1.

While calculating the insulation requirement of piping system, for pipes we

calculate it by volume of hollow cylinder formula.

Does anybody know of any standards for calculation the

Volume of pipe fittings like 90 deg. elbows, 45 deg elbows
Etc.

Ans: You don't need calculus, simple geometrical calculations will do!

Volume of a Torus is PI*D times the Area of C/S, in this case it is

a Hollow Circular Torus, thus

Formula for volume of a Hollow Circular Torus is

[PI*D] * PI * (d1^2 - d2^2) / 4

OR

PI^2 * D * (d1^2 - d2^2) / 4

Where D = Mean Bend Radius (@ centerline)

d1 = Outside Diameter (OD of Elbow/Pipe + Insulation thk.)
d2 = Inside Diameter (OD of Elbow/Pipe)

Divide the value by 4 for 90° bends, by 8 for 45° bends & so on. . .

2. PWHT REQUIREMENT FOR DISSIMILAR THICKNESS WELDS

Para. 328.5 (f) Welding End Valves

Para. 331.1.3 Governing thickness (pertaining to heat treatment)
Table 331.1.1 PWHT

You r using E6010, this means the base metal fall within the P1 grouping - carbon steel.
E6010 is OK for root but I'll suggest E7018 for fill and cap. For a Pipe wall thick of
21.45 mm, I m afraid that PWHT is necessary. We have successfully welded a lot of the
heavy schedule butt weld end valve (the likes of pressure seal, stop check valve or
bolted bonnet) followed by stress relieving and have not experience damage to the seat
(I thrust the valve
manufacturer is aware of this req't).
If the piping is already in-service, you may want to checkout NBIC ANSI/NB-23 Part
RC-1102 Alternative to PWHT
methods.
 There's always a risk associated with waiving stress relief therefore I advise caution.
Damage to valve seat can always be repaired (such as the use Climax) before
commissioning the line. But a crack on a full penetration weld on a live line that may
propagate later can be very nasty. Do take care of the weld joint preparation - dissimilar
thickness. My I suggest that you call a meeting between yourself, welder, inspector,
metallurgist and your stress relief contractor.

3. In one of our projects, we want to weld a 24" butt weld valve pup piece with a 24" pipe.
The thickness of pup piece is 14.3mm and the thickness of the pipe is 21.45 mm. We want
to avoid PWHT to avoid distortion of valve seats.
The welding electrode we are using is E 6010 for root welding.
Applicable code for piping is B31.3 Can anybody suggest any clause in the code to avoid
PWHT. Or any other
possibility (like by using different electrode) to avoid this.

Ans: Valve 14.9 pup 21.45 pipe

Is this the arrangement? 14.27 mm is sch 30 and 24.61 is sch60. If Sch30 will be able to
sustain the load then it follows that it’s your limiting component. If this is the case, then
the butt weld end of the valve that has
been ordered should match the 14.27 mm wall thick of the pipe - then your worry is over.
In case the valve is existing and the spool was a subject to modification, I have to assume
that the butt weld end of the valve matches the sch60 wall thickness. If this is the case then
the pup piece is a makeup
spool sandwiched between the valve and the sch60 pipe. Next question - what's with
14.27?

An API600 24"-300" valve will have a face-to face dim of 45 inch. Plenty of room to
perform a pwht without damage to the valve seat. 600# is about 55 inch - no worry at all.
Note that if the valve body is over 1" then you still have to contend with pwht with or
without the pup piece. Apply a blue
dye on valve seat and if its ok perform a hydro . Else machine the seat (routine in most
workshops).

I agree with Steve. Welding a short piece of pipe on both end and having a supplier do it
for you - in our book is still a non-conforming material. If you let this happen you don’t
really care about material traceability, test certificates and mill test report. Heck why even
worry about the effect of
Pwht?

Other comments: Valve specified to either API 600 or B16.34 is not manufactured with a
welded piece of pipe. If it does, then a mods/alteration has been performed - then what you
got is a repaired valve and there's a chance it’s been used
Before and that the seats are worn and it’s been lying in a bone yard for quite some period
of time. If the supplier can’t produce traceability and test certs then I will not even consider
it.

I normally specify a flex-wedge disc for gate over 6 NPS. If the service is a critical/severe
then I will select an API Trim No. 8 (hard faced). Factored in the rating (which determine
the face to face dimension),sourced the valve from a quality maker, throw in API 598 plus
PMI as a req't and used only a qualified WPS and welder then probability of damage to the
seat is almost nil. I still would like to know what's with the 14.27 mm pup piece - I mean
why not sch60?

I guess in skirting the issue. The question - Is there a clause in B31.3 as substitute to
PWHT. Yes - 331.2.1 Alternative Heat Treatment – normalizing or normalizing and
tempering or annealing. I’m more familiar with the NBIC -
Temper bead welding or higher preheat. I did solution annealing for Cr-Mo tube heater but
it has nothing to do with thickness (residual stresses) but rather with carburization. Least
we forget, code is not letting you off easy with this alternative clause - check out 331.2.2
requirement before
Proceeding.