and the stub. Use it to explain a support type to someone who has not seen one.

Use the support span and pipe span tools to decide where supports go. This page draws what goes at one support. It does not check the load, the stress, or the steel.

Inputs

1. Support type. Pick one of the eleven cards. Each card names the type and says when to use it.
2. Nominal size, NPS 1/2 to NPS 24, including NPS 22. The page opens on NPS 6.
3. Schedule. The list holds the ASME B36.10 schedules and walls for the size, plus 5S, 10S, 40S, and 80S where the B36.19 table prints them. At NPS 22 only 5S and 10S are stored. The page opens on Schedule 40.
4. Insulation thickness, mm, from 0 to 150. The U-bolt is for an uninsulated line and uses no insulation.

The eleven types:

• PD-SH-01 Welded T-shoe. Use under a line that can be welded. The shoe sits on the steel and the line may slide along the shoe.
• PD-SH-02 Clamped shoe. Use when the pipe must not be welded. A strap holds the shoe, and the shoe sits on the steel.
• PD-SH-03 Guide. Use to keep the shoe from moving sideways. Two plates are welded to the steel, one on each side of the shoe flange.
• PD-SH-04 Line stop. Use to limit movement along the pipe. Lugs on the shoe bear on stops welded to the steel. This is not an anchor.
• PD-SH-05 Anchor. Use when the line must not move. The shoe is welded to the pipe, and the flange is welded and bolted to the steel.
• PD-SH-06 U-bolt. Use on an uninsulated line. The pipe sits on the steel and the U-bolt wraps the pipe.
• PD-SH-07 Trunnion. Use on a vertical line. One smaller stub is welded to each side of the pipe, and each stub rests on a beam.
• PD-SH-08 Dummy leg. Use where a vertical line turns horizontal. A smaller stub is welded to the outside of the elbow and runs back, level at the bottom with the horizontal run, on a shoe and a beam.
• PD-SH-09 Base support. Use to carry a line on a short pedestal. The shoe sits on the pedestal, and the pedestal sits on the steel or grade.
• PD-SH-10 Rod hanger with clamp. Use to hang a line from steel above. The clamp grips the pipe. Insulation passes around the clamp.
• PD-SH-11 Stanchion. Use where a vertical line turns horizontal. A smaller pipe is coped to the outside of the elbow and runs straight down, in line with the vertical pipe, to a base plate.

How it works

The outside diameter and wall come from the interim pipe tables for the size and schedule you chose.

Shoes. The welded T-shoe, guide, line stop, anchor, and base support all start from the same shoe. The bottom of insulation clears the top of steel by 25 mm, so the shoe height from bottom of pipe to top of steel is the insulation plus 25 mm. The web runs from the bottom of the pipe to the top of the flange. The shoe is 1.5 times the outside diameter long, and never less than 100 mm. The flange is half the outside diameter wide, and never less than 60 mm.

Plate thickness steps with the size: 6 mm to NPS 2, 8 mm to NPS 4, 10 mm to NPS 8, 12 mm to NPS 12, 16 mm to NPS 16, and 20 mm above. The rod or bolt size steps the same way: 10, 12, 16, 20, 24, and 30 mm.

The clamped shoe wraps a strap over the pipe and its insulation. The strap is half the plate thickness, at least 3 mm, and a quarter of the outside diameter wide, at least 30 mm. The shoe flange is widened so the strap legs and clamp bolts fit outside the insulation.

The guide adds two plates on the steel, as high as the plate thickness plus 20 mm, with a 3 mm gap each side of the shoe flange. The line stop adds lugs on the shoe and stops on the steel, with a 3 mm axial gap. The anchor bolts the shoe flange to the beam. The base support adds a pedestal with 100 mm clear under the shoe flange, on a bottom plate.

The U-bolt wraps the bare pipe with its inside radius on the pipe outside diameter. The rod hanger uses a two-bolt band clamp, a fifth of the outside diameter wide, at least 25 mm, with a rod drop drawn at 300 mm. That drop is a sketch length.

Stubs. The trunnion, dummy leg, and stanchion use a smaller pipe, Schedule 40. It is one size down the list at NPS 4 and below, and two sizes down above NPS 4. The elbow is a long-radius bend with a centreline radius of 1.5 times the nominal size.

The trunnion stub projects from the pipe outside diameter by 25 mm to the beam, plus the beam bearing length, plus 20 mm. The bearing length is the stub outside diameter, at least 80 mm.

The dummy leg is coped to the outside of the elbow and runs back horizontally. Its bottom is level with the horizontal run, so its centreline sits lower by half the difference in outside diameters. It reaches 150 mm past the outside of the vertical pipe, and rests on a 25 mm shoe on a beam, 75 mm past the outside of the vertical pipe.

The stanchion is coped to the outside of the elbow on the vertical centreline and runs straight down. Its straight length is the run outside diameter, at least 180 mm. The base plate is the stub outside diameter plus 50 mm square.

Understanding the result

The sketch shows an end or section view and an elevation, with dimensions and a title block. The parts table has four columns: Item, Description, Qty, and Size.

