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Flange
A flange is an external or internal ridge, or rim (lip), for strength, as the flange
of an iron beam such as an I-beam or a T-beam; or for attachment to another
object, as the flange on the end of a pipe, steam cylinder, etc., or on the lens
mount of a camera; or for a flange of a rail car or tram wheel. Thus flanged
wheels are wheels with a flange on one side to keep the wheels from running
off the rails. The term "flange" is also used for a kind of tool used to form
flanges. Pipes with flanges can be assembled and disassembled easily.

Railway wheel ange (le )

Tram wheel ange (right)
Contents
Plumbing or piping
Pipe anges
ASME standards (U.S.)
European and German Dimension DIN
Other countries

Compact anges
Applica ons of compact anges

Train wheels
Vacuum anges
Microwave
Ski boots
See also Flanged railway wheel

References
Further reading

Plumbing or piping
A flange can also be a plate or ring to form a rim at the end of a pipe when
fastened to the pipe (for example, a closet flange). A blind flange is a plate for
covering or closing the end of a pipe. A flange joint is a connection of pipes,
where the connecting pieces have flanges by which the parts are bolted
together.

Although the word flange generally refers to the actual raised rim or lip of a
fitting, many flanged plumbing fittings are themselves known as 'flanges':

Surrey ange

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Common flanges used in plumbing are the Surrey flange or Danzey flange, York flange, Sussex flange and Essex flange.
Surrey and York flanges fit to the top of the hot water tank allowing all the water to be taken without disturbance to the
tank. They are often used to ensure an even flow of water to showers. An Essex flange requires a hole to be drilled in the
side of the tank.

There is also a Warix flange which is the same as a York flange but the shower output is on the top of the flange and the
vent on the side. The York and Warix flange have female adapters so that they fit onto a male tank, whereas the Surrey
flange connects to a female tank.

A closet flange provides the mount for a toilet.

Pipe flanges
There are many different flange standards to be found worldwide. To allow easy functionality and interchangeability, these
are designed to have standardised dimensions. Common world standards include ASA/ANSI/ASME (USA), PN/DIN
(European), BS10 (British/Australian), and JIS/KS (Japanese/Korean).

In most cases these are interchangeable as most local standards have been aligned to ISO standards, however some local
standards still differ (e.g. an ANSI/ASME flange will not mate against an ISO flange). Further, many of the flanges in each
standard are divided into "pressure classes", allowing flanges to be capable of taking different pressure ratings. Again
these are not generally interchangeable (e.g. an ANSI/ASME 150 will not mate with an ANSI/ASME 300).[1]

These pressure classes also have differing pressure and temperature ratings for different materials. Unique pressure
classes for piping can also be developed for a process plant or power generating station; these may be specific to the
corporation, engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, or the process plant owner. The ANSI/ASME
pressure classes for Flat-Face flanges are 125# and 250#. The classes for Ring-Joint, Tongue & Groove, and Raised-Face
flanges are 150#, 300#, (400# - unusual), 600#, 900#, 1500#, and 2500#.[1]

The flange faces are also made to standardized dimensions and are typically "flat face", "raised face", "tongue and groove",
or "ring joint" styles, although other obscure styles are possible.

Flange designs are available as "weld neck", "slip-on", "lap joint", "socket weld", "threaded", and also "blind".[1]

ASME standards (U.S.)

Pipe flanges that are made to standards called out by ASME
B16.5 or ASME B16.47 are typically made from forged materials
and have machined surfaces. B16.5 refers to nominal pipe sizes
(NPS) from " to 24". B16.47 covers NPSs from 26" to 60". Each
specification further delineates flanges into pressure classes: 150,
300, 400, 600, 900, 1500 and 2500 for B16.5, and B16.47
delineates its flanges into pressure classes 75, 150, 300, 400,
600, 900. However these classes do not correspond to maximum
pressures in psi. Instead, the maximum pressure depends on the
material of the flange and the temperature. For example, the
maximum pressure for a Class 150 flange is 285 psi, and for a ASME type ange on a gas pipeline
Class 300 Flange it is 740 psi (both are for ASTM A105 Carbon
Steel and temperatures below 100F).

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The gasket type and bolt type are generally specified by the standard(s); however, sometimes the standards refer to the
ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (B&PVC) for details (see ASME Code Section VIII Division 1 Appendix 2). These
flanges are recognized by ASME Pipe Codes such as ASME B31.1 Power Piping, and ASME B31.3 Process Piping.

Materials for flanges are usually under ASME designation: SA-105 (Specification for Carbon Steel Forgings for Piping
Applications), SA-266 (Specification for Carbon Steel Forgings for Pressure Vessel Components), or SA-182 (Specification
for Forged or Rolled Alloy-Steel Pipe Flanges, Forged Fittings, and Valves and Parts for High-Temperature Service). In
addition, there are many "industry standard" flanges that in some circumstance may be used on ASME work.

The product range includes SORF, SOFF, BLRF, BLFF, WNRF (XS, XXS, STD & Schedule 20, 40, 80), WNFF (XS, XXS,
STD & Schedule 20, 40, 80), SWRF (XS & STD), SWFF (XS & STD), Threaded RF, Threaded FF & LJ, with sizes from 1/2"
to 16". The bolting material used for flange connection is stud bolts mated with two nut (washer when required). In
Petrochemical industries, ASTM A193 B7 STUD & ASTM A193 B16 Stud Bolts are used as these have high tensile strength.

