Within industry, piping is a system of pipes used to convey fluids (liquids and gases) from one

location to another. The engineeringdiscipline of piping design studies the efficient transport of fluid.[1]
[2]

Industrial process piping (and accompanying in-line components) can be manufactured

from wood, fiberglass, glass, steel,aluminum, plastic, copper, and concrete. The in-line components,
known as fittings, valves, and other devices, typically sense and control the pressure, flow
rate and temperature of the transmitted fluid, and usually are included in the field of Piping Design
(or Piping Engineering). Piping systems are documented in piping and instrumentation
diagrams (P&IDs). If necessary, pipes can be cleaned by the tube cleaning process.
"Piping" sometimes refers to Piping Design, the detailed specification of the physical piping layout
within a process plant or commercial building. In earlier days, this was sometimes
called Drafting, Technical drawing, Engineering Drawing, and Design but is today commonly
performed by Designers who have learned to use automated Computer Aided Drawing / Computer
Aided Design (CAD) software.,
Plumbing is a piping system with which most people are familiar, as it constitutes the form of fluid
transportation that is used to provide potable water and fuels to their homes and businesses.
Plumbing pipes also remove waste in the form of sewage, and allow venting of sewage gases to the
outdoors. Fire sprinkler systems also use piping, and may transport nonpotable or potable water, or
other fire-suppression fluids.
Piping also has many other industrial applications, which are crucial for moving raw and semiprocessed fluids for refining into more useful products. Some of the more exotic materials of
construction are Inconel, titanium, chrome-moly and various other steel alloys.
Contents
[hide]

1 Engineering subfields

2 Stress analysis

3 Wooden piping history

4 Materials

5 Standards

6 See also

7 References

8 Further reading

9 External links

Engineering subfields[edit]
Generally, industrial piping engineering has three major subfields:

Piping material

Piping design

Stress analysis

Stress analysis[edit]
Process piping and power piping are typically checked by pipe stress engineers to verify that the
routing, nozzle loads, hangers, and supports are properly placed and selected such that allowable
pipe stress is not exceeded under different loads such as sustained loads, operating loads, pressure
testing loads, etc., as stipulated by the ASME B31, EN 13480 or any other applicable codes and
standards. It is necessary to evaluate the mechanical behavior of the piping under regular loads
(internal pressure and thermal stresses) as well under occasional and intermittent loading cases
such as earthquake, high wind or special vibration, and water hammer.[3][4] This evaluation is usually
performed with the assistance of a specialized (finite element) pipe stress analysis computer
programs such as CAESAR.[5]
In cryogenic pipe supports, most steel become more brittle as the temperature decreases from
normal operating conditions, so it is necessary to know the temperature distribution for cryogenic
conditions. Steel structures will have areas of high stress that may be caused by sharp corners in
the design, or inclusions in the material.[6]

Wooden piping history[edit]

Early wooden pipes were constructed out of logs that had a large hole bored lengthwise through the
center. Later wooden pipes were constructed with staves and hoops similar to
wooden barrel construction. Stave pipes have the advantage that they are easily transported as a
compact pile of parts on a wagon and then assembled as a hollow structure at the job site. Wooden
pipes were especially popular in mountain regions where transport of heavy iron or concrete pipes
would have been difficult.
Wooden pipes were easier to maintain than metal, because the wood did not expand or contract with
temperature changes as much as metal and so consequently expansion joints and bends were not
required. The thickness of wood afforded some insulating properties to the pipes which helped
prevent freezing as compared to metal pipes. Wood used for water pipes also does not rot very
easily. Electrolysis, that bugbear of many iron pipe systems, doesn't affect wood pipes at all, since
wood is a much better electrical insulator.
In the Western United States where redwood was used for pipe construction, it was found that
redwood had "peculiar properties" that protected it from weathering, acids, insects, and fungus
growths. Redwood pipes stayed smooth and clean indefinitely while iron pipe by comparison would
rapidly begin to scale and corrode and could eventually plug itself up with the corrosion.

[7]

Materials[edit]
The material with which a pipe is manufactured often forms as the basis for choosing any pipe.
Materials that are used for manufacturing pipes include:

Carbon steel.

ASTM A252 Spec Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3 Steel Pile Pipe

Low temperature service carbon steel

Stainless steel

Nonferrous metals, e.g. cupro-nickel

Nonmetallic, e.g. tempered glass

Standards[edit]
There are certain standard codes that need to be followed while designing or manufacturing any
piping system. Organizations that promulgate piping standards include:

ASME - The American Society of Mechanical Engineers - B31 series

ASME B31.1 Power piping (steam piping etc.)

ASME B31.3 Process piping

ASME B31.4 Pipeline Transportation Systems for Liquid Hydrocarbons and Other
Liquids

ASME B31.5 Refrigeration piping and heat transfer components

ASME B31.8 Gas transmission and distribution piping systems

ASME B31.9 Building services piping

ASME B31.11 Slurry Transportation Piping Systems (Withdrawn, Superseded by

B31.4)

ASME B31.12 Hydrogen Piping and Pipelines

ASTM - American Society for Testing and Materials

ASTM A252 Standard Specification for Welded and Seamless Steel Pipe Piles [8]
API - American Petroleum Institute

API 5L Petroleum and natural gas industriesSteel pipe for pipeline transportation
systems[9]

EN 13480 - European metallic industrial piping code

EN 13480-1 Metallic industrial piping - Part 1: General

EN 13480-2 Metallic industrial piping - Part 2: Materials

EN 13480-3 Metallic industrial piping - Part 3: Design and calculation

EN 13480-4 Metallic industrial piping - Part 4: Fabrication and installation

EN 13480-5 Metallic industrial piping - Part 5: Inspection and testing

EN 13480-6 Metallic industrial piping - Part 6: Additional requirements for buried

piping

PD TR 13480-7 Metallic industrial piping - Part 7: Guidance on the use of conformity

assessment procedures