Process Piping & Piping Fit..

PROCESS PIPING & PIPING FITTINGS
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In any Petrochemical, Chemical, Fertilizers or Power generation plant, one can see kilometers
of various piping carrying various process fluids from one end to other. The process piping acts
as blood carriers in our body. It plays very important role as any minor failure of process piping
or pipe fitting of critical service in continuous process plant means shutdown of the plant. The
role of the maintenance engineers is to design and select appropriate piping material and rating
to avoid such failures.
Piping design includes selection of applicable codes/standards, environmental requirement and
service parameters and the supports required. Calculation of process piping requires data like,
type of fluid, process flow rate, system working pressure and maximum pressure,
temperatures, stresses due to other equipments, requirement of valves, type of valves, Special
loops if required, number of drains, factor of safety, corrosion allowance, erosion if any,
maximum flow velocity allowed and requirement of insulation etc. Depending upon these
factors piping material, piping sizes, supports system, type of expansion joints etc. are
considered then location of valve skids are decided before final designing of the piping.
Piping specification covers the service, ratings, material of construction, fabrication process,
type of fittings, fabrication consumables, erection consumables, fastners, installation and
service performance requirement. Vent, drain and sampling points are considered according to
service requirements.
The potential for damage due to corrosion in piping must be addressed in the design stage
itself and appropriate material and service class shall be selected. Extra measures shall be
taken to avoid external as well internal corrosion by providing coating or lining or painting etc.
Underground piping is in general protected by providing cathodic protection.
Internal Wear:
Depending on the service conditions, internal erosion and wear of the piping also posses
unseen threat of system failure. If the prevailing conditions are known then material selected
shall be accordingly suitable and piping design shall be such that minimum wear takes place. In
this type of services, short radius elbows and returns are avoided.
Thermal expansion:
For high temperature service piping, compensation for the resultant expansion and contraction
due to temperature changes should be considered both in piping and supports. Suitable
expansion loops shall be given as per standard so that line strength is not exposed to sever
stresses. Similarly the additional load which shall be born by the piping shall be known when
these are to be connected to equipment nozzles and vice versa (Piping load to be born by
equipment shall also be conveyed to equipment manufacturer.)
Another important factor in process piping system is consideration of presence of condensate.
This condensate shall be drained intermitantly in the system and it should not gets accumulated
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in the vertical loop of the piping. The accumulated condensate in a piping can stop the flow of
the fluid in the piping. During the stoppage and start-up of the process plant this condensate
plays an important role and shall be taken care otherwise it can lead to failure of the system.
Standards
There are various standards and codes for designing process piping. In petro chemical
industries and refineries in general ASME standard is followed. e.g. ASME B 31.3 is for piping
and B16.5 is for Steel pipe flanges. Pipe fittings shall be as per ASTM A-234. These standards
include the minimum design requirement for various pressure piping system, thickness of pipe,
supports type of expansion joints etc. In case of complex and heavy wall piping combination of
two or more standards are also followed depending upon the severity of the system. The most
stringent check of all the standards shall be considered applicable in case of more than one
standard is followed.
For all process piping size 2 and above, butt joints are made but below 1.5 NB piping, socket
welded joints may be made as per design requirements. Threaded joints are normally
permitted if specified in the piping specifications.
All pipes of class 300lbs and above shall be of seam-less construction un-less or otherwise
specified in the piping specifications. Galvanised piping is generally recommended to be used
where the service temperature is below 60 C.
Piping system is subjected to total loads i.e. internal pressure due to flowing fluid and self
weight of the pipe. Load due to fluids are normally the sustained loads but occasionally
additional loads or force are also born by the system. These are intermittent loads e.g.
hydrostatic test etc. Piping systems are also subjected to other dynamic loads while in service
e.g. water hammering due to accumulated condensate and energy released by pressure safety
devices. These dynamic loads may also cause vibration in a piping system due to impact of
fluctuating force or pressure acting on the system.
Piping codes gives the required design criteria for a particular piping system and in general
following factors are to be considered for any piping design .
-
Material
Allowable stresses
Allowable dead loads

