Piping Design and Heuristics

Instructor: Dr. Chandra Mouli M.R.

Chemical Engineering Department

Objectives – piping design/heuristics:
Studying tube/pipe properties such as:
• Length
• Diameter
• Thickness (schedule)
• Pressure rating
• Standards
• Fabrication method
• Material
• Process parameters
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 Piping design procedure:
1. Design for Flow
– Find min diameter to achieve desired flow
velocity
2. Design for Pressure Integrity
– Find min wall thickness for process and
external conditions
– Find appropriate rating of in-line components
3. Re-check for Flow Criteria

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 Pipe vs. tube
Tubes and pipes may be differentiated by the
characterized dia (especially for <12” dia).

Tube: OD
Pipe: ID

However, tubes and pipes are in general used

interchangeably; pipes are also
characterized by their OD (for dia > 12”) and
schedule number. 4
 Pipes vs. tubes (cont’d)
• Usually the tube OD is fabricated with more
production tolerance (& smoother) than the
ID of pipe.
• Fabrication method:
– Pipe: seamless (cast), rolled and spiral welded.
– Tube: seamless, mostly.

• Pipes are available in larger sizes, while larger

tubes become more expensive.
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 Fabrication of steel pipes

Seamless

Butt-Welded

Spiral-Welded
Pic: Parisher 6
 Carbon steel pipe manufacturing

E = 100 % E = 80 % E = 60 %

Strength factor from ANSI B.31.1.0

Pic: Parisher 7
 Piping material selection
§10, Peters et al., “Plant design and economics for chemical
engineers”, 5th Ed, 2003.

Property
Table No.
AISI standards for carbon steel (10-2)
Properties of different steels (10-4)
Stainless Steel selection at high T (10-5)
Alloys for high T (10-7)
Selection of metals/alloys at low T (10-6)
Corrosion resistance to chemicals (10-8)
Properties of different plastics (10-9)

AISI: American Iron and Steel Institute

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 Tube/pipe characterization
Pressure rating = long-term pressure, tolerable

General

t Thickness (inch) -> allowance for corrosion?

P Pressure rating (psig)
Do Outside diameter (inch)
E Joint efficiency (E = 0.6-1: 1 fully examined)
S Maximum allowable stress (psig)
Y Thickness coefficient ( Y~0.4; higher at higher T)
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Tube/pipe characterization (cont’d)

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Pressure rating of Swagelok S.S tubes:

www.swagelok.com 11
 Pipe measurements

Pic: Parisher 12
 NB = Nominal bore
Sch= Schedule
OD = Outside diameter

Pic: pneumax 13
 Pipe thickness classification base
on:
• Weight
– Standard (STD)
– extra strong (XS)
– double extra strong (XXS)
• Schedule
– 10, 20, 30, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 140, 160
• Fraction, or decimal
– Metric (i.e., 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, …cm)
– Imperial (i.e., 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, …inch)
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 Tube/pipe
ASTM
standards
American Society of Testing and Materials
ANSI American National Standard Institute
ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers
API American Petroleum Institute
BWG Birmingham Wire Gauge
BS British Standard
DN Diamètre Nominal
DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung
GOAST Gosudartsvenny Standarty
ISO International Standard Organization
JIS Japanese Industrial Standard
NPS Nominal Pipe Size
SAE Society of Automotive Engineer
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Tube/pipe standards
American: ASTM, ASME, ANSI, API, NPS
British: BS, BSI, BWG
German: DIN, DN
Russian: GOAST
Indian: IS
Japanese: JIN
International: ISO, SAE

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The two most common reference
dimensional standards for pipes

Pic: Smith 17
 ASME piping references
For a complete reference size on steel and stainless
steel pipes, you may refer to:

P. Smith, “Piping materials selection and application, Elsevier,

2005.

Steel: P. 147 - 167

Stainless steel: P. 167 - 170

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 Steel piping standards (Pic: Smith)

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 Steel piping standards ⅛ -1¼ inch (Pic: Smith)

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 Steel piping standards 1½ -2½ inch (Pic: Smith)

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 Steel piping standards 3 -4 inch (Pic: Smith)

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 Steel piping standards 4 -6 inch (Pic: Smith)

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 Steel piping standards 6 -10 inch (Pic: Smith)

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 Steel piping standards 10 -12 inch (Pic: Smith)

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 Stainless steel piping standards ⅛ -2 inch (Pic: Smith)

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 Stainless steel piping standards 2½ -10 inch (Pic: Smith)

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 Stainless steel piping standards 12 -30 inch (Pic: Smith)

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 Available pipe length cut
H:
• Single cut (L = 16 to 20 ft)
• Double cut (L = 35 to 40 ft)
• Cut length (L (ft) ± ⅛ inch)

Pic: Parisher 29
 Suggested
velocities

Pic: Hall 30
 Inline velocity and pressure drop
v (ft/s) ΔP (psi/100 ft)
Liquid, discharge 5 + D/3 2
Liquid, suction 1.3 + D/6 0.4
Steam/gas 20×D 0.5
D in inch

Ref: Walas 31
 Pressure rating at different T
As T increases, the safe P operating condition
decreases
400 for a piping system.
350 #150 Carbon Steel
285
300 260
250 230
P (psig)

200
200 170
140125
150 11 095
100 80 65
50 35
50 20
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
T (°F)
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Tube/piping auxiliary
Piping attachments such as flanges or fittings are
pressure rated at:
150, 300, 600, 900, 1500 and 2500 psig

A list of piping attachments is shown in the

following:

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Piping attachments

Coupling

Reducing Coupling

Union

Flange
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Pic: MTU
Piping attachments – direction change

Fittings for changing

directions in pipe:
45o Ell

90o Ell

Street Ell

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Pic: MTU
Piping attachments – adding a branch

Cross

Te e

Pic: MTU 36
Piping attachments – end blocking

Pipe plug

Pipe cap

Blind Flange

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Pic: MTU
Piping attachments - Adaptors

Nipple

Reducing bushing

Pic: MTU 38
 Pic credits
Parisher
• R.A. Parisher and R.A. Rhea, Pipe Drafting and Design, 3rd Ed., 2011.
pneumax
• http://www.pneumax.co.th/Article/Pipe-Tube.php
Mobley
• R.K. Mobley, Plant Engineering Handbook, 2001, Butterworth-Heinemann
Hall
• S. Hall, “Rules of thumb for Chemical Engineers”, 2012, Elsevier.
Walas
• S.M. Walas, Chemical Process Equipment, selection and design.
MTU
• www.chem.mtu.edu (course M4120)

Smith
• P. Smith, “Piping materials selection and applications”, Elsevier, 2005.

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