engineering standards

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For many jobs that engineers design and build, there are industry standards, created by associations to help ensure the safety and compatibility of components acquired from many vendors. Many of these professional organizations also license or certify members through training and testing.

Some of the industry organizations that work with engineers and government to develop and publish these standards

  • ASCE
  • ASME

Some examples

Valero oil refinery, Benicia, California
  • ASME B31.3 – 2002 – Process Piping – Design of chemical and petroleum plants and refineries processing chemicals and hydrocarbons, water and steam. This Code contains rules for piping typically found in petroleum refineries; chemical, pharmaceutical, textile, paper, semiconductor, and cryogenic plants; and related processing plants and terminals.
    This Code prescribes requirements for materials and components, design, fabrication, assembly, erection, examination, inspection, and testing of piping. This Code applies to piping for all fluids including: (1) raw, intermediate, and finished chemicals; (2) petroleum products; (3) gas, steam, air and water; (4) fluidized solids; (5) refrigerants; and (6) cryogenic fluids. Also included is piping which interconnects pieces or stages within a packaged equipment assembly.
    B31.3 (process piping code) has a lot of detail, but a large chunk of it is covered providing you’re using code piping components which are designed around the spec.
  • ASCE 7-10 – This standard provides minimum load requirements for the design of buildings and other structures that are subject to building code requirements. Loads and appropriate load combinations, which have been developed to be used together, are set forth for strength design and allowable stress design. For design strengths and allowable stress limits, design specifications for conventional structural materials used in buildings and modifi cations contained in this standard shall be followed.
    ASCE 7-10 is basically a list of rules and equations that site information is plugged into.

Learn more…

  • Engineering Toolbox – Resources, Tools and Basic Information for Engineering and Design of Technical Applications

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