Piping Coordination Systems - Reference Points

Foreword - Location is Relative

An object's location is always given relative to another reference object.
For example, the location of a Heat Exchanger may be described as five blocks from the
General Service Building. To be more specific, the Heat Exchanger is four blocks east
and three blocks south of the General Service Building. With this illustration, a direction
and a distance from the General Service Building has been established.
Several things are assumed to be known, the place to begin (General Service Building),
and understanding of east and south (reference directions), and the length of a block
(unit of displacement). Without consensus on these things, communication of the
location of a Process Plant becomes unclear.

Reference Points
Before beginning with making drawings for a new process plant or building, there must
be determine where the new building in the area will take his place. A coordination
system, which refers to an officially recognized point therefore is necessary.
In the Netherlands, for example, are thousands of official reference points, distributed
across the country ...search on the Internet on geographic coordinate conversion,
triangulation stations, benchmarks, geography or topography. You'll find a lot of
information about how reference points are measured and identified.

Horizontal Reference
Defining a starting point of the site related to the North / South direction, is one of the
first steps in setting up a coordination system.
In principle, with a simple reliable compass the direction of the magnetic north can to
be determined. In the image below the true north is at 18°. As a draftsman would work
with the true north coordinates, he will immediately find out that each line from west to
east and from north to south at an angle of 18° must be drawn.
To avoid this, a Plant North will be determined. In the example below, the true north,
18° is reversed, draftsmen and construction contractors will be grateful for it.
General there will be tried, to approach the true north-south coordinates as close as
possible.
A rule is, that the angle between true north and Plant North can not exceed 45°. At
50°, for example, the Plant North would be on the right side, so on the Eastern side of
the image.

1 = Official reference point

2 = South West angle of new plant
X = East West distance from new plant to reference point
Y = North South distance from new plant to reference point

Vertical Reference
Before starting with any building, the site is leveled (graded), what means that the
ground is made as flat as practically possible. After leveling we talking about "finished
grade", where the highest graded point is termed "high point of finished grade".
This highest point of finished grade refers to an official reference point on which all
vertical measurements are related. In the Netherlands, for example, many vertical
measurement are in relation to the "Normaal Amsterdams Peil" (NAP). If the field
compared to the NAP is 1 meter higher, usually the reference point will not become a
zero start of 1000 mm, but in this case a zero start at zero(0).
On a isometric view of a pipe line elevations are indicated by EL.109665 or EL.99450
etc..
What is meant by this vertical dimensions ?
 The first EL.109665 you can read as: centerline of pipe is 9665 mm above zero
point
 The second EL.99450 you can read as: centerline of pipe is 550 mm below zero
point
Well, the vertical zero point in this case is 100 meters (100000 mm), and this has the
advantage that no negative (minus) values on drawings need to be applied.
Remark(s) of the Author...
Center-Line and Elevation symbol
I have learned, to apply a centerline, a Elevation symbol and a Center-Line symbol to a
isometric.
Namely, the Center-Line symbol at the end of the centerline, and ON that line the
Elevation symbol, followed by the elevation-numbers.

The sign on the left shows the centerline symbol.

Tip for AutoCad users: use the CDT font, lower case Q.

The sign on the left shows the Elevation symbol.

That sign, you will see on almost every isometric.
A combination of both signs, you see rarely nowadays on an isometric. Usually only the
Elevation symbol is applied. Why? There are many reasons to make no old-fashioned
isometrics.
Large-engineering companies can tell you why!

Piping Coordination Systems

Plot Plan & Equipment Arrangement
Foreword
For clarity, as on this website the word Plant is used, then it refers to a Process plant
such as a Chemical plant, Petroleum refinery, Gas Processing plant, Petrochemical,
Pharmaceutical, Textile, Paper, Semiconductor & Cryogenic plants and related
processing plants and terminals. Al these plants fall under the scope of ASME B31.3
Process Piping.
Drawings, which are shown on this page, are fictitious, but they have been drawn a
functional Plot Plan of a Process Plant.
Over the years, I've seen a lot of Plot Plans of several engineering companies. All these
companies show a certain standard in their plans, but the layout and dimensioning is
often quite different. Also sometimes customers or authorities wants to have additional
information on a Plot Plan. For this reason there is no general rule, for a "final" Plot
Plan.

