...
It’s not uncommon for pipe rack structures to be designed for lateral drift of Height/100 or Height/200 (Height of pipe rack) under wind or seismic loading, lateral deflections which can cause significant imposed displacements at pipe support locations. If it’s important, for example, to consider local nozzle/vessel flexibilities with a 3/4” imposed displacement at an equipment connection, then it’s also important to consider support structure flexibility and imposed displacements at pipe supports from the structure, particularly support structure imposed displacements from lateral loads. CSiPlant and SAP2000 make it easy to rigorously consider pipe/-structure interaction.
CSiPlant model after importing the support structure from SAP2000 and auto-connecting piping to the support structure.
...