PIPING ENGINEERING

Piping Layout- Procedure

Pipe Rack
Introduction – Piping Layout
• Piping Layout drawing, is a major source of information used in the fabrication and erection of the piping
facility. And when using the traditional, manual method of design, information on the Arrangement drawing
aids in the development of the piping model and isometric drawings.
• The Piping Layout drawing evolves from the Foundation Location and Equipment Location drawings. It shows
all mechanical equipment, including vessels in the unit and the pipes connecting them, including manholes,
ladders, platforms, cages, and davits. It identifies all structural steel supports such as the main and
miscellaneous pipe racks, equipment structures, columns, braces, and any fireproofing they may have. Once
locations for foundations and mechanical equipment have been established, piping configurations are
added to the drawing with the aid of symbols that represent fittings, flanges, and valves.
• Written information placed on the Arrangement drawing includes mechanical equipment coordinates,
identification numbers, elevation callouts, line numbers, flow arrows, and dimensions establishing pipe
locations. Instrumentation symbols are included to indicate type, position, and orientation for accessibility by
plant personnel. Ladders and platforms are also shown on equipment and structures that have them. A nozzle
schedule is included that contains detailed information about all piping and instrument connections for every
piece of mechanical equipment. Information such as nozzle number, size and pound rating, orientation,
elevation, and projection is also included. With so much required information on a drawing, it is easy to
understand why the Piping Arrangement drawing must be neat, accurate, and legible.
Documents required for developing the Piping Layout
A piping designer must assemble the various reference drawings and documents needed to lay out the Piping
Arrangement drawing. These may include:
• Design Basis for the project
• P & ID
• Plot Plan
• Equipment Layout
• Foundation drawing
• Piping Drawing Index
• Mechanical Equipment drawings (Vedor drawings/ data sheets)
• Mechanical / Piping Specifications
• Pipe Line list
Piping Layout Procedure
The following are the recommended procedures for layout of Piping Arrangement drawings:
1. Define proposed area outline or draw Match Lines.
2. Fill in drawing number and title block information.
3. Place a North Arrow in upper right-hand corner of the drawing.
4. Locate foundations for buildings, pipe rack columns, and mechanical equipment from the coordinates used to
develop the Foundation Location drawing and dimensions provided on the Equipment Foundation drawing.
5. Draw equipment foundations.
6. Lay out mechanical equipment. Represent mechanical equipment centerlines, outlines, and foundations.
7. Prepare a study drawing of each individual piping configuration in the facility. This procedure will allow the
designer to explore all requirements necessary for design, operation, and maintenance prior to the final layout.
8. Add platforms, ladders and cages, pipe guides, anchors, supports, and hangers as required.
9. Include line numbers, codes, specs, specialty item numbers, and callouts.
10. Place locating dimensions for piping.
11. Label coordinates for mechanical equipment, pipe supports, etc.
12. Add instrument balloons and callouts.
13. Include nozzle schedules and notes as required.
14. Add Match Line, Area Limit, and Battery Limit callouts, reference details, and Section or Elevation cutting plane
symbols.
Pipe Rack
A pipe rack is the main artery of a processing unit. It connects all equipment
with lines that cannot run through adjacent areas. Because it is located in the
middle of the most plants, the pipe rack must be erected first, before it
becomes obstructed by rows of equipment. Pipe racks carry process, utility
piping and also include instrument and electrical cable trays as well as
equipment mounted over all of these.
The load data w.r.t. Pipe Rack should include, the dead weight specified per
running meter, the thermal and occasional loading the piping will impart on to
the structure. The piping load will include forces and moments depending on
the type of support provided. The structural designer reinforces such bays on
the pipe rack to overcome these forces and moments.
The first step in the development of pipe rack is the generation of a line –
routing diagram. A Line-Routing Diagram is a schematic representation of all
process and utility- piping systems drawn on a copy of plot plan or it could be
planometric representation of the utility and process line diagrams. Although it
disregards the exact locations, elevations or interferences, it locates the most
congested area i.e. Piping Corridor. The piping corridor denotes the most
congested area between the two units so that main pipe rack, sub pipe rack,
common supporting structure can be planned, located & designed
accordingly.
The pipe rack splits the area into convenient parts. The pipe rack takes various shapes such as ‘straight’, ‘L’, ‘T’,
and ‘C’ or ‘U’. This configuration is based on the overall arrangement and site conditions.
The pipe lines on the rack are classified as process lines, relief line
headers and utility lines. The rack should accommodate the electrical
and instrument cable trays as well.
The width of pipe rack is estimated as follows….
W = (f x n x s) + A + B
Where,
f = Safety Factor.
= 1.5 if pipes are counted from the PFD.
= 1.2 if pipes are counted from the P & ID.
n = Number of lines in the densest area up to the size of 450 NB.
s = 300 mm (estimated average spacing).
= 225 mm (if lines are smaller than 250 NB).
A = Additional width for (200 – 250 mm)
Lines larger than 450 NB.
For instrument cable tray/duct.
For electrical cable tray.
B = Future provision.
= 20 % of (f x n x s)
Normally pipe rack width is limited to 6M. If the width worked out thus is more, then
the arrangement to be done in multiple layers.’
• Single Column Rack ‘T’ Type.
• Double Column Rack with a Single Tier.
• Double Column Rack with a Single Tier with extended arm
• Double Column Rack with a Double Tier.
Depending upon the type of plant the rack could be of steel, concrete or a
combination of both. The spacing between the bent/column of the pipe rack is
normally 5 to 6 meters. Wide spacing is necessary at road crossings or where
loading and access space are needed. The headroom clearance also depends
upon the type of crossings.

