If a piping system after operating with a successful service period(operating from Jan'97) gets relocated without significant change in supporting or layout, to some location having similar wind speed, is clause 319.4.1(a) of ASME B 31.3 allowing designer to do away with formal analysis ?

Regarding seismic loading of this relocated piping of non-lifeline systems , as per clause 319.4.2(b) of ASME B 31.3 some simlified/approximate comparison of wind loading & seismic loading will be attempted & some representative, random-selected liquid/gaseous lines of large diameters in existing pipings will be re-analysed for relocated plant's seismic & wind loading data. Moreover, as per IBC for I=1, only pipe support seismic qualification (IBC 1621.6.10) is required, not for piping itself.

From the lessons learnt from this pipe stress community, it may be possible to demonstrate the structural integrity of relocated plant's unaltered piping system without going through the painful process of repeating the same calcs done by engineers 10 years ago. This will save time, human efforts in design & subsequent unnecessary rework due to differences in the approaches of the earlier & present analysts.

regards,

sam