dEAR IMRAN,
HERE IS ONE OF THE REPLY FROM SENIOR & WELL RESPECTED MEMBER MR. JOHN BREEN...YOU WILL FIND IT QUIET HELPFUL.
You will discover that the search function on this discussion board can bring you a wealth of information. Nearly ANY piping design topic or Code topic that you will encounter has already been discussed here. You can search for topics and read the various threads for discussions of those topics. If, in your study, you have difficulty with a specific topic you should form a concise, unambiguous question and post that question here - you will get many good "points of view" from those who regularly post here. ASK QUESTIONS and remember that you are not alone - some people are reluctant to ask questions and so perhaps the answer to YOUR question will also be useful to someone else. You will find that if you are willing "to do your homework" and TRY to find the best answer to your questions in the previous threads, the people who contribute here will be much more receptive to your future questions.
Also, Bom has provided you with a list of frequent contributors to these discussions. You can for example search for all the contributions of John Luf or Anindya or any of the others and read what they have written in the past. You will find this very educational. This discussion board also provides a way of asking questions of specific members by way of "private messages". Also PLEASE DO find all the COADE newsletters ("Mechanical Engineering") from the past and print them, read them and put them in a folder for future reference. As mentioned above, there are books you should read. Some of the old (out of print) books may be very expensive (sometimes the shipping charges are also very expensive) but you may be able to find some titles in libraries near you.
There are good books CURRENTLY IN PRINT that may answer most of your questions about the fundamental concepts. The book by Glenn Woods and Roy Baguley (Practical Guide to ASME B31.3) and the Book by Dr. Charles Becht, IV, (Process Piping, A Complete Guide to ASME B31.3) are excellent. If you study and "digest" these books you will learn most of the basic concepts quickly. You may want to "dig deeper" to find the history of some of the Code concepts but it is best to "learn how to walk before you try to learn how to run". If when you read these books you have a need to discuss the concepts further then bring the specific concept to this forum.
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PANKAJ A JADHAV
PIPING STRESS ENGINEER
PUNE, INDIA