Plot Plan

A Plot Plan is a scale drawing that gives an overview (top view) of the entire plant. All
roads, buildings, units, tank farms, employee entrance etc. will be given on a Plot Plan.
It also listed the true north and Plant north, port address, sometimes prevailing winds,
reference point(s), horizontal references etc..
You will understand that a whole process plant, usually can not be given on a readable
drawing. Therefore, a distinction is made between a Overall Plot Plan and a
Detailed Plot Plan.

Overall Plot Plan

A Overall Plot Plan, sometimes this plan called a Site Plan or a Site Master Plan, you can
compare with a city road map. Important buildings, parks and street names are given,
but not the house numbers or the number of rooms in a building.
With the drawing in your hands, you should find a certain process tank farm and a
specific tank, but not a pump or a plate cooler, or heights of buildings, tanks and so on.
That kind of equipment and dimensions are not shown on a Overall Plot Plan.

IMAGINARY

OVERALL PLOT PLAN

Larger image of a imaginary Overall Plot Plan.

Right down on the drawing you can see the starting point of this imaginary Overall Plot
Plan.
North starting with N - 000.000 coordinate and East with E - 400.000 coordinate.
Both related to an officially recognized reference point, but in practice, the east
coordinates refer often to another reference object, and do not start with the
coordinates E - 000.000.
Right on the top under "Notes" you can see the plant north coordinates and
(important !) starting reference elevation of this plant is EL.100000. (see Reference
points)
There are no pipe-bridges, pipelines, pumps or other equipment shown on that
drawing, but the plan gives a good impression of a overall process plant.

Detailed Plot Plan

In contrast with a Overall Plot Plan, a Detailed Plot Plan gives a overview (top view) of a
part of a process plant. Generally it shows a part of a certain area, floor or unit.
As you might have seen on the overall Plot Plan, the process building is largely
equipped with a roof, and only some equipment parts are visible from above.

TOP VIEW 4th FLOOR DETAILED PLOT PLAN at EL.129200

The plan shows the whole 4th floor on a elevation of EL.129200. These elevation are
related to the upper part, Top of Concrete (T.O.C.) of the 4th floor of the FM-AREA, and
indicates a elevation of 29200 millimeters from the starting point (EL.100000) of the
process plant. Furthermore, it shows some equipment, a large pipeline and some
smaller, a staircase and the columns of the steel structure of the building.
Watch out, that all East and North dimensions, starting at the center lines of the
columns.
A major advantage of a proper detailed Plot Plan is that you can determine from your
office, or a new piece of equipment in a certain area, floor or unit, can be placed. That
however only applies to the horizontal dimensions, because you cannot see possibly
obstructions in the vertical level.
What you also cannot see on a Plot Plan, are the elevations of the equipment. That
means that you do not know, or a device on the 4th floor or may be already on the
third floor begins...for this reason, Equipment Arrangements have been considered.
What is a Equipment Arrangement?
Equipment Arrangements are drawings, which show the top and side-view of a part of a
process plant. The top-view is similar to a detailed Plot Plan, except that only
equipment is shown.
Both equipment arrangements shows the equipment in a particular area, and
sometimes a few details around a specific device. With a drawing of a site-view you can
see the elevations of a certain device, and if the device is going through one, or more
floors.