European and German Dimension DIN

Germany and several other countries in the European Union mainly install flanges according to standard DIN EN 1092-1
(forged Stainless or Steel Flanges). Similar to the ASME flange standard, the EN 1092-1 standard has the basic flange
forms, such as weld neck flange, blind flange, lapped flange, threaded Flange (Thread ISO7-1 instead of NPT), weld on
collar, pressed collars, and adapter flange such as flange coupling GD pressfittings. The different forms of flanges within
the EN 1092-1 (European Norm Euronorm) is indicated within the flange name through the type.

Design According to EN Type According to DIN

Weld Neck Flange Type 11 DIN 2627 - DIN 2638

Blind Flange Type 05 DIN 2527

Threaded Flange Type 12 DIN 2558, DIN 2565 - DIN 2569

Flat Flange Type 01 DIN 2573, DIN 2576

Lapped Flange Type 02 & Type 04 DIN 2641, DIN 2642, DIN 2655, DIN 2656

Similar to ASME flanges, EN1092-1 steel and stainless flanges, have several different versions of raised or none raised
faces. According to the European form the seals are indicated by different form:

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Form: types of Contact Faces DIN EN 1092-1

Without Raised Face Form A

Raised Face (Rz = 160 Mechanical Turned) Form B1

Raised Face ( Rz = 40 Mechanical Turned) Form B1

Raised Face (Rz = 16 Mechanical Turned) Form B2

Tongue According to DIN2512 Form C

Groove According to DIN 2512 Form D

Male According to DIN 2513 Form E

Female According to DIN 2513 Form F

Female According to DIN 2514 Form G

Male According to DIN 2514 Form H

Even though most of the stainless steel flanges are made within Asia, there are still several factories that still produce in
Europe such as Flanschen Werk Httental GmbH, Swiss Fittings AG, and Beblitz Flansche. These manufacturers mainly
produce for oil pipelines in which Asian origin of flange is prohibited.

Other countries
Flanges in the rest of the world are manufactured according to the ISO standards for materials, pressure ratings, etc. to
which local standards including DIN, BS.... have been aligned.

Compact flanges
As the Compact flange size increase it becomes relatively increasingly heavy and complex resulting in high procurement,
installation and maintenance costs. Large flange diameters in particular are difficult to work with, and inevitably require
more space and have a more challenging handling and installation procedure, particularly on remote installations such as
oil rigs.

The principle design of the flange face includes two independent seals. The first seal is created by application of seal
seating stress at the flange heel, but it is not straight forward to ensure the function of this seal.

Theoretically, the heel contact will be maintained for pressure values up to 1,8 times the flange rating at room
temperature.

Theoretically, the flange also remains in contact along its outer circumference at the flange faces for all allowable load
levels that it is designed for.

The main seal is the IX seal ring. The seal ring force is provided by the elastic stored energy in the stressed seal ring. Any
heel leakage will give internal pressure acting on the seal ring inside intensifying the sealing action. This however requires
the IX ring to be retained in the theoretical location in the ring groove which is difficult to ensure and verify during
installation.

The design aims at preventing exposure to oxygen and other corrosive agents. Thus, this prevents corrosion of the flange
faces, the stressed length of the bolts and the seal ring. This however depends on the outer dust rim to remain in
satisfactory contact and that the inside fluid is not corrosive in case of leaking into the bolt circle void.

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Applica ons of compact anges

The initial cost of the theoretical higher performance compact flange is inevitably higher than a regular flange due to the
closer tolerances and significantly more sophisticated design and installation requirements. By way of example, compact
flanges are often used across the following applications: subsea oil and gas or riser, cold work and cryogenics, gas
injection, high temperature, and nuclear applications.

Train wheels
Trains stay on their tracks primarily due to the conical geometry of their wheels. They also have a flange on one side to
keep the wheels, and hence the train, running on the rails, when the limits of the geometry based alignment are reached,
e.g. due to some emergency or defect.

Vacuum flanges
A vacuum flange is a flange at the end of a tube used to connect vacuum chambers, tubing and vacuum pumps to each
other.

Microwave
In microwave telecommunications, a flange is a type of cable joint which allows different types of
waveguide to connect.

Several different microwave RF flange types exist, such as CAR, CBR, OPC, PAR, PBJ, PBR, PDR,
UAR, UBR, UDR, icp and UPX.

Ski boots
Ski boots use flanges at the toe or heel to connect to the binding of the ski. The size and shape for Form factor of PDR
flanges on alpine skiing boots is standardized in ISO 5355. Traditional telemark and cross country and CBR anges.
boots use the 75 mm Nordic Norm, but the toe flange is informally known as the "duckbill". New
cross country bindings eliminate the flange entirely and use a steel bar embedded within the sole
instead.

See also
Casing head
Closet ange
Victaulic
Swivel

References
1. ASME B16.5

Further reading
ASME B16.5 Standard Pipe Flanges up to and including 24 inches nominal
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ASME B16.47 Standard Pipe Flanges above 24 inches

ASME Sec on II (Materials), Part A Ferrous Material Specica ons
Nayyar, Mohinder (1999). Piping Handbook, Seventh Edi on. New York: McGraw-
Hill. ISBN 0-07-047106-1.
ASME B16.47 Standard Pipe Flanges Yaang Pipe Industry (h ps://www.steeljrv.co
m/)

The extensions at the toe and heel of

this ski boot produce anges used to
clip into the ski bindings.

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