There is a great mystique among pipers about stress analysis. It is not difficult, however, a knowledge of statics and strength of materials is almost essential. The great majority of piping stress analysis is of the static thermal nature, only occasionally does one run into vibration, time history, seismic etc.
Piping layout designers should be familiar with the consequence of applying heat to a piping configuration and run the piping in a manner that would not impose high loads or moments on connected equipment or over stress the piping or pipe supports. Designers should download a demo version of a stress analysis program (like CAEPIPE from SSTUSA) and familiarize themselves with the software.