ASME
ASME B31.3
Process Piping
The design and construction code for process piping in refineries, chemical plants and pharmaceutical facilities. It sets out how pipe wall thickness is calculated, which materials may be used at which temperatures, what welding and examination each fluid service requires, and how systems are pressure tested. Fluid service category — normal, category D, category M, high pressure — is the decision that drives most of the rest.
This is an explanation, not the standard. AlpineTutor is not affiliated with ASME and reproduces no part of the document. Always work to the current edition of the standard itself and to your project specification.
Where it is applied on this site
- Reading a P&ID — the drawing every discipline works fromInstrumentation & Control
- Instrument installation and loop checking — where most readings go wrongInstrumentation & Control
- Pipe materials — what the grade on the spec actually meansMechanical
- Pipe sizes and schedules — why NPS 2 is not 2 inchesMechanical
- Line sizing — why pipe diameter is an economic decisionMechanical
- Fittings and branch connections — how a pipe changes directionMechanical
- Flanges and pressure classes — why Class 150 is not 150 psiMechanical
- Welding processes, WPS and NDT — what happens before an arc is struckMechanical
- Reading a line class — the document that has already decidedMechanical
- Pipe supports and thermal expansion — why you cannot just bolt it downMechanical
- From isometric to installed line — fabrication, erection and testingMechanical
- Non-destructive examination — choosing the method and reading the resultMechanical
- Expansion loops and offsets — sizing the detour that absorbs the growthMechanical
- Expansion joints and bellows — pressure thrust and why they are the last resortMechanical
- Anchors, guides and restraint schemes — deciding where the pipe may moveMechanical
- Pipe support standards and details — reading SP-58, SP-69 and a project detail sheetMechanical
- Spring hanger selection — variable, constant, and the pin nobody pulledMechanical
- Nozzle loads and allowables — the constraint that really governs hot pipingMechanical
- Pump piping layout — the suction side is where the decisions are madeMechanical
- Plot plan and equipment spacing — the drawing everything else inheritsMechanical
- Access, operability and maintenance space — what the plant is judged on afterwardsMechanical
- Relief valve and flare piping — the 3 per cent rule, backpressure and reaction forceMechanical
- Inspection and test plans — hold, witness, review, and who signsMechanical
- Section IX essential variables — what invalidates a procedure qualificationMechanical
- Examination extent and progressive sampling — what five per cent actually obligesMechanical
- Non-conformance and corrective action — the four dispositions, and why NCRs repeatMechanical
- Reading a WPS and a PQR — what is on the sheet and what the tests provedMechanical
- Welder qualification and continuity — the ranges a ticket covers, and the register nobody updatesMechanical
- Joint preparation and fit-up — the hold point you only get onceMechanical
- Preheat and post-weld heat treatment — hydrogen, hardness, and reading the chartMechanical
- Pressure test packs and reinstatement — the gate, and what gets put back afterwardsMechanical
- Tie-ins and shutdown windows — preparing for the hours that cannot be extendedMechanical
- Supervising under a permit — the shift you signed forMechanical
- Hygienic piping — tube, surface finish and the weld you cannot seePharmaceutical
- What the plant actually does — the shape of a processProcess
- Reading a PFD and the material balance — where every number startsProcess