How to Determine Weight Capacity of Carbon Steel Pipe Rack: Guide

[George Nash]

i have built a pipe rack made out of carbon steel and needing to know how to figure out how much weight it will carry. the longest horizontal piece is 4" sch 40 x 60 inches long welded to 8" sch 40 carbon steel.
just trying to see if there is a chart of some sort

 

[SteamKing]

i have built a pipe rack made out of carbon steel and needing to know how to figure out how much weight it will carry. the longest horizontal piece is 4" sch 40 x 60 inches long welded to 8" sch 40 carbon steel.
just trying to see if there is a chart of some sort

It's going to depend on the pipe material and the grade of pipe you are planning to use. Regular Grade A carbon steel pipe generally has a minimum yield of 30 ksi, which is slightly lower than mild steel. Grade B pipe has a slightly higher yield at 35 ksi.

It will also depend on the geometry of your pipe rack. Do you have any sketches of it?

 

[George Nash]

i am new at this posting and not sure how to get you a pic of what i have constructed but it is very typical of a pipe rack with 4 vertical 8" sch 40 A53 PIPE with 4" sch 40 A53 horizontal pipes welded to the 8" and was trying to figure out how to figure how much weight each level will carry. they just come off of the 8" and there is not a support at the other end of the 4" so i can load the rack from the side and not have to push it in from the end of the rack. was wondering if there is some way to figure out how much weight will it carry at the end of the 60" pieces before they would start to give way.

 

[SteamKing]

i am new at this posting and not sure how to get you a pic of what i have constructed but it is very typical of a pipe rack with 4 vertical 8" sch 40 A53 PIPE with 4" sch 40 A53 horizontal pipes welded to the 8" and was trying to figure out how to figure how much weight each level will carry. they just come off of the 8" and there is not a support at the other end of the 4" so i can load the rack from the side and not have to push it in from the end of the rack. was wondering if there is some way to figure out how much weight will it carry at the end of the 60" pieces before they would start to give way.

I'm still not sure what this pipe rack looks like.

I get that there are 4 vertical supports. What are the dimensions of the pipe rack, i.e., how long, how wide, how high?

If you have something like an Acrobat picture or a photo from a phone, you can upload it from your computer by hitting the "Upload" button at the bottom of the Reply Box. You can then browse to the location of the picture on your computer and upload it to PF.

 

[George Nash]

here is a quick layout of what i have set up now just needing to know how to figure out the max load of each level just making sure that i do not need any extra support for each of the horizontal pipes i am loading the rack with steel pipe of all sizes.
hope you can help me out with this i am building a steel fabrication shop for plumbing and mechanical work we do and trying to use up the excessive amount of steel pipe that comes off of my projects.
thank you

 

[SteamKing]

here is a quick layout of what i have set up now just needing to know how to figure out the max load of each level just making sure that i do not need any extra support for each of the horizontal pipes i am loading the rack with steel pipe of all sizes.
hope you can help me out with this i am building a steel fabrication shop for plumbing and mechanical work we do and trying to use up the excessive amount of steel pipe that comes off of my projects.
thank you

Couple of follow up questions about this rack:

1. What sort of vertical spacing are you planning for the 4" pipe supports?
2. Do the 4" pipe x 6' long pieces rest on the ground, or is this rack suspended from the overhead of a building in some fashion?
3. Are the four 8" pipe stanchions tied together to each other? How are the 8" pipe stanchions kept from toppling into one another?

[Post edited with additional questions]
4. On your sketch, you say the 8" stanchions are Schedule 40, but there is also a note which says "All pipe is .25 thickness)
The attached Pipe Schedule Table shows that 8" Sch 40 pipe has a wall thickness of 0.322". An 8" Sch 20 pipe has a wall thickness of 0.25". Please confirm the specs for the 8" pipe.

 

[George Nash]

(1) - the 4" horizontal supports are spaced 2' - 6"
(2) - the 6' bottom horizontal pieces rest on the floor they are part of the support that will keep it from falling forward and i have an additional support that starts at the top of the 8" stantions and comes down at a slight angle to the bottom of the stantion to help with the force of pulling the stations forward when the rack gets loaded. each of the horizontal pieces are welded to this piece also.
(3) - see attached drawing
(4) - my mistake the 8" pipe is .332 everything is sch 40 A35 blk stl carbon pipe.
Thank you for helping with this and hope i have enough info for you to give me a way to determine how much weight can be loaded on each level i know the longer the horizontal pieces are the more the chance of bending them past the point of them not springing back to normal once the load is removed.
normally i have been using 4 x 2 x 1/4" rectangular tube stl but i have an abundance of this material and trying to make good use of it instead of scraping it.