fMSH-A rA
Certificate Course
on
PIPIN G ENGINEERING
December? - 21, 2005
INTRODUCTION
Prof. A. S. Moharir
IIT Bombay
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Piping Engineering
INTRODUCTION
About two decades ago, in India, the
design procedure for piping systems for
Refineries, Petrochemicals and Fertihzer
in magnitude,
Plants,
depth and
complexities were not fully evolved. Only
in the recent past, we were exposed in
detail to this field. Now we are selfsufficient in the field of piping technology
and design.
Piping systems in a chemical plant are
comparable to the vanes and arteries
through which fluids, vapors, slurries,
solids, etc. flow under various conditions,
as imposed by the process design of the
plant. Piping network is subjected to
ahnost all the severest conditions of the
plant such as high temperature, 'pressure,
flow
and combination of these. In
addition to the above, corrosion, erosion,
toxic conditions and radioactivity add to
more problems and difficulties in piping
design. With the process conditions
becoming more and more severe by the
advancement in process development, a
continuous effort is required to be carried
on simultaneously to cope up with the
demands of process. This makes the job of
a piping engineer more complex and
responsible.
Piping, because of its nature, requires a
number of day to day decisions on matter s
of detail, v/hich, in some ways are often
more difficult to solve than major issues
connected with the project. It is this same
detail which can cause expensive delays in
design and construction and consequently
in commissioning. All too often in the
past, piping has been regarded as an
unimportant job in the overall project
engineering instead of being treated as a
ftinction requiring as wide a knowledge,
experience and variety skills as any other
branch of engineering.