Piping Fundamentals
Piping Fundamentals – For Fresher Engineers
Piping System - What is that?
Concept Layout Development
Piping Components & their access requirement.
Straight length requirements.
Orientation of various tapings, components, etc.
Piping Drains & Vents
Insulation.
Material & Sizing
Critical piping system consideration.
Pipe Stress Analysis.
Pipe Supports
Piping Fundamentals – For Fresher Engineers
Let us first Discuss about WHAT IS PIPE!
It is a Tubular item made of metal, plastic, glass etc.
meant for conveying Liquid, Gas or any thing that
flows.
It is a very important component for any industrial
plant. And it’s engineering plays a major part in overall
engineering of a Plant.
In next few pages we shall try to familiarize about pipe
and it’s components.
In any plant various fluids flow through pipes
from one end to other.
Now let us start with a plant where we see three
tanks.
Tank-1, Tank-2 and Tank-3
We have to transfer the content of Tank no. 1 to
the other two tanks.
We will need to connect pipes to transfer the
fluids from Tank-1 to Tank-2 and Tank-3
LET US BRING THE PIPES.
We have just brought the pipes, now we
To solve these need to solve some more problems.
problems we need the
Pipes are all straight pieces.
pipe components,
which are called
PIPE FITTINGS
We need some
branch
connections
We need some bend
connections
These are the pipe fittings,
There are various types of fittings for various
purposes, some common types are -
Elbows/Bends, Tees/Branches,
Reducers/Expanders, Couplings, Olets, etc.
Anyway, the pipes and
fittings are in place, but the
ends are yet to be joined with
the Tank nozzles.
We now have to complete the
end connections.
These, in piping term, we call
TERMINAL CONNECTIONS.
So far this is a nice arrangement.
But there is no control over the flow from Tank-1
to other tanks.
We need some arrangement to stop the
flow if needed
These are flanged joints
This is a welded joint
To control the flow in a pipe line we
need to fit a special component.
That is called - VALVE
There are many types of valves, categorized
based on their construction and functionality,
Those are - Gate, Globe, Check, Butterfly, etc.
Other than valves another important
line component of pipe line is a filter,
which cleans out derbies from the
flowing fluid. This is called a
STRAINER
Here we see a more or less functional piping
system, with valves and strainer installed.
Let us now investigate some aspects of pipe
flexibility.
If this tank nozzle
expands, when
the tank is hot.
In such case we need to fit a flexible
pipe component at that location,
which is called an EXPANSION
JOINT
When some fluid is flowing in a pipe we may
also like know the parameters like, pressure,
temperature, flow rate etc. of the fluid.
To know these information we need
to install INSTRUMENTS in the
pipeline.
There are various types instruments to measure various
Next we shall look parameters. Also there are specific criteria for installation
into how to of various pipe line instruments.
SUPPORT the
pipe/and it’s
components.
Here are some of the pipe supporting arrangements.
There can be numerous variants. All depend on
piping designer’s preference and judgement.
Let us see some OTHER types of supports
While development of piping layout we have to consider the following
Piping from source to destination should be as short as possible with
minimum change in direction.
Should not hinder any normal passage way. Also should not encroach any
equipment maintenance space.
Not Preferable
Preferable
While carrying out pipe routing we also need to consider the following
Valves, strainers, instruments on the pipe should be easily accessible.
If needed separate ACCESS PLATFORMS to be provided to facilitate these.
Desired location and orientation of valves / instruments and other pipe
components are to be checked and maintained, like some valves or
strainers can only be installed in horizontal position.
Specific requirements for instrument installation to be checked, like
temperature gauge can not be installed in pipe which is less than 4 inch in
size.
Specific requirements of STRAIGHT LENGTH of pipe for some components
to be maintained, like for flow orifice we need to provide 15 times diameter
straight pipe length at upstream of orifice and 5 times diameter straight at
down stream of orifice.
Example of Straight length requirement for Flow Orifice
For Pipeline which shall carry liquid, we have to make sure that all air is allowed
to vent out of the line when the line is filled with liquid.
To achieve this a VENT connection with Valve is provided at the top most point
of the pipeline.
Also arrangement is kept in the
pipeline so that liquid can be
drained out if required.
To achieve this a DRAIN
connection with Valve is provided
at the lowest point of the pipeline
Pipes are also slopped towards low
points.
Let us look
into typical
Vent and
Drain
arrangement
in a pipeline
This is a 3D model
of Feed water line
along with pumps
and other
accessories
Let us have a look into a piping model done by PDS 3D
INSULATION - When hot fluid flows through pipe then generally pipe is
insulated.
There are two primary reasons for insulating the pipe carrying hot fluid.
Containing the heat inside the pipe. Insulation preserves the heat of the fluid.
It is called Hot Insulation
Personnel safety, so that people do not get burn injury by touching hot
surface
Cold pipesof pipe.
are alsoItinsulated
is called Personnel Protection Insulation
Cold or chilled fluid carrying pipes are insulated to prevent heating of cold
fluid from outside. It is called Cold Insulation.
Some times cold pipes are insulated to prevent condensation of atmospheric
water vapor on pipe surface. It is called Anti-Sweat Insulation.
Other types of Insulation
When gas flows through pipes at high velocity, it creates noise. In such cases
pipes are insulated to reduce noise. It is called Acoustic Insulation.
Some times pipe and it’s content are heated from outside, by heat tracing
element. In that case pipe along with heat tracing element are insulated to
conserve the heat of the tracer. It is called Heat Tracing Insulation.
INSULATION MATERIAL - The insulating material should be bad conductor of heat.
There are two basic categories
1) Fibrous Material, which has large voids full of air between fibers - Cork, Glass
Wool, Mineral Wool, Organic Fibers. Note stagnant air is a bad conductor.
2) Cellular Material, which has closed void cells full or air - Calcium Silicate,
Cellular Glass (Foam Glass), Polyurethane Foam (PUF), Polystyrene
(Thermocol), etc.
Have a look at how
pipes are insulated,
and general
components of
insulation
Types of Pipe Supports
In the beginning of this discussion
Constant Load Spring
we talked about various types of
pipe supports. Here is some
elaboration
There are three general types
Rigid type (no flexibility in the Variable Spring
direction of restrain)
Spring type (Allows pipe
movement in direction of
loading)
Dynamic Support (Degree of
Rigid Support
restrain depends on
acceleration of load) Rigid Hanger
There are two types of spring
support
Variable load type, here
support load changes as the Dynamic Support,
pipe moves. Snubber
Constant load support, the Rigid Support
load remains constant within
some range of movement.
We have come to the End of Session.
Hope you have gathered the fundamentals
on the subject of Piping