Tall buildings


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Victaulic’s Matthew Strohm


Rethinking risers


Matthew Strohm, director of product development piping system design at Victaulic, explains how grooved mechanical pipe joining solutions are helping developers and engineers build higher


E


nter into the right pub, or head to a city’s museum or town hall, and you can often find a picture of how the surrounding area used to look. An image from 20 years ago and the difference isn’t too vast. Fifty years back and there’s a definite change. A picture from over 100 years ago and it’s practically unrecognisable. If you look at what the common theme is running through these images, it’s that cities are getting taller.


As more people migrated to urban areas, developers saw the need to go higher. But with this comes its own unique set of challenges. How can the safety of the ground floor be transferred to, in the most extreme case, level 163?


When it comes to high-rise buildings, there are a number of potential challenges a piping engineer will need to take into consideration, most of which relate to thermal movement and the resulting forces on the building. Other issues such as seismic activity and building creep (the natural movement of a building due to settlement) also need to be taken into account. Specifically related to piping systems – and subsequently pipe joining solutions – is the unique problem of having to compensate for thermal expansion and contraction while at the same time accommodating for higher pressure. Change in pipe diameter is not an uncommon concern for engineers, however, providing a solution which could operate at a pressure gauge of 25 bars, or the fluctuating temperature of water, presents its own challenges. It’s with these issues in mind that engineers choose their joining solutions, which is why these are the very criteria we set our Victaulic pipe joining solutions against.


Grooved vs traditional pipe joining


For decades, the traditional solutions for joining pipes have been either welding, threading or flanging. These are good solutions to choose from, but there is a distinct lack of flexibility in a solution which fuses or


Grooved solutions have been making contractors and engineers reimagine the way they construct risers in vertical buildings


flanges system components together. This is where flexible grooved couplings come in: a best in class solution that allows controlled linear and angular movement at each joint to accommodate not only for thermal expansion and contraction, but also building sway and creep.


So how do flexible grooved couplings manage this? It’s essentially down to the design of their components. The dimensions of the pipe coupling housing key is narrower than the pipe groove, allowing room for movement. Furthermore, the width of the pipe coupling housing allows for pipe end separation, which in turn allows the grooved pipe joint to accommodate movement.


There are many benefits of grooved couplings, with space-saving being a key advantage on projects both large and small. As many project managers and engineers know, saving on space can be the key to unlocking extra value above initial planning. Additionally, grooved couplings are perfectly placed to accommodate for piping movement whereas


welded joints, which in their very nature are designed to be fixed in place, need to have an area of space to allow for a welded expansion loop or alternatively, enough space to allow the star-pattern tightening of a flanged flex connector.


Besides the savings on space, grooved connections offer contractors savings in three key areas: time, money and labour. The installation- ready design of grooved couplings allows for an easier installation, meaning a process which might take 30 minutes through a welded solution for instance, can now take five. As any contractor will testify to, this is valuable time which can be used for other parts of the project.


With a reduction in time comes savings in cost and labour. Naturally, less labour is used for the same job and, in the case of grooved couplings, less skilled labour is required (in comparison to the skill level needed for welded joints). It’s these aspects which will ultimately deliver contractors with valuable project savings.


Anchors prevent prevent angular deflection


!" May 2020


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