Piping Design Basics- Isometric Drawings

whatispiping.com/basic-piping-isometric-drawings/

Nur Hidayah Haron August 26, 2019

What is Piping Isometric Drawing?

Once the three-dimensional (3D) model has been established in piping design software
like PDS, PDMS, or SP3D, Piping Designers/Engineers need to convey that information
to the yard for fabrication and site for Construction. The transferred information must have
to be sufficient for the fabricator with the vision of what is to be fabricated and how the
piping should be connected with other elements, with exact dimensions and complete
build/Bill of materials (BOM). This is where Piping Isometric Drawings play a magnificent
role. So piping isometrics are directly used for the following situations:

For Construction Services

For marking up deviation during site modifications/ as-builting.
For reference as Stress Analysis model built up and final stress mark up for
updating stress requirements.

Piping isometrics indirectly helps to calculate many parameters required during project
execution like:

Inch Meter can be estimated as Length of pipe (in meter) x Size of pipe ( in inch )
Inch Dia is calculated as Size of Pipe joint ( in inch) x No, of Joints
Pipe Weight is calculated as π x diameter of the pipe (in m) x length (in m) x
thickness (in mm) x density of pipe material. Density of CS = 7.85 g/cm3
The volume of Water required for hydro testing is estimated as π x {Pipe ID (in
meter)}² x Length of Pipe
Insulation Area (in m²) can be found as [π(Pipe OD+ insulation thickness)] (all in
meter) x Length of Pipe (in meter)

By definition, Isometric drawings are a pictorial representation that combines height-

width-depth/length into a single view with 30 degrees from its horizontal plane as shown
in the below attached image.

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 Built-up of Isometric Drawing

Features of Piping Isometric Drawing

Isometric Drawing is a two dimensional (2D) drawing that represents the 3D piping
system. The important features are

It is not drawn to the scale, but it is proportionate with exact dimensions

represented.
Pipes are drawn with a single line irrespective of the line sizes, as well as the other
configurations such as reducers, flanges, and valves.
pipes are shown in the same size. The actual sizes are notified in Bill of Material,
tagging, call-out, or notes.
A piping isometric drawing provides all the required information like:
Pipe Line Number
Continuation isometric number
Flow direction
Piping dimensions
Piping joint types, weld types
Flange and valve types
Equipment connection details
Piping and Component descriptions with size, quantity, and material codes

Piping Isometric drawings are popular because of their simplicity yet efficiency to convey
complex information. The following figure gives an example of how one Isometric drawing
can represent three orthographic drawings. That is just a simple piping drawing. Imagine
complex design and yet orthographic drawings are used for construction, that is really a
headache.

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 Orthographic Vs Isometric Drawing

In earlier days, Isometric drawings were hand-drawn. With the innovation and
advancement of the digital age, isometrics are drawn by AutoCAD/Microstation software.
In recent days, the 3D models could automatically extract the Isometric with a single click
of a mouse.

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 Sample Isometric Drawing

How to Read Piping Isometric Drawings?

1. First, imagine that the piping system is built in a box. This basic imagination is required
for the piping to have an offset. So, it will help you to imagine, how the piping
configuration will look like as it travels.

Generation of Piping Isometric

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2. Offset happens when the pipe turns to any angle other than 90-degree or to
accommodate odd nozzle’s location or tie in point connections. A popular use is a 45-
degree elbow and this is used extensively in piping design. In such cases, piping design
may land on Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, or Southwest axes. In order to check the
dimension of pipe length with offset, common Pythagoras’s theorem and Trigonometric
rule can be used. A sample calculation is shown below as a reference-

Pythagoras Theorem

Example of length calculation in Piping Isometric

Example 1 of Pipe Length Calculation

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 Example 2 of Pipe Length Calculation

Example of offset

Image showing Offset

If you happened to have difficulties in reading the offset, try to draw the imaginary box. It
could help you in having a better understanding of which axes the pipe travel and how the
piping should look like. In the example given, take the flow from ‘x’, the pipe goes up; then
up-northwest; then north. As you get along with Iso a lot, things will come naturally.

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3. A North arrow is provided in all piping isometrics to inform the location of the piping
system in piping/ general arrangement drawing.

4. The piping isometrics also has coordinates & elevation detailed information to verify
the exact length of pipe in horizontal and vertical axes respectively. The dimensions in
Isometric drawings are measured from the pipe centreline and not from the outer
diameter of the pipe (refer to the image attached below for reference).

Piping Dimension in Isometrics

With the advancement of technology, there could be minimum or even zero possibilities
that the North arrow, coordinates, and elevation in Isometric would differ from the piping
arrangement; hence the dimensions and MTO should match exactly if the source 3D
model is the same.

However, It is always better to check and verify as there could be some issues with the
modeling itself that may cause discrepancies in material and quantity. For example, if
double piping is modeled by mistake, it will read the double quantity of material.

5. Isometric drawings also inform which piping should be constructed at the fabrication
shop and which should be assembled at the construction/platform field itself. The
complete piping system is separated into pieces that are transported to the site for
erection. These small pipe pieces are termed piping spools. One sheet of Isometric
drawing normally has few spools.

Every weld that is assembled between spools at the construction site is termed a field
weld (FW). There is one more type of weld that is known as field-fit weld (FFW). This
FFW is defined by the designer if he/she could foresee that the spool might require some
adjustment before the final fit-up, so at the location of FFW has been marked, it will be
given some pipe length tolerance (commonly 150-300mm). Usually, FFW will occur at the
nozzle of equipment or tie-in locations.

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FFW at Tie-in Point

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 FFW example 2

The whole assembled piping will look like the following after it is assembled at the field.

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 Assembled Drawing

Piping isometric drawing symbols

For reading and understanding a piping isometric drawing, one should learn the piping
isometric drawing symbols thoroughly. Usually, all these piping and pipeline drawing
symbols are constant and does not vary much from one organization to the another.
Knowing the piping drawing symbols will provide various information like:

Type of Piping Joint: Piping and pipeline drawing symbols throw lights on the type
of joint like Buttweld, socket weld, or Threaded.
Type of piping Components: Isometric drawing piping symbols serves as a ready
reference for type of fittings and components.
Instrument items: Knowing the piping isometric symbols will help in recognizing
the instrument and special piping items in the isometric.
Equipment Connection: Equipment connected to a piping system is also
understood with piping symbols.
Knowing piping symbols for isometric drawing is useful in preparing MTO/BOM.

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Commonly used piping isometric drawing symbols are shown below for reference
purpose

Piping Isometric Symbols for Pipe fittings

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Piping Isometric Symbols for Various Valve Types

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 Piping Isometric Symbols for Various Piping Components

Video Tutorial of Basics of Piping Isometric Drawing

The following video tutorial on the basics of piping isometric drawing will clarify some of
your doubts.

Basics of Piping Isometric Drawing

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 Some more Resources for you…

Salient Points to check while reviewing Piping Isometric Drawings

Preparation of Piping Isometrics
Types of Piping Drawings

References

Credit to other sources: svlele.com, wermac.org, pipingengineer.org, thepiping.com,

spedweb.com, enggcyclopedia.com, rishabheng.com
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/piping-isometric

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