Pipe Schedules

What is a pipe schedule?

Pipes are designed to carry fluid, therefore their internal diameter is their critical
dimension. This critical dimension is referred to as the nominal bore, commonly
appreviated as NB. Obviously, for pipes containing pressurised fluids the wall
thickness, and by implication the pipe's strength, is important. Wall thickness is
expressed in "schedules", refered to as pipe schedules.

What Standards Govern Pipe Sizes?

In the oil and gas and related down stream industries the the most common
standards are
- ASME/ANSI B 36.10 Welded and Seamless Wrought Steel Pipe, and
- ASME/ANSI B36.19 Stainless Steel Pipe

Does Pipe Schedule Change With Pipe Size?

For all pipe sizes the outside diameter remains relatively constant. Therefore any
variation schedule i.e. wall thickness, affects only the inside diameter. As the
schedule number increases, the wall thickness increases, and the actual bore is
reduced.

Pipe Schedule Charts

The wall thickness associated with a particular schedule depends on the pipe size
as can be seen from the charts below for some of the more common sized carbon
steel pipes encountered.

Abbreviations used: NB - nominal bore, STD - Standard, EH - Extra Heavy, DBL

EH - Double Extra Heavy.

2"NB OD = 2.375 inch (60.32 mm)

40 80 DBL
Schedule 5 10 20 30 60 100 120 140 160
STD EH EH
ID (ins) 2.245 2.157 --- --- 2.067 --- 1.939 --- --- --- 1.689 1.503
ID (mm) 57.02 54.79 --- --- 52.5 --- 49.25 --- --- --- 42.9 38.18

3" NB OD = 3.5 inch (88.9 mm)

40 80 DBL
Schedule 5 10 20 30 60 100 120 140 160
STD EH EH
ID (ins) 3.334 3.260 --- --- 3.068 --- 2.900 --- --- --- 2.624 2.300
ID (mm) 84.68 82.8 --- --- 77.93 --- 73.66 --- --- --- 66.65 58.42
4" NB OD = 4.5 inch (114.3 mm)
40 80 DBL
Schedule 5 10 20 30 60 100 120 140 160
STD EH EH
ID (ins) 4.334 4.260 --- --- 4.026 --- 3.826 --- 3.624 --- 3.438 3.152
ID (mm) 110.08 108.2 --- --- 102.26 --- 97.18 --- 92.05 --- 87.33 80.06

6" NB OD = 6.625 inch (168.275 mm)

40 80 DBL
Schedule 5 10 20 30 60 100 120 140 160
STD EH EH
ID (ins) 6.407 6.357 --- --- 6.065 --- 5.761 --- 5.501 --- 5.189 4.897
ID (mm) 162.74 161.47 --- --- 154.05 --- 146.33 --- 139.73 --- 131.8 124.38

8" NB OD = 8.625 inch (219.1 mm)

40 80 DBL
Schedule 5 10 20 30 60 100 120 140 160
STD EH EH
ID (ins) 8.407 8.329 8.125 8.071 7.981 7.813 7.625 7.439 7.189 7.001 6.813 6.375
ID (mm) 213.5 206.3 202.7 198.4 193.6 188.9 177.8 173.0 161.9
211.56 205 182.6
4 8 2 5 7 5 3 5 3

10" NB OD = 10.750 inch (273 mm)

40 80 DBL
Schedule 5 10 20 30 60 100 120 140 160
STD EH EH
ID (ins) 10.482 10.42 10.25 10.136 10.02 9.750 9.564 9.314 9.064 8.750 8.500 ---
ID (mm) 266.24 264.67 260.35 257.45 254.5 247.65 242.93 236.58 230.23 222.25 215.9 ---

12" NB OD = 12.750 inch (323.85 mm)

40 80 DBL
Schedule 5 10 20 30 60 100 120 140 160
STD EH EH
ID (ins) 11.938 11.376
12.42 12.39 12.25 12.09 11.626 11.064 10.75 10.50 10.126 ---
12.000 11.750
ID (mm) 303.22 288.95
315.47 314.7 311.15 307.1 295.3 281.03 273.05 266.7 257.2 ---
304.8 298.45
Relief Valve Orifice Sizes
What is a Relief Valve?
Relief Valves are mechanical devices designed to operate if an over-pressure
situation occurs - they are used to safeguard the plant. Generally, they are the last
line of defence; following on from an Emergency Shutdown (ESD) and operator
intervention.

So what is a Relief Valve orifice?

