Series: Industrial Pressure Piping Code

This series includes two courses:

You can register for any of these courses or register for the series and save 20%.

Applying ASME B31.1 and ASME B31.3 to Pressure Piping Systems

Design of Industrial Pressure Piping to ASME B31.3

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

• Apply the requirements of ASME B31.1 and ASME B31.3 to the design, fabrication, examination, and testing of industrial pressure piping systems

• Establish design conditions and perform calculations for piping components, branches, flanges, supports, and pressure tests

• Evaluate materials, welding procedures, heat treatment, inspection methods, and leak-testing requirements for code compliance

• Assess sustained and displacement stresses and determine when a formal flexibility or stress analysis is required

• Evaluate new and modified piping systems and document technically defensible design decisions

Description

Industrial pressure piping decisions must account for operating conditions, external loads, material behaviour, fabrication requirements, inspection criteria, and regulatory obligations. Misinterpreting code provisions or applying design requirements inconsistently can result in inadequate component selection, unreliable calculations, failed inspections, costly modifications, and increased safety risk.

This two-part series provides a structured approach to applying ASME B31.1 and ASME B31.3 throughout the piping-system lifecycle. The first course establishes the broader code framework needed to interpret requirements, define stakeholder responsibilities, assess materials and fabrication practices, and verify examination and testing procedures. The second course develops the practical design capabilities required to establish design parameters, calculate component requirements, evaluate piping stresses, and assess supports, anchors, branches, flanges, and modifications to existing systems.

Through calculations, practical examples, and a piping-system case study, you will learn to connect code provisions with the engineering decisions encountered in industrial practice. The series will help you identify applicable requirements more efficiently, perform and review critical calculations, recognize conditions requiring further analysis, and produce piping designs that can be clearly justified for safety and compliance.

Who Should Attend

This series is designed for:

• Mechanical and piping engineers responsible for industrial pressure piping systems

• Design technicians and technologists who perform or review piping calculations

• Inspectors responsible for fabrication, installation, examination, or testing

• Contractors involved in piping-system construction, maintenance, or modification

• Project managers and technical leads overseeing pressure piping work

• Quality assurance and quality control professionals responsible for code compliance

• Professionals working in power generation, petrochemicals, chemical processing, pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper, mining, metals, cryogenics, or other process industries

Required Resources

Participants are expected to bring their own copies of the latest editions of ASME B31.1 and ASME B31.3 for reference during the series.

Note

The design training in Part 2 is based primarily on Chapter II of ASME B31.3.

Applying ASME B31.1 and ASME B31.3 to Pressure Piping Systems

Day 1

• Definition of a pressure piping system (according to certain Canadian provinces)

• The boundary between a reservoir and a pressure piping

• Requirements (overview) regarding piping in Canada, CRN, etc. (CSA B51)

• The limits of codes (ASME B31.1 and ASME B31.3)

• How to find information in the ASME Codes

• Definition of the different fluid categories of ASME B31.3 (Normal, D, M, High Pressure, Elevated Temperature, Severe Cyclic, and High Purity) and the difference between BEP (Boiler External Piping) and NBEP (Non-boiler External Piping) for ASME B31.1

• Description of the responsibilities of main parties and minimum qualification requirements for each of them

• Standard vs. non-standard components

• Material requirements (including lower temperature limit calculations to verify if impact tests are required)

Day 2

• External constraints to be included in the piping design

• Definition of pressure and temperature design

• How to determine the pressure and temperature design based on operation data

• Under what conditions can we authorize pressure/temperature upsets above design limits?

• Requirements for protection against overpressure

• Hoop stress formula to determine the minimum required thickness of a pipe having an internal pressure

• Type of pipe supports (MSS SP-58, MSS SP-69, and MSS SP-127)

• Trunnion

• The formula for piping bends (intrados and extrados)

• The formula for mitre bends

• Branch connection opening calculations and examples

Day 3

• Calculations of flat covers (blank and blind flanges)

• Expansion joints

• Overview of ASME B16.5 and ASME B16.47 requirements

• Calculations of equivalent pressure (external axial force and moment) on standard flange

• Manufacturing requirements (welding, preheating, heat treatment, hardness test, etc.)

• Weld defect tolerances

• Leak test requirements (hydrostatic, pneumatic, sensitive leak test, initial leak test, alternative leak test, etc.).

• Additional requirements on welds made without hydrostatic test (closure weld)

Appendices (will be covered only if time permits): ASME B31.3 History Water hammer calculations Piping provided with internal refractory: equivalent elasticity modulus (E) calculations Pipes having an external pressure (vacuum) and examples.

Design of Industrial Pressure Piping to ASME B31.3

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.