ASME BPVC.I-2023

About ASME BPVC Section I 2023 PDF

Section I covers rules for construction of power boilers, electric boilers, miniature boilers, high-temperature water boilers, heat recovery steam generators, solar receiver steam generators, certain fired pressure vessels, and liquid phase thermal fluid heaters to be used in stationary service and includes those power boilers used in locomotive, portable, and traction service.

Careful application of this Section will help users to comply with applicable regulations within their jurisdictions, while achieving the operational, cost and safety benefits to be gained from the many industry best-practices detailed within these volumes.

The Committee’s function is to establish rules of safety relating to pressure integrity, which govern the construction of boilers, pressure vessels, transport tanks, and nuclear components, and the inservice inspection of nuclear components and transport tanks. The Committee also interprets these rules when questions arise regarding their intent. The technical consistency of the Sections of the Code and coordination of standards development activities of the Committees is supported and guided by the Technical Oversight Management Committee. This Code does not address other safety issues relating to the construction of boilers, pressure vessels, transport tanks, or nuclear components, or the inservice inspection of nuclear components or transport tanks. Users of the Code should refer to the pertinent codes, standards, laws, regulations, or other relevant documents for safety issues other than those relating to pressure integrity.

Except for Sections XI and XII, and with a few other exceptions, the rules do not, of practical necessity, reflect the likelihood and consequences of deterioration in service related to specific service fluids or external operating environments.

In formulating the rules, the Committee considers the needs of users, manufacturers, and inspectors of pressure vessels. The objective of the rules is to afford reasonably certain protection of life and property, and to provide a margin for deterioration in service to give a reasonably long, safe period of usefulness. Advancements in design and materials and evidence of experience have been recognized.

This Code contains mandatory requirements, specific prohibitions, and nonmandatory guidance for construction activities and inservice inspection and testing activities. The Code does not address all aspects of these activities and those aspects that are not specifically addressed should not be considered prohibited. The Code is not a handbook and cannot replace education, experience, and the use of engineering judgment. The phrase engineering judgment refers to technical judgments made by knowledgeable engineers experienced in the application of the Code. Engineering judgments must be consistent with Code philosophy, and such judgments must never be used to overrule mandatory requirements or specific prohibitions of the Code.

The Committee recognizes that tools and techniques used for design and analysis change as technology progresses and expects engineers to use good judgment in the application of these tools. The designer is responsible for complying with Code rules and demonstrating compliance with Code equations when such equations are mandatory. The Code neither requires nor prohibits the use of computers for the design or analysis of components constructed to the requirements of the Code. However, designers and engineers using computer programs for design or analysis are cautioned that they are responsible for all technical assumptions inherent in the programs they use and the application of these programs to their design.