Summary
This publication, the product of MTI Project 92, is intended to help engineers specify fiberglass (FRP) tanks and vessels to ASME International (formerly American Society of Mechanical Engineers) standard ASME RTP-1 –1995 Edition, “Reinforced Thermoset Plastic Corrosion Resistant Equipment,” and to Section X of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code “Fiber-Reinforced Plastic Pressure Vessels.” The guide is primarily for engineers and designers who are familiar with specifying tanks and vessels constructed of metal, but not fiberglass. While ASME documents are written as codes, this guide is written as an instruction manual.
The purpose of the two ASME documents is to provide rules of safety governing the design fabrication, and inspection during construction of FRP tanks and vessels. Since these documents are, or will be, used as law, the ruIes must be carefully phrased so as to be legally enforceable. Further, various parts of the documents must be extensively cross-referenced so as to be usable as law; nothing can be left “to be explained in the next chapter.” These editorial requirements conflict with providing an easy-to-read explanation of how to specify FRP to someone unfamiliar with this material of construction.
Those who use codes and standards governing metallic equipment and construction know that good, complete standards are not necessarily good instruction primers. This guide is intended to be such a primer for the two ASME documents. We have tried to make it as simple, readable and practical as possible.
Writing complete, tight specifications for any process vessel is not an easy task. Necessarily, the writer does much of the design, usually specifying the material of construction, location and size of nozzles and other appurtenances, method of vessel support, and operating conditions. Even if the writer uses fabricators' experience to prepare the specification this specifier should understand the rudiments of FRP and FRP design. This book gives these essential basics using how-to-do-it examples.
