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Nuclear Piping Design Code Evolution

Nuclear piping design has evolved since the 1960s through various codes published by ASME. Originally, ASME B31.1 Power Piping was used, along with supplementary nuclear requirements. In the 1960s, Code Case N-1 addressed nuclear-specific design, which later became ASME B31.7 in 1969 and was incorporated into ASME Section III in 1971. Throughout this evolution, piping stresses were limited through a stress multiplier k applied to the allowable stress S. The value of k has increased over time from 1.2 to 3.0 for faulted conditions based on the classification of service levels from A to D. The allowable stress S remained largely unchanged until 1999 when the design margin

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18 views2 pages

Nuclear Piping Design Code Evolution

Nuclear piping design has evolved since the 1960s through various codes published by ASME. Originally, ASME B31.1 Power Piping was used, along with supplementary nuclear requirements. In the 1960s, Code Case N-1 addressed nuclear-specific design, which later became ASME B31.7 in 1969 and was incorporated into ASME Section III in 1971. Throughout this evolution, piping stresses were limited through a stress multiplier k applied to the allowable stress S. The value of k has increased over time from 1.2 to 3.0 for faulted conditions based on the classification of service levels from A to D. The allowable stress S remained largely unchanged until 1999 when the design margin

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debarun07
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7/24/2014 Becht Nuclear Services

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Jul 24, 2014
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Nuclear Piping Design Margins - A Brief
History
Code Evolution
Prior to 1969 the design and construction code for piping systems in nuclear power plants
was ASME B31.1 Power Piping, with supplementary requirements specific to nuclear power.
To this day, ASME B31.1 remains the applicable code for pre-1969 plants, and for non-safety
related piping in all plants.
In 1962 a nuclear code case was published (ASA B31.1 Code Case N-1 General
Requirements for Nuclear Power-Plant Piping) to address the design requirements specific to
nuclear piping, what today is referred to as safety class 1, 2 and 3 piping systems.
With time, Code Case N-1 evolved in a new code in 1969, the ASME B31.7 Code for Nuclear
Power Piping. This code remained applicable until 1971, when the design and construction
requirements for nuclear power plant piping were folded into the ASME Boiler and Pressure
Vessel Code, Section III Division 1, which until then was a nuclear pressure vessel code.
The Allowable Stress Multiplier
Throughout this evolution, the design of piping systems in nuclear power plants relied, in part,
in limiting the calculated stresses in the piping system to a multiple k of the allowable stress
S, so that in its simplest form
Calculated stress < k S
The first k multiplier was 1.2 in ASME B31.1-1967 for occasional loads, a term introduced to
differentiate these loads from sustained loads. This factor k of 1.2 remains applicable to this
day in ASME B31.1.
In 1970, Code Case 70 introduced four classes of events: normal, upset, emergency, and
faulted. Later, in 1977, this nomenclature was changed to Service Levels A, B, C and D.
Based on these four classes of events, in 1972 (with piping design now part of ASME III) an
allowable stress multiplier k of 2.4 was assigned to faulted events. The k factor was set at 1.2
for upset conditions, and 1.8 for emergency conditions with, in each case, additional limits
against yield stress.
In 1981, together with the introduction of stress indices for Class 2 and 3 piping, the k factor
was increased to 1.5 for design (sustained loads), 1.8 for Level B, 2.25 for Level C, and 3.0 for
Level D with, as before, additional limits against yield stress.
The Allowable Stress
Unlike the k multiplier, the allowable stress S has had few changes. In fact it remained
unchanged since its introduction in 1955 in B31.1 until 1999.
For steel piping operating below the creep regime, the allowable stress S is the lesser of a
fraction of the minimum yield stress or the minimum ultimate stress, in other words
S = smaller of (yield / DM
y
) and (ultimate / DM
u
)
For Class 2 and 3 piping, the design margin against ultimate DM
u
has always been 4, until
1999, when it was reduced to 3.5. The same reduction occurred in ASME B31.1, first as a
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Code Case in 2000, then in the Code itself in the 2005 addendum.
This change in design margin from 4 down to 3.5 has practical repercussions. Taking for
example the common SA 106 Grade B carbon steel pipe, the allowable stress at 100
o
F
which used to be 15 ksi (1/4 of the minimum ultimate strength of 60 ksi) is now 17.1 ksi
(1/3.5 of the minimum ultimate strength of 60 ksi).
//

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