Operation of piping system will receive variety of loads from the operating condition and environment. The right and suitable selection of pipe material for operating condition and environment will be initial guarantee that failure will not occur in the operation. The following below are some of key information that can be used to evaluate the selection of pipe material in order to achieve safe condition during operation:
1. Maximum operating pressure which working on the piping system.
2. Calculation to determine diameter and thickness of pipe.
3. Material strength needed to hold the weight of fluid contained therein, the weight of component piping, insulation and the weight of pipe itself.
4. Maximum and minimum operating temperature.
5. Production method on special order condition.
6. Composition of fluid either gas phase or liquid phase which flow inside pipe.
7. Erosion problem due to the flow of sand which is carried in the fluid process.
8. Corrosive particle that potentially cause corrosion in the pipe such as H2S, CO2, O2, etc.
9. Design lifetime of piping system during operation.
In piping system can be found technical terms such as SMYS (Specific Minimum Yield Strength) and SMTS (Specific Minimum Ultimate Tensile Strength) which show yield strength and tensile strength for pipe material respectively. Naming grade in code API 5L, on some types of pipe material can be sorted by SMYS value to make easier in the analysis of pipe material selection. But on other grade, naming system does not depend on SMYS value. The following table below show pipe material in Code API 5L where the naming of its grade in accordance with SMYS value.
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| Table 1: Standard API for Pipe Material Grade 5LX |