Design of Industrial Pressure Piping to ASME B31.3

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Apply ASME B31.3 design requirements to industrial pressure piping systems

• Establish appropriate design parameters and make sound piping design decisions based on operating requirements

• Calculate and assess pressure, loading, stress, flexibility, and testing requirements to support code-compliant designs

• Evaluate piping configurations against sustained and displacement stress criteria and determine when formal stress analysis is required

• Assess new and modified piping systems to identify design considerations that affect structural integrity and code compliance

Description

Industrial pressure piping must perform safely under combinations of pressure, temperature, external forces, and operating loads while satisfying the requirements of ASME B31.3. Translating these requirements into practical design decisions can be challenging, particularly when selecting design conditions, evaluating loads and stresses, sizing components, or determining whether a piping configuration requires more detailed analysis.

This course develops a practical, structured approach to designing and assessing industrial pressure piping in accordance with the design requirements of ASME B31.3. You will learn how to establish appropriate design parameters, perform the calculations needed to evaluate piping components and system behaviour, and apply sustained and displacement stress criteria to engineering decisions. Practical examples demonstrate how code requirements and fundamental engineering principles can be used together to resolve common piping design challenges.

Through calculations, worked examples, and an integrated piping system case study, you will apply these principles to both new designs and modifications to existing systems. You will develop the ability to review piping configurations systematically, recognize when flexibility or formal stress analysis is warranted, and evaluate whether a proposed design provides an appropriate basis for safe, code-compliant operation.

Note: Training is based primarily on Chapter II of ASME B31.3.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for professionals involved in the design, assessment, inspection, installation, modification, or maintenance of industrial pressure piping systems, including:

• Mechanical and piping engineers

• Engineering technologists and piping design technicians

• Inspectors and quality assurance professionals

• Contractors involved in industrial piping projects

• Project managers and technical leads responsible for piping installations or modifications

• Professionals responsible for piping system compliance and safe operation

• Professionals working with pressure piping in petrochemical, pulp and paper, pharmaceutical, mining, and related industrial environments

Day 1

• Definition of pressure piping

• Basic concepts for designing a piping system

• Basic components of a piping system

• Different types of supports, guides and anchors

• External forces to consider when designing a piping system

• Definition of equivalent pressure on a standard flange and examples of applications.

• Definition of design parameters

  • Definition of design pressure and temperature

  • How to determine design pressures and temperatures based on operating data, and examples of calculations.

  • Excess thickness, what it's for and how to assess it.

• Calculations for internal pressure

• Formula for elbows

• Calculation of openings (branches) on the main pipe and sample calculations

• Hydrostatic test pressure.

Day 2

• Beam theory applied to piping systems.

• Definition of sustained load stress

• Definition of displacement load stress

• Understanding the difference between sustained load stress and displacement load stress

• Designing for sustained load stress

  • Adequately support piping.

  • Estimating loads on supports and equipment.

  • Examples and exercises

• Designing for displacement load stress

  • Why guide piping properly

  • Simplified methods for checking flexibility.

  • Examples and exercises

• When to perform a flexibility or formal stress analysis

Day 3

• Overview of concepts - Presentation of a piping system to be designed (case study)

• Piping system design

  • Determine design conditions.

  • Determine type and class of system components.

  • Check criteria related to primary constraints.

  • Check criteria related to displacement constraints.

  • Check occasional stress criteria.

  • Determine hydrostatic test pressure.

• Comparison between initial and final state of piping system

• Modifications to an existing piping system - What to check.

• Calculation tools to aid design.