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Piping Inspection
The Piping Inspection article provides you with information about the inspection of piping and piping testing in a construction
site, as well as in operational plants.
This article provides you lots of invaluable information about following items:
Inspection and Testing During the Construction Phase
Inspection and Testing During the Operation Phase
Piping System Codes and Regulations
Maintenance and Repairs
Piping Inspection article, alongside the other linked articles are useful for Construction Contractors
Global TPI Services Quality Control Personnel, Second and Third Party Inspectors, Purchasers, Sellers, Plant Inspectors,
HSE Engineers, Integrity Engineers, Operation and Maintenance Engineers, and any Other
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Inspection, Vendor
Inspection and Commodity What is the definition of a pipe?
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Based on API Code, the definition of pipe is a pressuretight cylinder used to convey a fluid or to
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transmit a fluid pressure.
If you look to the refinery or chemical plant, you can see the jungle
of pipes which are connecting the vessels together. Statistic shows that 40 % of total
mechanical failures in the units are because of the process piping.
This article provides you information about site inspection of process piping as well as
important points on inservice inspection in process plants.
What is the Process Piping Inspection Requirement at a Construction Site?
The construction code for process piping is ASME B31.3 Code and it covers the minimum
requirements for design, materials, fabrication, inspection, testing, and commissioning.
With the above explanation, your inspection and test plan (ITP) for process piping needs to meet the requirements of ASME
B31.3 Code.
ASME B31.3 refers you to the other ASME code sections for some activities. For example for welding refer to the ASME Code
Section IX, pipe fitting design and selection to the ASME B16.5 and for Nondestructive testing to ASME Code Section V.
The process piping design and construction is not under the ASME Code scheme of stamped items.
It means there is not certification for construction contractors by ASME, and it is the responsibility of owner to select a qualified
and experienced contractor for its process piping construction project.
This is the reason that in the ASME B31.3 code you cannot see the wording of “Authorized Inspector,” and instead the words
“owner inspector” have been used.
The owner inspector can be the owner's own qualified inspector or the inspector of a third party inspection company under
contract with the owner.
Throughout the ASME Construction codes, when you see the words “authorized inspector,” you notice there is an ASME Stamp
scheme there.
Contrary to the ASME B31.3, the ASME B31.1 code for power piping (boiler external piping) have the ASME stamp scheme.
The construction contractor must be certified by the ASME organization and must hold the “PP” stamp.
So the wording for inspector in the ASME B31.1 is "authorized inspector," which means that this person has specific
qualifications and a commission card from NBIC.
For more details, review the Pressure Vessel Certification article. The certification process for the power piping contractor is
similar to the pressure vessel.
The detail of inspection requirement in the construction field is addressed in the process piping inspection and test plan.
Inspection and Test Plan for Process Piping
What is InService Inspection Requirement for Process Piping?
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The InService Inspection code for your process piping is API STD 570.
The title of the code is Piping Inspection Code: Inservice Inspection, Rating, Repair, and Alteration of Piping Systems.
The other API recommendation practices and codes are also necessary to be used in conjunction with this Code.
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Some of these Recommend Practices are:
API RP 574 Inspection Practices for Piping System Components,
API RP 577 Welding Inspection and Metallurgy,
API RP 571 Damage Mechanism Affecting Fixed Equipment in the Refining Industry,
API 578 Material Verification Program for New and Existing Alloy Piping Systems
ASME construction and referenced code sections also might be used such as ASME B31.3 and ASME Code Section IX.
For repair, the requirement of API STD 570, or ASME PCC2 need to be met.
The title of ASMEPCC2, which was first published in 2006 is: “Repair of Pressure Equipment and Piping.”
The API 570 Piping Inspectors are qualified persons to do the piping system inspection.
What are the Important Items in the Piping Inspection?
These are only important points or a summary of points for the process piping inservice inspection and should not be assumed
as the entire piping inspection procedure.
A piping inspection procedure is a comprehensive document, which need to cover inspection methods to be employed,
equipment and material to be used, qualification of inspection personnel involved and the sequence of the inspection activities at
the minimum.
You may use the following content as a summary of points for the inservice inspection of the piping system.
Creating a piping inventory list indicating the line number, pipe specification class, rating, schedule, pipe origin location
(from) and pipe destination location (to)
Creating piping isometric sketches to facilitate inspection and the recording of corrosion monitoring locations (CMLs)
Dividing whole unit piping into piping circuits based on process condition and potential degradation mechanism
Selecting appropriate NDE techniques for each piping circuit based on the circuit damage mechanism
Determination of CMLs points in piping isometric sketches based on the potential for general or localized corrosion and
service specific damage mechanisms
Determination of piping service class based consequence of failure and instruction stated in API 570 or based on the Risk
Based Inspection method.
Carry out external inspection for corrosion, leaks, previous temporary repairs, clamps, coating breakdown, insulation
damage, vibration, misalignment, pipe support deterioration specifically in touch points and to air to soil interface, pipe
hanger distortion or breakage and frizz damage
External thickness measurement on CMLs on each piping circuit
Corrosion rate calculation based on metal loss in a specific time interval
Retirement thickness calculation based on the minmium required thickness and minimum required structural thickness
Remaining life calculation based on the available thickness for corrosion and the corrosion rate value
Determination of piping circuit inspection interval based remaining life calculation and piping service class
Determination of piping inspection interval for nonthinning damage mechanism
Making supplementary inspection with the proper NDE method for piping circuits susceptible to creep cracking
Making supplementary inspection with the proper NDE method for piping circuits susceptible to the creep cracking
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Making supplementary inspection with the proper NDE method for piping circuits susceptible to environmental cracking
from Chloride SCC, Polythionic acid SCC, Caustic SCC, Amine SCC, Carbonate SCC, Hydrogen blistering and hydrogen
induced cracking (HIC), etc.
Application of other NDE methods if it is necessary:
1. PEC (pulsed eddy current), LRUT (long range UT), LREM (long range electromagnetics), RT for wall thickness loss, and
CUI and neutron backscatter and infrared thermography for detection of wet insulation
2. MT (magnetic particle), WFMT (wet fluorescent magnetic particle), PT (penetrant testing), EC (eddy current), UT shear
wave, AUT (automated UT), TOFD (time of flight diffraction), RT, ACFM (alternating current field measurement), AET
(acoustic emission) for investigating cracking
3. Thermography for detection of fouling and hot spots
Internal inspection in opened flanges for deposition, corrosion, localized corrosion, erosion, etc.
Internal inspection of clad or lined piping for disbanding, bulging and cracking
Internal inspection of refractory lined piping for erosion, deterioration of anchors, undercutting of refractory and coke build
up behind refractory
Flange joint inspection for distortion and leakage and flange face inspection, ring groove and gasket for corrosion, erosion ,
cracking and mechanical damage
Internal inspection of dismantled valve for corrosion, erosion, mechanical damage and cracking
Specific attention and internal inspection of critical check valves
Inspection of injection points for localized corrosion
Inspection of dead legs for corrosion
Corrosion under insulation inspection of piping in susceptible temperature (12˚ to 175˚ C) either by advance NDT or by
removal of insulation and making visual inspection
Making appropriate reporting and report keeping and implement proper system for quick access to the records
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