TOP VIEW 4th FLOOR EQUIPMENT ARRANGEMENT at EL.129200

LOOKING SOUTH 3th and 4th FLOOR EQUIPMENT ARRANGEMENT at EL.121900 and EL.129200
Summary
Plot Plans and equipment arrangements are resources to help determine relative and
specific positioning of equipment on a process plant, related to the plant north, that on
the drawings must be shown.
Both help the development of support facilities and are used to determine the most
cost-effective construction sequence and methods. They are also used for operational
needs, such as training and emergency access, and are essential for obtaining permits
and determining environmental and personnel safety. They are the main documents
used in assessing fire protection and if necessary, to obtain government permits..
Plot Plans and equipment arrangements are dynamic documents and evolve further
during the construction phase and the lifetime of a process plant.

Piping Coordination Systems - Piping Arrangement

Views in Piping Drawings
There are two types of views in hand-drawn piping drawings:
 Orthographic - Plans and Elevations
 Pictorial - Isometric Views
Orthographic drawings are views (front, side, top etc.) of an piping system, and in
Piping they are called "Piping Arrangements".
An orthographic view shows only one side, and therefore multiple drawings (views) are
necessary to show a complete Piping Arrangement.
In complex systems, where orthographic views do not illustrate the details of the
design, pictorial view in isometric presentation is made for clarity.

Priorities on a Piping Arrangement

Process equipment and piping have priority on the Piping Arrangement. The major
primary beams and secondary beams are also shown, even as Utility stations so that
the most efficient route for utilities can be determined.
Order of importance of pipe lines in a Piping Arrangement:
 Alloy steel and other special materials
 Large bore piping
 High temperature/high pressure piping
 Lined piping
 Carbon Steel Process Piping
 Utility piping
Further (if possible) all equipment, instrument connections, with the tag numbers will
be shown on a Piping Arrangement. Important details are often in a larger scale in the
same drawing shown.
Even as a Plot Plan, a whole process plant usually can not be given on a readable
drawing. Therefore the Piping Arrangement show parts of a process plant.

Types of Piping Arrangement Drawings

Pipelines on a Piping Arrangement are shown by single lines and double lines.
In single line representation only the center line of the pipeline is drawn using a solid
line. In double line representation the actual size to scale is drawn with center line
marked in chain-dotted lines.
Single lines representation
 Flanges are shown as thick lines drawn to the scaled outsite diameter of the
flange.
 For flanged joints a small gap between dimension lines will be shown to indicate
a gasket.
 Valves are shown with identification number and a handwheel is drawn with stem
fully extended. If a valve is lever operated, then the movement of handle position is
given.
 Dimensions for flanged valves are given to the flange faces, while non flanged
valves are dimensioned to the center lines of their stems.

Example of a single line Piping Arrangement

The drawing shows 2 pumps, 4 valves (all Handwheel operated and flanged), a pipe line and a
column.
The line number  CD - PL - 101 - 12 - C300 - T2 - I2  tells something about
the pipe line.

CD Indicator for plant or system, where the pipeline is located.

PL Indicator for a service designation.

101 Indicator for the serial number of the pipe line.

12 Indicator NPS, in this case the main pipeline is NPS 12.

C300 Indicator for Pipe Line Class or "Pipe Spec".

C tells that the material is Carbon Steel, and 300 indicates the Pressure Class.

T2 Indicator for E-tracing type.

I2 Indicator for Insulation type.

Above description of the line number is only an example. For line numbers are no
standard definitions, and therefore a customer specification can be different from what
is here defined.
The indication 12-314 (Typ) on the valve told that the valve is 12 inches and 314
indicates the type of valve. The same applies also to the valve near the pump, where
DR indicates a Drain Valve.
Typ stands for Typical and means that there is another ore more valves in that drawing
with the same specification. The advantage of this indicator is, that items with the same
specification only once need to be defined.
Furthermore, the red arrow indicates the flow direction, which perhaps is unnecessary,
because the pipe line is connected to the Suction side of the pump.
 Dis. = Discharge, pressure side of a pump
 Suc. = Suction, suction side of a pump
An important item is designation TF (Top Flat) which is shown to the eccentric reducer
at the pump. That means that the flat side of the reducer is on the top of de pipe line.
If it was vice versa BF(Bottom Flat), also the elevation to the suction side of the pump
must be given.
Example for the pump suction side:
A eccentric reducer 12 to 8 inch has a center-line difference from 52.4 millimeters.
(12" = O.D. 323.9 mm / 8" = O.D. 219.1 mm / Length = 203 mm / Center-line
difference = 52.4 mm).
If the reducer bottom flat, an elevation round off upwards EL. 100548 must be shown.