Allowable live loads
Min pipe wall thickness (para 304.1.2 of ANSI B31.3)
Min. Thread depth in case of pipes less than 1.5 ND
Maximum deflection
Seismic loads
Thermal expansion
Corrosion allowance
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Factor of safety
Codes for piping pipe fittings and valves are separate. But all the details shall be specified in
the construction isometrics. Construction isometrics shall contain following informations:
Pipe Number
Pipe Class
Insulation Class
Support class
Pipe Size
Main dimensions for assembly
Deatil dimensions for valves & spool pieces
Point of reference
Instruments
Pipe supports
Part List
For process piping design ASME B31.3 includes selection of material, design, fabrication,
assembly, erection, examination, inspection and testing.
Welding joints of pipes and fittings also plays an important role. For any process piping, PQR
(procedure qualification record), WPS(Welding Procedure Specifications) and QAP (Quality
assurance plan) are made with reference to the standards. These documents gives the details
of type of welding, type of electrodes, qualification of welder, preheat and post weld heat
treatment cycles, inspection and testing to be done etc for any piping.
Quality assurance plan and Procedure qualification records are generally developed in
workshops anf for this many destructive tests are also performed along with Non-destructive
tests. Based on these recorded documents, NDT (Non Destructive Test) which consists of DPT
(Dye Penetrating Test) Radiography/ X-Ray , Ultrasonic(UT) MP(Magnetic Particle Test) test
etc are to be carried out on actual job.
Piping material are selected based on the piping specifications. It may be carbon steel (CS),
stainless steel (SS) or alloy steel (AS) of different grades. Pipe wall thicknesses are also
specified in piping specifications. Pipe thicknesses are related to various Schedule which gives
standard thicknesses of specified size of pipe. These schedules are, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, sd, Xs,
60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160 and XXS. All sizes of pipes are not available in all schedules.
In selection of a pipe, the most important factors are system pressure, temperature and type
of fluids (corrosive or non corrosive). In high temperature services, where plane carbon steel
pipes may not be suitable then alloy steel grades are selected depending on their service class.
In corrosive fluid services in general stainless steel of various grades are used however for
conc. Acids SS piping is not suitable in that case cast iron piping is found most suitable. These
days lined pipings are becoming popular for corrosive fluids.
In general in piping classes higher than 300#, seamless pipes are being used. However
depending on economics and service criticality, welded pipes are also used. Welded pipes may
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be ERW (Electric Resistence Welded) or spiral welded or fusion welded type.

