22  Chapter 1

Class 4 (areas where multi-story buildings are prevalent, where traffic is heavy or dense, and where
there may be numerous other utilities underground). Higher allowable stress, thus lower safety fac-
tor, is used for areas with lower location classes. Location Class 1 is further divided into Division
1 and Division 2, two types of construction depending on the pressure used in the hydrostatic test.
Higher allowable stress is permitted for Division 1 for testing at higher pressure. Stress calculations
are mainly based on nominal wall thickness of the pipe, and the allowable stresses are mainly based
on the SMYS.
•  Class 1 Nuclear Piping (B&PV Code, Section III, Subsection NB)
The Class 1 nuclear piping code adopts an entirely different philosophy from other piping codes.
It emphasizes the “Design by Analysis” approach, and strict “Quality Control” and “Quality Assur-
ance” attitude. The intent is to eliminate all uncertain guesswork. The code requires that all minor,
as well as major, transients and operating cycles be considered. Primary stress, secondary stress,
peak stress, local structural discontinuity, and thermal gradient stress all need to be calculated. Ac-
tual stress intensification factors are used in the calculation of both primary and secondary stresses.
This is in contrast to B31, which uses only one-half of the theoretical stress intensification factor in
the calculation of thermal expansion stress (see Chapters 3 and 4 for further discussions). Extensive
dynamic analyses on earthquake, steam/water hammer, and vibration are required for most of the
piping systems. A fatigue analysis is also required for highly stressed components. Because of the
large amount of calculations involved, it is not uncommon for an engineer or a group of engineers
to spend more than a year designing and analyzing a single Class 1 piping system.
The basic safety factor used by the Class 1 piping is 3.0 against the ultimate strength of the pipe.
This may appear to be less conservative than the B31.1 power piping, which uses a safety factor of
3.5. However, by combining the additional calculations performed, higher stress intensification fac-
tor used, and strict quality assurances required by Class 1 piping, the “real safety factor” for Class
1 piping is much higher than the safety factor of the B31.1 power piping.
•  Class 2 and Class 3 Nuclear Piping (B&PV Code, Section III, Subsections NC and ND)
Basically, the requirements for Classes 2/3 nuclear piping are similar to the requirements of the
B31.1 power piping. However, as for all nuclear piping, the Classes 2/3 nuclear piping also requires
more quality control and quality assurance than the B31.1 piping. In addition, a separate set of
stress intensification factors is used for sustained and occasional stresses. This is a basic departure
from B31.1, which simply uses 75% of the stress intensification factor of the displacement stress
(or self-limiting stress) as the stress intensification factor for the sustained and occasional stresses.
(Stress intensification factors are defined and further explained in Chapters 3 and 4.)

All the sections and classes of codes are designed and formulated independently. Each section
or class starts out with its own requirements governing the following areas: methods of calculation,
amount of testing and inspection, stress basis, and so forth. Afterward, the allowable stresses are set
up for different categories of calculated stress. The stipulations and rules within a code are all inter-
related. Therefore, it is important that each section and class of the code be used in its entirety. It is
not permitted to use separate criteria from different sections of the code on any given piping system.
For instance, it may be permissible to design a Class 2 nuclear piping with Class 1 requirements, but
we cannot simply use the higher allowable stress given by the Class 1 piping. Moreover, the stresses
calculated in each different class of piping are not always calculated with the same basis. This makes
cross use of the code class and section very hazardous.

1.5  INDUSTRY PRACTICE

In the design of a piping system, although more and more emphasis is placed on “Design by Analy-
sis”, there are many items that are either impossible to analyze or simply too expensive to analyze.