1. Purpose and Logic

The Advanced Pipe Spacing Calculator, is a tool designed for Engineers involved in the field of Piping Engineering. It calculates the minimum Center-to-Center (C2C) distance in mm, required between multiple parallel pipelines, to prevent physical interference and maintain design clearances, as dictated by project specifications and design requirements.

• Staggered Flange Assumption: The calculation logic assumes that flanges on adjacent lines are longitudinally staggered. The C2C is determined by the maximum distance required to clear the Pipe-to-Flange profile of both lines, while taking applied insulation into consideration.
• Calculation Formula: For each pipeline pair, the calculator performs two case studies:
  Center-to-Center Calc - Case 1: $$ \text{C2C}_1 = (\text{Rad}_{\text{pipe}_1} + \text{Insul}_{\text{pipe}_1}) + (\text{Rad}_{\text{flange}_2} + \text{Insul}_{\text{flange}_2}) + \text{Gap} $$ Center-to-Center Calc - Case 2: $$ \text{C2C}_2 = (\text{Rad}_{\text{pipe}_2} + \text{Insul}_{\text{pipe}_2}) + (\text{Rad}_{\text{flange}_1} + \text{Insul}_{\text{flange}_1}) + \text{Gap} $$ Final Result: $$ \text{if } \text{C2C}_1 \ge \text{C2C}_2 \text{ ,then } \text{C2C} = \text{C2C}_1 $$ $$ \text{if } \text{C2C}_1 < \text{C2C}_2 \text{ ,then } \text{C2C} = \text{C2C}_2 $$
  the two values are compared and the larger one, indicating the worst-case scenario, is selected and displayed as the Center to Center distance between the pair of the two pipelines. Results are rounded up to the nearest 5mm.
• Pipe and Flange Diameters: Data are according to ASME B36.10M, ASME B16.5 (flanges up to NPS 24) and ASME B16.47 (Series A & Series B flanges NPS 26 through NPS 60).

User Interface

2. Global Settings

• Gap (mm): The minimum required physical clearance between the widest points of adjacent components (insulation or flange).
• Calculation Logic:
  • Pipe - Flange: Factors in flange diameter for spacing, as well as insulation thickness, if present.
  • Pipe - Pipe: Flanges are omitted; calculates spacing based strictly on pipe OD and insulation thickness, if present.

3. Pipeline Parameters

• Pipeline Name: Optional label used in DXF drawing and PDF report.
• NPS: Select nominal pipe size. This automatically assigns the correct Pipe OD from the database.
• Class: Select pressure rating. This automatically assigns the flange OD from the database. Classes Axxx refer to Series A flanges. Classes Bxxx refer to Series B flanges.
• Insul / Flg ins (mm): Enter the thickness of insulation, for pipe and flange, if applicable, in millimeters.
• BOP (mm): Used in DXF drawing and PDF report. All pipelines are drawn on BOP +0 by default. If checked, the pipeline will be elevated for an equal amount of millimeters, in respect to the rest of the pipelines.

4. Functions

• Download DXF: Exports a DXF (version R12, metric, mm) cross-section drawing. Each entity is on their own layer.
• Download PDF: Exports a report in PDF format, with the current pipeline setup in the page and respective results.
• Save Setup: Saves your current pipe configuration, locally, to a .json file.
• Load Setup: Loads a previously locally saved pipe configuration from a .json file.
• + Add Pipe: Append a new pipeline to current configuration
• Remove: Delete selected pipeline from current configuration

5. Abbreviations

• NPS: Nominal Pipe Size
• OD: Outside Diameter (for the purposes of this tool, Flange OD describes the largest external diameter of the flange, shown as O in ASME documentation).
• Insul, Ins: Insulation thickness (for the purposes of this webpage)
• Flg: Flange
• BOP: Bottom of Pipe
• Rad: Radius
• C2C: Center to Center distance, in mm