The first row is the run pipe: NPS, DN, schedule, outside diameter, and wall. Then come the support parts, then the insulation and the steel. The last row is the note: Typical detail, check against project standards.

Welds read Size by the project weld procedure. Steel reads by project. The page draws the steel 12 mm thick. Those are not sizes for fabrication.

Print / PDF prints the sketch and table. Download SVG saves the sketch. Copy table copies the parts table.

Engineering considerations

The shoe height is set by the insulation, not by a load or a temperature. A hot line with thin insulation still gets a shoe of insulation plus 25 mm. Check the shoe height against the project standard.

The plate and rod sizes are bands by NPS. The rod size is a sketch band, not a load rating. Size the rod, the bolts, and the welds from the load.

The trunnion, dummy leg, and stanchion are drawn on the bare pipe. Their sizes do not change with insulation. A stub on an insulated line may need to be longer to clear the insulation.

The stub is a reduced pipe chosen by size steps. It is not checked for bending, for local stress at the weld, or for the reinforcing pad that the project may require.

A line stop is not an anchor. Use the anchor where the line must not move in any direction.

Example

Welded T-shoe, NPS 6, Schedule 40 (STD), 50 mm insulation. Run pipe OD 168.28 mm, wall 7.11 mm.

• Web: 10 mm thick × 65 mm high × 252 mm long. From the bottom of the pipe to the top of the flange.
• Flange: 10 mm thick × 84 mm wide × 252 mm long. Sits on the steel.
• BOP to TOS: 75 mm. Bottom of insulation clears the top of steel by 25 mm.
• Weld, web to pipe, both sides: size by the project weld procedure.

The 75 mm is 50 mm insulation plus 25 mm. The web is 75 mm less the 10 mm flange. The length is 1.5 × 168.28 mm, rounded to 252 mm. The width is half of 168.28 mm, rounded to 84 mm.

Clamped shoe, same pipe and insulation. The strap is 5 mm thick × 42 mm wide and not welded to the pipe. Two M16 clamp bolts. The shoe flange is 310 mm wide: 168.28 + 2 × 50 + 2 × 5 + 2 × 16, rounded.

Trunnion, NPS 6, Schedule 40 (STD). Two stubs, NPS 4, OD 114.3 mm, Schedule 40 (STD), wall 6.02 mm. Projection 159 mm from the pipe OD: 25 + 114 + 20. Each stub rests on a beam clear of the vertical pipe by 25 mm.

Dummy leg, NPS 6, Schedule 40 (STD). Elbow centreline radius 228.6 mm, 1.5 × 6 × 25.4. Stub NPS 4. Its centreline is 26.99 mm below the run centreline, half of 168.28 − 114.3. It reaches 234.14 mm to the left of the vertical centreline: 168.28/2 + 150. The shoe under it is 25 mm high, near 159.14 mm left of the vertical centreline, 168.28/2 + 75, with a 10 mm plate.

Stanchion, NPS 6, Schedule 40 (STD). Stub NPS 4, straight length 180 mm from the extrados at the centreline. Base plate 164 mm square × 10 mm thick, on the steel or grade.

Standards/references (licensed vs interim)

The pipe outside diameters and walls are interim data from public sources, pending the licensed standard.

For a B36.10 schedule the page note says the data is an interim ASME B36.10-2022 Table 2-1 numeric extract, not licensed ASME text. Verify against the current edition of ASME B36.10 before use.

For an S schedule the page note reads: Interim data from the public ASME B36.19M-2018 Table 2-1, not licensed ASME text. Verify against the current edition of ASME B36.19 before use.

The support rules are PipingDesigners generic rules. They are not taken from MSS SP-58 or from a support manufacturer’s catalogue. These interim pipe figures will be replaced by licensed ASME data when it is available.

Limitations/disclaimer

The disclaimer on the tool: Typical detail, check against project standards. The page is not a pipe datasheet and it does not rate a support.

• No load, stress, friction, or thermal movement is checked.
• Plate, rod, and bolt sizes are bands by NPS, not ratings.
• Steel is drawn 12 mm thick and is by project. Welds are by the project weld procedure.
• Trunnion, dummy leg, and stanchion sizes do not change with insulation.
• Stubs are Schedule 40 reduced pipe. Reinforcing pads are not drawn.
• The rod hanger drop and the stanchion length are sketch lengths.
• The U-bolt is for uninsulated lines only.
• Sizes run from NPS 1/2 to NPS 24.

Use the tool

Calculate now: Support details

Related tools

• Support span calculator for the distance between supports. Read the support span companion article.
• Pipe span calculator for the allowable span of a pipe. Read the pipe span companion article.
• Rack and process spans for spans on a rack and in a process area. Read the rack and process spans companion article.
• Pipe by schedule for the outside diameter, wall, and weight of the run pipe. Read the pipe by schedule companion article.
• Pipe leg for a first check of the leg that absorbs thermal expansion between anchors and guides. Read the pipe leg companion article.