Piping Design and Inspection: The original ASME B31 Code for Pressure Piping was first introduced in 1935 as the single document for piping design. In 1955, began to separate the code into sections to address requirements of specific piping systems, as follows. B31.1: Power Piping is for piping associated with power plants and district heating systems as well as geothermal heating systems. Its main concern is the steam-water loop in conventionally powered plants. More recently, it has added a chapter to require maintenance plans for the plants that produce the power. B31.2: Fuel Gas Piping Code was withdrawn in 1988, and responsibility for that piping was assumed by ANSI Z223.1. It was a good design document, and although it has been withdrawn, ASME makes it available as a reference. B31.3: Process Piping (previously called the Chemical Plant and Petroleum Refinery Piping Code) is the code that covers more varieties of piping systems. To cover this variety it has sections for different types of fluids. These fluids are basically rated as to the inherent risks in using that fluid in a piping system, so they have more restrictive requirements for the more difficult fluids. B31.4: Liquid Transportation Systems for Hydrocarbons and Other Liquids basically is a buried pipeline transportation code for liquid products. It is one of the three B31 sections that are primarily for transportation systems. As such, they also have to work with many of the transportation regulatory agencies to be sure that they are not in conflict with those regulations. B31.5: Refrigeration Piping and Heat Transfer Components is rather self-explanatory. It is primarily for building refrigeration or larger heat transfer systems. B31.7: Nuclear Piping was withdrawn after two editions and the responsibility was assumed by ASME B&PV Code, Section III, Subsections NA, NB, NC, and ND. This code had some very good explanations of the requirements of piping design. This book may refer to those explanations, but will not specifically address the complex nuclear requirements. B31.8: Gas Transmission and Distribution Piping Systems addresses the transportation of gases, and it too is primarily for buried piping. It is another pipeline code. The Code of Federal Regulations (49CFR) is the law for these types of piping systems. As such, that code must present complementary requirements. Also, a gas pipeline would generally cover a fair amount of distance, and this may have several different degrees of safety requirements over the pipeline as it progressively proceeds through various population densities. Also, since natural gas has so much inherent risk, it is quite detailed in its safety and maintenance requirements.

Damage Mechanism is a general term used to describe mechanical or chemical processes that result in equipment damage or material degradation. These can range from corrosion, to cracking, to heat damage, and everything in between. When assessing damage mechanisms, one must take into account the current state of the equipment, as well as any potential damage the mechanism may cause later. Equipment’s susceptibility to a particular damage mechanism is affected by a number of variables, including materials of construction, process fluids, operating conditions, external environment, etc. A good understanding of the variety of damage mechanisms that exist is a must for any mechanical integrity program. A thorough damage mechanisms review is essential for creating an effective inspection strategy. Once damage mechanisms and morphology are understood, inspection strategists can use this information to select inspection methods with the highest probability of detecting, characterizing, and measuring potential damage. Furthermore, inspection intervals can be established using industry codes and standards such as API 510, 570, 653, API RP 579 for fitness-for-service, and API 580 and 581 for risk-based inspection.

The goal of fracture mechanics as its goal of research and analysis is the occurrence of defects in machine structures, and thus the possible fracture of a structure that contains cracks in its structure or there is a possibility of their occurrence and development. In doing so, the characteristics are taken into account such as stress in the structure, crack size and fracture resistance or crack propagation resistance which describes the value of fracture toughness of the material used. Fracture toughness test standards prescribe the shapes and types of specimens as well as test procedures. Prescribed standards can provide individual values of fracture toughness or resistance curve, where toughness parameters, such as stress intensity factor, K (stress intensity factor, SIF), J integral (path - independent contour integral) or crack tip opening, CTOD (crack tip opening displacement), recorded against crack opening / elongation. In other words, the standards prescribe obtaining Kic, K-R, Jic, J-R or CTOD. In the previous designations, the index record (Ic) refers to the possible first form of crack opening, while the letter designation "c" in the same index indicates that it is a critical value of the parameter.

A flowing well may be defined as any well which has sufficient pressure in the reservoir rock to cause the oil or gas to flow to the surface through the well bore. Flowing wells have always been considered ideal, because they require relatively little equipment or expense to bring the oil to the surface. Such wells are common in both offshore operations, and are typical of large oil fields, where sufficient pressure exists in the rock to force the oil to the surface. The equipment commonly used in a flowing well consists of tubing and a wellhead. The casing has been inserted through the pay zone and set in place. It has been perforated to provide a flow path for the oil or gas to follow from the reservoir rock into the well bore. A smaller string of pipe, called tubing, is inserted inside the casing and suspended from the surface by the wellhead. This tubing is not cemented in place, as is the casing, but serves as a conduit inside the casing for most oil and gas production from a well to the surface. It is smaller than the casing, usually being no more than two or three inches in diameter.

Epitaxial crystallization Regardless of the type of fusion welding process considered, some always occur in the weld area (Figure 2.5). In fact, it is extremely important that the dilution occurs, because it is the only way to ensure that the surface of the base metal in contact with the liquid metal for welding is clean, ie. free of oxide films or other impurities. The way in which liquid welding metal crystallizes is now discussed. Different boundary conditions concerning geometry and distribution temperatures remain defined at the beginning of this chapter. The fact that dilution implies that the base metal is heated locally to the melting point, which has certain consequences in relation to the microstructure of the base metal. The most important of these is that grain growth is likely to occur in the parent metal, and this will be greatest at the highest temperatures, the nearest fusion line between molten and unmelted metal. The reason that grain growth is important in this regard is that it has been well established that in fusion welding the initial crystallization occurs epitaxially. That this is so can be easily seen from the photomicrograph in Figure 4.10, which shows that the weld metal crystals are clearly derived from the base metal grains.

Natural Gas Processing Technology Introduction • We know that both Oil and Natural Gas are called Hydrocarbons because they are made up of the two elements Hydrogen (H) and Carbon (C). • Crude oil and natural gas are referred to collectively as petroleum. • Crude oil is the heavier constituents of hydrocarbons that naturally occur in liquid form. • Natural gas refers to the lighter constituents of petroleum that naturally occur in gaseous form. • Thus, in the main, the geologic features that apply to the origin, migration, and accumulation of petroleum will apply equally well to crude oil and natural gas. • This entails consideration of the natural features of the earth where commercial quantities of petroleum have been discovered all over the world.