Pipe fabrication can be defined as the process of cutting, bevelling, and welding piping components such as pipes, tees, elbows, flanges, reducers, etc., as dictated by the design documents. In the process and power piping industry, Piping fabrication is a highly critical activity as it involves hundreds of components and thousands of steps and requires a high degree of precision. In any construction project wherever piping networks are involved, piping fabrication needs to be properly planned, scheduled, and executed as per design requirements. To maintain the system integrity, proper functioning of each item, and minimize accidents, It is required to ensure maximum quality of work during pipe fabrication. In this article, we will explore more details about piping fabrication.
Piping fabrication involves various activities like piping material storage and handling, cleaning, cutting, bevelling, welding, inspection and testing, painting, insulation installation, etc.
Depending on the location of the pipe fabrication work they are classified in to two groups.
There are various factors that determine whether pipes will be shop fabricated or field fabricated or both method will be used. In most of the cases, both shop and field pipe fabrication is used. The major deciding factors are profitability, type and size of the project, piping material and size, post-fabrication surface treatment, environmental condition, accessibility of equipment, skilled personnel availability, time requirement and availability, etc.
In general practice, small bore pipes, threaded and socket welded pipes are field fabricated whereas butt welded pipes, pipe bending, modular items, etc are shop fabricated.
In the Shop pipe fabrication process pipe, fittings and components are assembled by welding into spool assemblies at the fabricator’s facility or a workshop normally known as a pipe fabrication shop. The spools are then labeled using an identifier and transported to the construction site for installation. Whereas in the field pipe fabrication all these assemblies are done at the construction site.
During pipe fabrication, various equipment and tools are used that helps in the fabrication process. The widely used equipment is listed below:
In this stage, pipe fabricators are required to calculate various parameters from the drawing specifications. They are required to take into consideration welding and tack welding processes along with any distortion that may arise from welding. The tools required for the fitting-up of pipes and flanges, such as pipe supports and clamps will also need some thought. Then they need to prepare a simple wire model of the pipe spool from the drawings. Material take-off and client’s fabrication specification is also supplied to the pipe fabricators.
Pipe fabrication in a Pipe fabrication Shop
The pipe fabrication process requires to assemble pipes and pipe fittings according to the spool drawing. Pipe fabricators must take into consideration the size of the assembly, as transportation could be a problem. In such cases, Sub-assemblies are an effective way of transporting large projects. Piping fabrication is done as per the below-mentioned steps:
Pipe fabrication Shop is basically a workshop where all the prefabricated pipe spools are developed. All the pipe works for spool preparation are normally performed inside this shop using highly skilled pipe fabricators. Generating pipe spools in the Pipe Fabrication shops are the best economic way for reducing site installation costs for big size projects. All equipment, tools and manpower are available in the pipe fabrication shop and pipe spools are produced with high quality.
Pipe fabrication Specification is an engineering documents that provides all guidelines to be followed by pipe fabricators for spool pipe fabrication. The specification for piping fabrication provides the minimum requirement of preparation of detail shop drawings and the fabrication, requirements for inspection and testing. It lists down all applicable codes and standards.
J.P.Construction is one of the up coming firm in the field of Decorative / Structure Painting and scaffolding, Epoxy flooring work for industries. We are keen to get an opportunity to render our services under your esteemed organization.