Natural Gas Pipeline Design and B31.8 Code

Since 1935 the safety incorporated in natural gas distribution and transmission pipeline design has been promulgated and developed through the Code for Pressure Piping prepared and updated by the B31.8 Committee of ASME. This was a voluntary code until it was used by the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop mandatory design standards brought about by the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 and its subsequent amendments. The DOT used the B31.8 Code to prepare the Federal Safety Standards for design which then produced code language which was mandatory rather than voluntary. The current ASME Guide for Gas Transmission and Distribution Piping Systems links the ANSI B31.8 Code to the Federal Safety Standards and provides one basis for compliance with natural gas safety design methods for engineers and gas operators engaged in this field. A correlation is drawn to express the relationship of the B31.8 Code to present day Federal Standards.