Piping Flexibility Calculator

Piping Flexibility Calculator (PFC) gives pipe stress analysts and piping engineers a quick and easy way to verify the flexibility of carbon and stainless steel piping layouts. Using PFC saves time and reduces the risk the designer will have to make costly layout modifications once final stress analyses are completed by the stress engineer. With practice, designers can use PFC to eliminate the need for preliminary computer stress analyses for up to 80% of typical oil, gas and chemical process piping layouts. PFC is based on the Guided Cantilever Method. Guided cantilever methods have been used by piping analysts and designers decades before specialized computer programs, such as CAESAR II and AutoPIPE, were available. PFC can be used as a check on these programs. Guided cantilever methods are still very popular and are accepted by national and international piping codes and standards. PFC includes detailed instructions on how to use the program. PFC also has a theory section that describes the Guided Cantilever Method, its equations, and assumptions.