Note: The connection to the column is Class 600. This change in Pressure Class is
indicated
by a so-called "Spec break" (change of Piping Class Specification). In this case it
means, that the flange that connect to nozzle C1 also must be have a Pressure Class of
600, and that the material probably not changed.
Another important item is the elevation (given in red) of nozzle C1 from the column.
The elevation EL. 104966 is shown, because the pipe line ends with an eccentric
reducer Bottom Flat (BF). In this case it means, that the vertical centerline from nozzle
C1 is 15.88 mm above the center line of the pipeline.
A eccentric reducer 14 x 12 (355.6 mm x 323.9 mm) has a length of 330 mm and a
center-line difference from 15.88 mm.

Symbols on a Piping Arragement Drawing

On the drawing can be seen that the pipe line(s) from the pumps run up to the column.
The pipeline starts with elevation EL. 100600 at the pump suction site and ends at
elevation EL. 104950 at nozzle "C1" from the column. But without the elevations, the
upward routing is also visible.
For single line representation there are a lot of symbols, which illustrate a directional
change.
The three partly open blue circles in the drawing, indicate three Elbows which are
bending down.
The two blue half-moons around the pipelines/valves indicate that the valves are at the
bottom of the pipeline are located. The two valves are needed to drain the pipeline. By
applying eccentric reducers (Top Flat) in the lowest part of the pipeline, the two valves
make it possible to fully empty the system.
In the main Menu "Docs" the most used drawing symbols can be found.
3-Dimensional View
More and more engineering companies show Plot Plans, equipment and piping
arrangements in a 3D view. Better 3D software has made this possible, and generally
has this way of drawing many advantages.
There are many programs that can be made 3D views, but they are all very expensive.
Large engineering companies often have developed their own software. Some of these
programs make it possible "to walking through a whole plant" in order to find a
particular item. It is very impressive, what is possible with that type of software.

Summary
A standard Piping Arrangement does not exist.
Like a Plot Plan or Equipment Arrangement, in the development phase of a new plant,
the requirements for the drawings will be made by customer and/or engineering
company.
Remark(s) of the Author...
My own experience with 3-Dimensional Views...
Since 1999, I draw many topics in 3D views.
The reason is, that I have noted that a pipefitter or construction worker knows
immediately what he must build. Another reason is, that people who are not able to
read a drawing, also know what I am trying to explain.
For myself, I discovered that it cost me less time, to make different views, because with
acceptable 3D software, each view (what ever you want) in seconds can be displayed
and printed.
My first 3-D drawing

In recent years I have found a combination of both, Orthographic and 3D view. If it is a

simple drawing I show only two or three orthographic views. In complex drawings I
show the necessary orthographicthis views with in the right corner of the drawing, a 3D
view. It works perfectly for those who must carry out the job.
Simple drawing of a 3-Dimensional view from the Piping Arrangement above mentioned.
The 3D view from the Piping Arrangement is simple but it probably shows, for most
users, a direct understandable drawing.
At the end of 2008 I had a job for the design of a new 14 inch pipeline from and
between two storage tanks. Normally I had made isometric views from the new pipe
line and orthographic views of the supports. But in that case, for the first time, I made
only 3d views to scale from the pipeline, valves, supports etc.. I gave the pipefitters
and construction workers all possible views...the job is performed without any
problems.
With respect to our "grandfathers", they builded without our current techniques, the
largest plants on earth.