Globally Universal Piping/Pressure Vessel Standard 1

[SunnyOaks]

Hey Everyone,

Looking at a piping component design and was curious what would be the most globally accepted standard for piping and pressure components? ASME, API, ISO, JIS, AWWA, among others?
Does anyone have experience for what a large company would specify if building a piping facility in various countries or is it specified by the location it's built?

Trying to get our company moving toward metric bolting although ASME flanges with specified US Customary bolting don't make that easy. I don't like to mix SI and US Customary if at all possible.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[mk3223]

Welcome to the world of the global engineering. It can be confusion for deciding the applicable Standards and Codes to an international project, and challenging at the same time. It's why the major companies have many engineers to deal with the Local Authority and Codes at the different countries.
For an international EPC project, it's common to adapt multiple Codes from different systems for equipment and piping, as well as for SI vs US Customary units.

 

[XL83NL]

It depends, as always. Whats the service the piping will be used for? AWWA is for water, whereas ASME is for different things, such as process piping or power (plant) piping. You can also use EN 13480 for design, but thats a more European approach to process piping. Knowing where you need to install the piping is useful, as jurisdictions may dictate the code (of choice).

If you need to go ASME design w/ ASME flanges, dont use metric bolting. Where are you located? Here in the Netherlands, getting USC bolts for B16.5 flanges is just as cheap and easy as for the metric equivalent.

 

[LittleInch]

Well this is a little like saying what is the most globally accepted language for the world.

English might be one, Spanish, or French a close second, but then 20% of the world speak a language hardly anyone else does (Chinese & Japanese) and you get a large swathe speaking Arabic, Russian etc.

Same with piping codes unfortunately which not only vary by location but industry.

Hence wellheads etc will be pretty much API virtually worldwide, but off the well head could be anything.

Hydrocarbons will vary from water (AWWA and lots of local variations)
Ditto low pressure gas distribution

Pressure vessel is more like ASME BPVC (ASME VIII) or the EN version

Large multi nationals tend to develop their own specifications and procedures and try to use those worldwide, but local legislation and HSE legislation can be difficult to get around at times.

Definitely don't mix USC with SI. Choose one or the other for your project and stick to it (other than imperial for bolts).

Hence why IMHO, the most important document on a project from day 1 is the Design basis which spells out what codes and standards the project will use.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[SunnyOaks]

Thanks for the feedback!

This is primarily an AWWA product although it has many uses in the industrial market which can require ASME B16.34 compliance as well. We end up with almost anything for flange styles from ASME and JIS to NPT. As for what the rest of the design uses between the flanges is up to me for bolting. This is really where a proper document for the scope of the product is important although that isn't always detailed enough.

My thought is metric bolting would allow for the most universal manufacturability. I will probably use EN 1092 for bolt patterns and bolting between the flanges when possible.