Expansion Joints in General
Forces and movement are always with us. Longitudinal forces occur when pipeline is internally pressurized. Those forces are in general “balanced” with the stiffness of the pipeline or with bends and pipeline anchors. But when it is not so? In that case the solution is an expansion joint. They are necessary in places where temperature fluctuations are high or in places where movement or vibration is needed to compensate.
Expansion joints are made of different types of materials: metal, rubber, fabric, plastic.
Expansion joints are used to compensate axial, lateral and angular movements.
The main advantages of expansion joints are:
- installation does not demand a lot of space
- movement is absorbed in different directions (due to the elasticity of expansion joints)
- do not require maintenance
- reduce stress and heat losses to minimum.