Regarding the pipe fittings, standards and codes specified the types of fittings to be used in a
particular class of piping. Pipe fittings includes Elbow (45 & 90, SW & BW), Bends (Short
Radius and Long Radius, 90 & 180), Tee (Equal and un-equal, Socket Weld & Butt Weld),
Flanges (Slip-On Raised Face , Weld Neck Raised Face & SW), Socket, reducer sockets,
Couplings, half-couplings, Reducer (Conc. & Eccentric SW & BW) , Socko-let, threado-let,
weldo-let, nippo-let, Blind flange, spectacle blinds etc.
Generally in all piping class in sizes below 11/2 NB all fittings are used in Socket Weld versions
and in Socket weld fittings the min. class available is 3000#. Above this class, 6000# and
9000# are available. All piping above 11/2 NB size butt joints are used for welding un-less or
other wise specified for particular service. For drinking water service, Galvanised piping is used
with threaded joint fittings.
In case of Flanges, there are many classes of flanges specified by rating 150lb, 300lb, 600lb,
900lb, 1500lb, 2500lb etc. For special purpose in other standards, other classes of flanges are
also used. These rating depend upon the service class or pressure & Temperature only.
Type of flanges:
SORF-Slip On Raised Face
WNRF-Weld Neck Raised Face
WNRJ-Weld Neck Ring Joint
SWRF-Socket Welded Raised Face
Flanges are manufactured as per ASME B 16.5 and ASME B 16.10. B-16-10 covers the
dimension of flanges, PCD of bolt circle, dia of holes, face to face dimension, thickness of
flange, OD of flange, bore of flange etc. While ASME B16.50 standards covers pressure &
temperature ratings, tolerances, marking, testing, deviation and acceptable limits etc. This is
internationally accepted practice.
Some ASME Standards are given below
ASME/ANSI B16.1 - 1998 - Cast Iron Pipe Flanges and Flanged Fittings
ASME/ANSI B16.3 - 1998 - Malleable Iron Threaded Fittings
ASME/ANSI B16.4 - 1998 - Cast Iron Threaded Fittings
ASME/ANSI B16.5 - 1996 - Pipe Flanges and Flanged Fittings
ASME/ANSI B16.9 - 2001 -Wrought Steel Butt welding Fittings
ASME/ANSI B16.10 - 2000 - Face-to-Face and End-to-End Dimensions of Valves
ASME/ANSI B16.11 - 2001 - Forged Steel Fittings, Socket-Welding and Threaded
ASME/ANSI B16.12 - 1998 - Cast Iron Threaded Drainage Fittings
ASME/ANSI B16.20 - 1998 - Metallic Gaskets for Pipe Flanges-Ring-Joint, Spiral-Would, and
Jacketed
ASME/ANSI B16.21 - 1992 - Nonmetallic Flat Gaskets for Pipe Flanges
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ASME/ANSI B16.28 - 1994 - Wrought Steel Buttwelding Short Radius Elbows and Returns
Some Sketch of Piping Fittings given Bolow :
Weldolet
Weldolets are used for making branches in the piping system. The size of the
weldolet specifies the size of the main line, size of the branch line, schedule of the main line
and schedule of the branch line along with MOC.
Nippolet: Nippolets are also used for making branches in the piping system but for small sizes
and in particular for making drains and vents. The rating of the Nippolet shall confirm to rating
of the main line, along with MOC.
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Threadolet: Threadolets are also used for making branches in the piping system but for small
sizes and in particular for making openings for fixing Thermo-well etc. The rating of the
Threadolet shall confirm to rating of the main line, along with MOC.
Letrolet: Lettrolets are used for making branches in the piping system at the Elbows for small
sizes and in particular for fixing thermo well etc threaded letrolets are used. The rating of the
letrolet shall confirm to rating of the main line, along with MOC. Butwelded letrolets are also
known as elbolets.
Sweepolet Sweepolet are used for making branches in the piping system without reinforncing.
The size of the sweepolet specifies the size of the main line, size of the branch line, schedule of
the main line and schedule of the branch line along with MOC. Both joints are Butt Weld joints
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Standard form of Branching
VALVES:
Valves are basically used to allow or restrict flow of fluid in the piping as per process
requirement. There are various type of valves which are used for specific services in industries.
End connection of these valves may be with flanges or welded end. Welding end may be Butt
weld type or socket weld type. For socket weld valves the min. class for any type of valves is
800lb. However for flanged valves the classes are based on the flange classes. E.g. 150#,
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300#, 600#, 900#, 1500# and 2500# etc.

GATE VALVE:-Gate Valves are specifically intended for use as isolation applications. These
valves creating minimum pressure drops across them and they are used for ON and OFF
applications. Although they can be used for throttling but the service life gets reduced due to
wear out seats.
GLOBE VALVE :-
Globe valves open more rapidly than a gate valve as the disc only needs to
move a small distance from its seat to allow full flow but due to change in direction in flow,
resistance to flow increases and this also generates turbulence in the flow. This results in a
higher pressure drop across globe valves than gate valve. These valves are used to control the
flow in the process lines.
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MATERIAL SPECIFICATION GATE/GLOB VALVES

Name of Part
Specification
1 Body
ASTM A105
2 Bonnet/Cap
ASTM A105
3 Stem
AISI 410
4 Gate/Disc
13% Cr. Steel with

suitable Seating surface
5 Body Seat
Ring*
13% Cr. Steel with

suitable Seating surface
6 Stem Packing
Graphite
7 Handwheel
Ductile Iron or Steel
8 Bolts/Studs
ASTM A193 Gr.B7
9 Gasket
Spirally wound SS 304

