Piping Inspection

Introduction: General principles

Most pipework in process plants has a regular periodicity of inspection. There are no
hard-and-fast rules; in fact pipework is normally one of the first areas of a plant to be
subject to risk-based inspection (RBI) techniques. Table 1 shows typical inspection
periods for a chemical process plant. Note how the pipework systems are divided
into grades, which relate to the risk profile of the system.

Table 1 Typical process plant pipework inspection periods

Grade 3
Piping systems Grade 0 Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3
review period
Inspection period
36 48 96 144 84
(months)

API 570 inspection of process pipework

API 570 is the most commonly used technical standard to provide guidance on
pipework inspections. It is a sister standard to API 510, which gives similar coverage
for pressure vessels.

The outline content of API 570:

• Inspection and testing practices.
• Frequency and extent of inspections.
• Thickness calculations.
• Repair, alteration and re-rating.
• Inspection of buried pipelines.

The scope of API 570

Includes almost any metallic piping system:

• Raw and finished oil products.

• Raw and finished chemical products.
• Hydrogen/fuel/flare systems.
• Sour/waste systems etc.

Excluded from API 510:

• Water, steam and condensate.
• Piping related to mechanical equipment (pumps/compressors etc).
• Pressure vessels.
• Domestic sewers, etc.
• Anything less than ½ inch diameter.
• Non-metallic piping.

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Piping Inspection
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Note that not all pipework systems fall within the scope of API 570. It concentrates
on higher-risk systems rather than small bore (or utility) pipework.

The main technical content of API 570 covers the 11 separate risk areas shown
below. It explains the scope and nature of recommended inspections in each of
these areas.

The 11 risk areas identified by API 570

Checks are needed for specific types of corrosion and cracking at:

1 Injection points.
2 Dead legs.
3 Corrosion under insulation CUI.
4 Soil/air (S/A) interfaces.
5 Erosion and erosion/corrosion.
6 Corrosion under linings.
7 Fatigue cracking.
8 Creep cracking.
9 Brittle fracture.
10 Freeze damage.

One of the more important areas is near injection points. These are a common
source of corrosion. API 570 defines the extent of the injection point circuit (IPC) that
surrounds the injection point and has to be inspected on a regular basis. Figure 1
shows the IPC, as used by most process and refinery plants.

Injection point inspection areas

Inspection required
Direction of flow 12 inches or 3D upstream

Injection point

This zone is known as

the IPC (injection point
circuit)

Figure 5 The injection point circuit, as defined by API 570.

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Piping Inspection
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API 570 pipework classes
API 570 defines three levels of pipework class. Although these are generalisations,
they are generally applicable to many process plant types. Some plant users alter
them slightly, whilst retaining general compliance with the spirit of API 570.

API 570 risk classes

Class 1 – Highest risk/consequence
Class 1 definitions:
• Flammable services/flash off leading to brittle fracture.
• Explosive vapours after flash off.
• H2S gaseous.
• Hydrofluoric acid.
• Piping over public areas.

Class 2 – medium risk

Class 2 definitions:
• Most other process piping
• On-site hydrocarbons
• H2, fuel gas and natural gas
• On-site acids and caustics

Class 3 – low risk

Class 3 definitions
• Fluids that will not flash off (even if they are flammable).
• Distillate/product storage/loading lines.
• Off-site acids and caustics.

API 570 inspection intervals

The maximum permitted interval depends upon the pipe class.

The API 570 maximum inspection intervals (by class)

Type of circuit Thickness measurement External visual

Class 1 5 years 5 years
Class 2 10 years 10 years
Class 3 10 years 10 years
Injection points 3 years By class
Soil/air Interfaces -- By class

Pipeline hydrotesting
The major difference between hydrotesting of pipelines and vessels is that when
testing pipelines it is very difficult to exclude all the air. A special procedure is

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Piping Inspection
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therefore used in which air volume/pressure drop are calculated, and an acceptable
leakage rate defined.

Typical pipeline hydrotest procedure

• Pressurise to test pressure.
• Calculate the volume of water added.
• Calculate the volume of entrapped air.
• Thermal stabilisation.
• Hold for 24 hours, record the volume of water added to maintain pressure.
• Compare the results with code acceptance criteria.

A typical acceptance level?

Pipeline hydrotest acceptance level
A rule of thumb acceptance level (for pipelines which are not specified as zero
leakage is:

1 gallon per inch diameter per mile of pipeline per day for each 100ft of pressure
head

Equivalent to: 0.1 litres per mm pipe diameter per km of pipeline per day for each
30m of pressure head.

Rev 2 January 2009

Piping Inspection
Copyright © TWI Ltd 2009