The headroom normally provided is as below :

Clear headroom under structures/pipe lines inside operating area. 7’(2200 mm)
Clear headroom above crest of road for crane movement 23’(7000 mm)
Clear headroom above crest of road for truck movement 20’(6000 mm)
Clear headroom above crest of road between process units 15’(4500 mm)
Pipe Rack Cross Section
Guidelines for Rack Piping
• Predominantly process lines are to be kept at a lower tier and, utility & hot process lines on the upper tier.
• Generally, hotlines & cold lines are to keep at different tiers or at different groups on a tier.
• Pipe Spacing inside Pipe rack - Minimum spacing between adjacent lines shall be decided based on O.D. of
bigger size flange (minimum rating 300# to be considered), O.D. of the smaller pipe, individual insulation
thickness, and additional 25mm clearance. Even if the flange is not appearing the min. spacing shall be
based on the above basis only.
• Bigger Size Lines - Large size lines (14” and larger) shall be arranged close to the column in order to decrease
the bending moment of the beam. Water lines more than 30” shall not be routed over pipe rack, these shall
be routed underground.
• Pipe Route - Racks shall be designed to give the piping shortest possible run and to provide clear head rooms
over main walkways, secondary walkways, and platforms.
• Trays - Generally, the top tier is to be kept for Electrical cable trays (if not provided in the underground
trench) and Instrument cable ducts/trays. Cable tray laying to take care of necessary clearances for the
fireproofing of structure.
• Battery Limit (ISBL) - Process lines crossing units (within units or from unit to the main pipe way) are normally
provided with a block valve, spectacle blind, and drain valve. Block valves are to be grouped and locations
of block valves in the vertical run of pipe are preferred. If the block valves have to be located in an
overhead pipe-way, staircase access to a platform above the lines shall be provided.
Guidelines for Rack Piping (continue….)
Change in direction of Piping - Piping should run at different
elevations along North-South and East-West directions. The basic
principle to be followed in such cases is change in direction,
change in elevation. Combined change in direction and change
in elevation is effected by 900 elbows. To achieve minimum
change in elevation, combination of 900 and 450 elbows may be
used.
Expansion Loop - Stress analysis will be done after the routing are
finalized but preliminary check is required to establish the
requirement and size of expansion loops. The related temperature
range can be obtained from the line list. The lines requiring
expansion loops are placed on the top level of the pipe rack. The
line that requires the largest expansion loop leg must be located
on the outside. The loop leg must be located on the outside. The
loop shall be arranged with the portion of the loop getting
elevated from the rack level by two 900 bends. This will allow the
straight run of other lines on the rack and also provide additional
flexibility
Fireproofing - Fireproofing, a passive fire protection measure,
refers to the act of making materials or structures more resistant
to fire, or to those materials themselves, or the act of applying
such materials. Applying a certification listed fireproofing
system to certain structures allows these to have a fire-
resistance rating. If hydrocarbons are prevalent in the plant, it is
a common practice to fireproof the columns just below the
lower support rack support beam. If air coolers or any other
equipment is located above the pipe rack, the fireproofing is
extended up to the equipment support beams. Fireproofing is
done on the rack column by covering these by Plain Cement
Concrete (PCC).
The failure point is generally considered to be 1000°F, as this is
the point where steel has lost approximately 50% of its structural
strength. The aim then, is to prevent structural steel from
reaching 1000°F for some period of time.