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Managing Piping - Pipe vs Piping System

  • Published on Jan 30, 2025
  • 2 minute(s) read
  • Tomislav Renic
  • Elsa Tolsma

Piping System Theory

In Piping Systems - Overview, we mentioned that a Piping System is a type of FLOC/Equipment that is used to group together pieces of Pipe/Piping in much the same way that Corrosion Loops are used to group together piping and Equipment subjected to the same degradation mechanisms.

However, Piping Systems are used to define a group of pipe/piping from one piece of Equipment to another within a Corrosion Loop.

Comparison of Approaches to Managing Pipe

Three of the main approaches to managing Piping in Piping Systems:

  • Pipe/Piping grouped by Corrosion Loop.

    • All Pipe/Piping in a specific Corrosion Loop (or process area within a Unit) is managed together.

  • Pipe/Piping grouped by Piping System.

    • Pipe/Piping extending from one piece of Equipment to another are grouped together. This approach is described in the S-RBI for Pressure Vessels and Piping Recommend Practice document. See the Piping System Hierarchy example below.

  • Pipe/Piping managed at Pipe Tag level.

    • Each piece of Pipe/Piping is managed as a distinct entity.

Some of the advantages and disadvantages of each of the approaches are identified in the Table below.

Management Approach

Advantages

Disadvantages

Corrosion Loop

  • Easier to optimize for external inspection.

  • Might be a viable solution for assets with simple processes or predominantly corrosion resistant alloy piping (e.g. upstream platforms or trading & supply terminals).

  • Inspection strategy needs to be clear for the entire loop

  • Several materials and degradation might exist, criticality and risk can change dramatically within the same loop.

  • CMLs might not provide a representative sample of corrosion issues.

  • Analysis might require more time to understand localized corrosion issues.

Piping System

  • Compared to individual pipe tags, fewer Circuits and Schedules to manage.

  • Circuits and Components have a 1-1 relationship; Calculated corrosion rates, corrosion allowance and Remnant Life can be used as inputs into RBI analysis.

  • RBI analysis results can be applied to Circuits for Thinning (age-related Damage Mechanisms).

  • Effective way to manage inspections schedules.

  • Piping FLOCs and Equipment may not directly represent other data sources, e.g. 3D model.

Pipe Tag

  • Very granular approach to managing piping integrity

  • Might be better aligned with other data sources, e.g. 3D models.

  • Unmanageable number of Inspections Schedules and SAP Work Orders.

  • Large number of default Schedules will be created

  • Difficult to align with RBI, results in more Components than are needed.

  • Results in many more Circuits and Corrosion Schedules than are needed for corrosion rate determination.

Piping System Hierarchy Example

To illustrate how a Piping System might be implemented, the hypothetical System illustrated below shows Corrosion Loop CL01 which extends from FLOC V-100 to V-110 containing two separate Piping Systems:

  • P100-CL01-001 containing Pipe and related Equipment extending from V-100 to E-100, and,

  • P100-CL01-002 containing Pipe and related Equipment extending from E-100 to V-110.

image.png

Example of Corrosion Loop Containing two Piping Systems.

 For the example above, the hierarchy of Piping System P100-CL01-001 could look something like the following.

Example of a Piping System hierarchy.

To learn how to create a Piping System in IMS, see: Creating Piping Systems.