A193 B7 vs B16 regarding fire resistance
A193 B7 vs B16 regarding fire resistance
(OP)
Hi
At our plant (chemical process plant) we have choosen to install B16 bolts in a certain area that contains our most flammable media with the ground that the B16 will resist fire better and therefore prevent flange leakage. Is it common practice to use B16 in this way? The design temperature is max 300C. The question really is if the B16 bolt will do a better job in case of a fire than B7...? The piping itself is built in A106 grade B.
I would really appreciate som thoughts about this!
Best Regards
Thomas
At our plant (chemical process plant) we have choosen to install B16 bolts in a certain area that contains our most flammable media with the ground that the B16 will resist fire better and therefore prevent flange leakage. Is it common practice to use B16 in this way? The design temperature is max 300C. The question really is if the B16 bolt will do a better job in case of a fire than B7...? The piping itself is built in A106 grade B.
I would really appreciate som thoughts about this!
Best Regards
Thomas





RE: A193 B7 vs B16 regarding fire resistance
Aaron Tanzer
www.lehightesting.com
RE: A193 B7 vs B16 regarding fire resistance
RE: A193 B7 vs B16 regarding fire resistance
Just a note based on experience in many petrochem, fossil and nuclear sites for 30+ years.
RE: A193 B7 vs B16 regarding fire resistance
We have designed so many gas, oil and petrochemical plants, and never worry about this problem. We never see any B16 used for carbon steel flanges in hundreds of thousands of connections.
Bolting selection is based on compatibility with flange materials and galling problem. You don't want bolting has higher thermal relaxation than flange. Have you cheeck which one has higher thermal relaxiation ?
B7 in our pipe spec, is even used for 304H SS flange for high temp service, and has been discussed in this forum in the past.
In case of fire, your CS flange and pipe will be distorted and gone first, why worry about bolting ? Going by industry common practice of using B7 is the way to go.