Registered & Head Office:

TUV INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED

801, Raheja Plaza-1,
L.B.S. Marg, Ghatkopar (W),
Mumbai - 400 086
Phone : (+91) (22) 6647 7000
Fax : (+91) (22) 6647 7009
E-mail : mumbai@tuv-nord.com
Website : www.tuvindia.co.in

Industrial services circular no 2013-06 dated 26.4.13

Issue no 15

Gentlemen ,

We are here with giving some information of steel products as summarized below

Information about flanges and pipe fittings

We have slip on or welding neck flanges , which we normally use for the
pressure vessel nozzles are mostly forged .

Sometimes you need to use large diameter fabricated flanges called the

girth flanges for connecting two parts of an equipment .

Such flanges are designed first to get the dimensions and then fabricated
from plates.

We cannot select a plate just like that , cut a flange segments , weld it and
machine it .

There is restriction governed by Appendix 2 of the ASME sec VIII div1 , if

the flange has to be used for pressure vessel designed under this code .

Page 1 of 8
 ase see be
Plea elow

atement frrom Appendix 2 ma

e above sta
The ay look at ffirst a bit c
confusing .

We clarify thiis as below

w.

Let us say w
we need a fflange with
h the dime
ension as below

OD 3600 mm x ID 3500
0 mm X Th
hk 100 mm
m.

Since the orig

ginal plate has to be parallel to
e surface h t axis of the flange
e , it
is o
only possib
ble , whenn the surfa
ace at interrnal and outer
o meters are the
diam
orig
ginal surfa
ace of the plate .

In other
o word
ds the flange has to be cut fro
om such a plate whe ere difference
O and ID of the flan
in OD nge divide
ed by 2 is tthe plate thickness.
t

In our
o case th
he required plate thiickness w
will

(360
00-3500)/2
2 = 50 mm
m.

So y
you have to use a 5
50 mm platte to make
e this girth
h flange

50 m
mm plate of
o required materiall grade is cut as strrips.

Page 2 of 8
The width of strip has to be more than the thickness of the flange .

The strips are coiled like a ring and ends welded .

Then taken up for NDT and machining .

Now reverting back standard flanges .

We have Slip on and Welding neck which are most popular

Here we have three main dimensions , ID , OD and thickness

Thickness of the flange is common for both SLIP ON and WELDING NECK
type and it is governed by pressure rating of the flange .

The difference is in the ID of both the flanges .

As the name implies , SLIP ON means simply slipped over a pipe .

The ID of the SLIP ON flange will be more than the designated OD of the
pipe for ease of insertion and welding . The welding can be a fillet weld on
both side or can be groove and fillet on the back side of the flange .

You can simply order a SLIP ON flange by stating the pressure rating and
gasket face finish , if you need a flange of size 24 inch and below

In the case of WELDING NECK flanges the issue is different .

This flange is welded with a butt weld to the pipe .

Though the OD of the pipe remains constant , the ID varies according to

pipe schedule .

As the welding neck flange is butt welded to pipe , the ID of the pipe and ID
of the flange has to match within permissible limit.
Page 3 of 8
The flange manufacturer need to have data on schedule / wall thickness of
the pipe to be welded .

Gasket face finish is another important data for flange .

Gasket face finishes are specified to suit the gaskets that will be used .

Wrong combination of gasket and gasket face will never work .

16 to 32 µ inch ( microinch ) is the smoothest gasket face finish specified

and it is suitable for PTFE ( Teflon) gaskets

125 to 250 µ inch is the roughest gasket face finish specified and it was
used for 3.2 mm thick CAF gaskets ( now not in use)

As the Ra range increases from 16 to 250 µ inch , the surface becomes

rougher and rougher .

Most popular finish is 63-125 µ inch Ra meant for Spiral wound Gaskets

The function of the gasket is to resist the radial pressure of the process
fluid and stop it from leaking .

Each type of gasket has its own unique way of sealing .

In case of CAF rough gasket face bites into the gasket and holds on to it .

Spiral wound gaskets which sits on a smoother gasket face finish adheres
to the surface .

Gaskets of PTFE , RUBBER etc spreads on the gasket face due to bolting
action .

Page 4 of 8
We do have solid metal gasket for high pressure application called RTJ
gaskets . They are octagonal of shape .

They are placed between two flanges which have grooves

This groove have three surfaces . Base and the two inclined sides .

When a ring gasket is compressed between two flanges , the pressure

pushes the gasket side ways against the inclined surface of the groove .

The gaskets thus seals the fluid.

Another important data for flange is the PCD and bolt hole size .

Both are decided by pressure rating of the flange .

As the bolt has to enter the hole without fouling the walls , the diameter of
bolt hole is always kept 2 mm more than the nominal size of the bolt or
stud . Thus we have a play between them .

Page 5 of 8
Let us talk about pipe fittings

During our inspection we encounter various types of pipe fittings such

elbows , reducers tees etc .

Each of them have a purpose .

Elbows and tees are used for branching out or changing the direction in a
piping system .

Reducers are used connect two pipes of different sizes .

We have two types , concentric reducer and eccentric reducer

When you have two different sizes of pipes kept on level surface, then you
need a eccentric reducer as the connecting piece .

Because the bottom of both pipes are in same plane , you need the fitting
also to be on the same plane.

Suppose if you encounter two different sizes of pipes which are aligned in
their axis then you need a concentric fitting.

We are deviating our discussion to ASME sec IIA code

Though the entire volume is pertaining to ferrous materials of various

forms , chemical composition and strength , there is one odd man out .

The specification SA 370 does not address any specific grade or form of
material .

Page 6 of 8
It siimply disc
cusses abbout how to remove e , machine and testt destructiive
equired for materials
testt pieces re s describe
ed in the o
other parts
s of the co
ode.

SA 370 only ttells you h

how to con
nduct the Tensile,
T B
Bend , Hard
dness and
d
Imp
pact test . But it does not spe
eak about acceptable values .

The
e acceptab
ble values are availaable underr respectiv
ve materia
al spec or
und
der SA 20 ffor various materialls

SA 20 speaks about general re

equiremen
nts as statted above

and
d also give
e data about orienta
ation of impact test p
pieces , im
mpact test
tem
mperaturess and acce
eptance reequirements of plate e materials

SA 20 also se
ets the tole
erances fo
or plate sizzes , thick dth and length
kness ,wid
.

Page 7 of 8
SA 480 is applicable for SS plates .

For applicability and property acceptance requirements of other products

the respective material spec need to be referred .

Pipes – SA 53 , SA 106 , SA 333 ,SA 312, SA 999

Flanges and forgings - SA 105 , SA 182 , SA 266, SA 350

Pipe fittings SA 234, SA 403 , SA 420

Tubes - SA 179, SA 192, SA 213,, SA 334, SA 450

Fasteners – SA 194 , SA 194, SA 320

It is very important for an inspector who is dealing with inspection of raw

materials to have complete understanding of SA 20 and SA 370 needs
apart from the requirements of individual material specification .

Regards

B.Raghunathan

Head -Technical

Page 8 of 8