The American Petroleum Institute has developed a series of inlet size, orifice,
outlet size combinations for various pressure classes of flanged relief valves. These
combinations have been widely adopted by engineers throughout the oil and gas
and allied industries.
Central to these combinations are a series of fourteen standard orifice sizes each
denoted by a letter ranging from D through to T. Each letter refers to a specific
effective orifice area.

What do the orifices denote?

The valve sizing engineer (usually a process or instrument engineer) determines
the controlling relieving rate from all possible scenarios, then the required relief
valve orifice size is determined using the appropriate equation given in API.
Knowing the required relief valve orifice size, an actual orifice size equal to or
greater than the calculated orifice size is chosen from a the standard range. The
maximum flow through this actual orifice will be the valve's capacity.

What are the standard orifice sizes?

The full list of letters and corresponding effective area is shown below:

Relief Valve Orifice Sizes

Letter Bore Dimensions
in2 cm2
D 0.110 0.71
E 0.196 1.26
F 0.307 1.98
G 0.503 3.24
H 0.785 5.06
 J 1.287 8.30
K 1.838 11.85
L 2.853 18.40
M 3.600 23.23
N 4.340 28.00
P 6.380 41.16
Q 11.050 71.29
R 16.000 103.22
T 26.000 167.74

ANSI Flange Dimensions

Flange Standards
The most common flange standard in the oil and gas industry is arguably American
National Standards Institute (ANSI) B16.5.
Other standards are used, e.g.
- British Imperial flanges BS 10,
- Metric flanges SABS 1123, BS 4504, DIN 2501,
- Japanese and Korean flanges JIS-B-2212, JIS-B-2214 & KS-B-1503

ANSI B16.5. Flange Dimensions

The following tables provide flange dimensions, diameters and drillings for the
most common sizes and ratings.

ANSI 150#
Pipe NB Bolt PCD No. of Bolts Bolt Size Flange OD
1/2" 2 3/8" 4 1/2" 3 1/2"
1" 3 1/8" 4 1/2" 4 1/4"
2" 4 3/4" 4 5/8" 6"
4" 7 1/2" 8 5/8" 9"
6" 9 1/2" 8 3/4" 11"
8" 11 3/4" 8 3/4" 13 1/2"
10" 14 1/4" 12 7/8" 16"
12" 17 " 12 7/8" 19"
14" 18 3/4" 12 1" 21"
 ANSI 300#
Pipe NB Bolt PCD No. of Bolts Bolt Size Flange OD
1/2" 2 5/8" 4 1/2" 3 3/4"
1" 3 1/2" 4 5/8" 4 7/8"
2" 5" 8 5/8" 6 1/2"
4" 7 7/8" 8 3/4" 10"
6" 10 5/8" 12 3/4" 12 1/2"
8" 13" 12 7/8" 15"
10" 15 1/4" 16 1" 17 1/2"
12" 17 3/4" 16 1 1/8" 20 1/2"
14" 20 1/4" 20 1 1/8" 23"

ANSI 600#
Pipe NB Bolt PCD No. of Bolts Bolt Size Flange OD
1/2" 2 5/8" 4 1/2" 3 3/4"
1" 3 1/2" 4 5/8" 4 7/8"
2" 5" 8 5/8" 6 1/2"
4" 8 1/2" 8 7/8" 10 3/4"
6" 11 1/2" 12 1" 14"
8" 13 3/4" 12 1 1/8" 16 1/2"
10" 17" 16 1 1/4" 20"
12" 19 1/4" 20 1 1/4" 22"
14" 20 3/4" 20 1 3/8" 23 3/4"

ANSI 900#
Pipe NB Bolt PCD No. of Bolts Bolt Size Flange OD
2" * 6 1/2" 8 7/8" 8 1/2"
4" 9 1/4" 8 1 1/8" 11 1/2"
6" 12 1/2" 12 1 1/8" 15"
8" 15 1/2" 12 1 3/8" 18 1/2"
10" 18 1/2" 16 1 3/8" 21 1/2"
12" 21" 20 1 3/8" 24"
14" 22" 20 1 1/2" 25 1/4"
* 2" Class 1500 is used for 2" Class 900

ANSI 1500#
Pipe NB Bolt PCD No. of Bolts Bolt Size Flange OD
2" 6 1/2" 8 7/8" 8 1/2"
4" 9 1/2" 8 1 1/4" 12 1/4"
6" 12 1/2" 12 1 3/8" 15 1/2"
8" 15 1/2" 12 1 5/8" 19"

Flange Class Equivalents

The above tables reveal the following equivalences:
- Classes 300 & 600 for sizes 1/2", 3/4" and 1"
- Classes 900 to 1500 for sizes 1/2" to 2 1/2"