with Graphite filler
International standards & codes followed for design of valve AP1-600 & API-602 for valve
design, ASME B16.10 for face to face dimension of flange valves, API 598 for pressure testing
of valves etc.
For any valve following are the main parts which plays important roll in its performance.
1.
Body of the Valve
2.
Bonnet of the Valve
3.
Stem of the Valve
4.
Wedge & Disc
5.
Seat
6.
Stem gland Packing
7.
Gland Bush
8.
Yoke
9.
Gland stud & Nut
10.
Gland Flange
The material of construction of the above parts varies with the service class of the valves and
is generally standardized by the manufacturers.
The word TRIM in case of Valves means combination of seat and disc (wetted portion) of
valve and the gland packing. Trim number specify the particular combination of disc/stem/and
seat with gland packing will be used. These are the most vulnerable parts of the valve and this
defines the performance of valve.
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CHECK VALVES :-
Check valves or Non-Return Valve are very - very important part of piping.
It is used to allow fluid to flow in one direction only i.e. when the upstream of a check valve is
more than the downstream pressure then it will allow forward flow only but vice versa is not
possible.
Check valves are in generally of two type. One is swing type check valve, others are lift or plug
type check valve. Type of valves to be used depends upon the service and operating conditions
of the piping.
SWING CHECK VALVE OR NRV
Disc type Check Valve or NRV
DISC CHECHK VALVES :- The disc type check valve mainly use a spring loaded disc which is
seated on a seat due to spring force. The differential pressure required to open the check
valve is determined by the type of the spring used. Where the differential pressure across the
valve is small no spring is used simply a disc with a stem works as check valve. otherwise
spring or Heavy duty spring are used.
STEM SEALING :-
In order to prevent leakage of the process fluid from and along the Stem of
the valve, a barrier must be placed around the stem for sealing. Stem sealing is generally
achieved by providing gland packing (usually a low cost item) or metallic flexible bellow
(Expensive). Bellows are more effective for achieving Zero leakage, whereas gland sealing is
not a Zero leakage arrangement and also require to be changed periodically.
LINERA MOVEMENT VALVE STEM OPTION
Linear movement valves are available with a number of different stem arrangement:
Rising/non-rising stems- In rising stem valves, stem will move vertically upward when the
valve is opened by turning of wheel. Where as in non-rising stem valves, stem rotates in its
position only when the valves is being operated.
In rising stem valves, the length of exposed stem directly indicates the degree of valve
opening, which in turn roughly reflects the amount or percentage of flow through the valve.
Valves with rising stems do however require more space above the bonnet to accommodate
the rising stem in the fully opened condition. The use of non-rising stem type valves is
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recommended where contamination is to be controlled. E.g. in dairy product plants etc.

In-side/Out-side stem screw Rising and non/ rising stem type globe valves are known as
Inside/Outside stem threads. On a stem the actuating threads on the stem are situated outside
the valve body and are not exposed to the process fluid. As screw threads are particularly
susceptible to corrosion outside screw should always by used on fluids with corrosive or erosive
properties. They are also beneficial where the valve is frequently exposed to large temperature
variations, as the expansion and contraction of the stem may cause binding of the threads
inside the body.
Pipe Sizing:- The objective of the pipe lines is to allow or supply fluid at correct pressure and
flow to the desired point of usage. Pressure drop across the distribution system of a fluid is an
important parameter. Additionally there exist some losses due to friction between the fluid and
pipe wall. Total pressure drop losses depends upon following parameters:
L= Length of the pipe in meter (M)
D= Dia. of the pipe in meter (M)
U= Mean velocity of the fluid in Kg/ms
r= Density of the fluid in Kg/m3
Ks= Roughness of the pipe wall
The roughness of the pipe inside wall plays an important role. The head loss due to friction can
be calculated through DArcys equation and Reynolds number chart with the help of formula :
hf =4FLu2/2Gd or hf =fLu2/2gd
Where hf =head loss(m)
F =Friction factor
L =Length of pipe(m)
u=Flow velocity of fluid (m/s)
g =Gravitational constant(9.8)
D =Dia of pipe(m)
The Optimum size of pipe should be selected for better flow of fluid and less friction and
minimum pressure drop. Oversize or undersize pipe, both leads to disadvantages more than the
advantages. In case of undersize pipe lines, greater risk of erosion due to high velocity will
always be there. Water hammer and starvation in down stream equipments (in case of steam)
and noise will be there due to increase in velocity.
Pressure drop can be calculated from the pressure factor chart. Velocity is an important factor
in deciding of pipe line size for particular service. There are many chart and formula for
calculation these
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