How much is the distance between welds, or spacing of weld on piping?...

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First, In "Piping" there are "Codes" and "Standards" and "Common Practices" and Individual Preferences".
The ASME B31 "Codes" do not address this subject. The many hundreds of "Standards" also do not cover
this subject.

So, we are down to "Common Practice" and "Individual Preferences". Both of these should be based on
"Common Sense". In many cases they are not.

For instance there are two "Common Practices" but only one seems to be based on "Common Sense".
(A)- Some people "claim" that you should ALWAYS use the Rule that "Two welds shall be two pipe
diameters apart".

(B)- Other people "state" that the minimum distance between two welds shall be not less than 5 times the
thickness of the pipe material.

In method "A" if you had a 3" pipe then the distance between the two welds would need to be 6". Okay
this does not seem too bad. But, If you apply the Rule to other sizes then "Common Sense" falls right on
it's face. Welds in larger pipe sizes such as 12" would need to be 24 inches apart and 18" the welds would
need to be 36 inches apart. This is just not logical.

On the other hand in method "B" the rule of 5 times the wall thickness is far more logical and is more cost
effective when designing a process plant. With this method 3" Schedule 160 pipe welds would need to be
farther apart (5 x.438 = 2.190" )than the welds in 12" Standard Weight pipe (5 x .375 = 1.875").The
choice of which of these methods to use is most often an arbitrary decision made by some individual in
the Client Company or the Engineering Company.

The piece of pipe that fills this gap between the two welds is commonly called a "Pup" or "Pup Piece".

So what if you NEED to have the welds closer than 5 times the wall thickness? A thought from another
writing:

The only restriction for the length of a "Pup" piece is common sense or a company imposed minimum
length. This minimum length is defined in different ways by a Lead Design Supervisor or company and
there is no absolute Code restriction or commonality. Individual pipers or a company minimum may
consider the pipe wall thickness, the weld bevel, the heat effected zone, or the real or perceived ability of
the shop to make a weld. There is no magic rule and there is no common industry standard.
In referring to the proximity of butt welds in pipe. This question has been asked many times. The answer
is the piping Codes do not provide specific guidance. In this situation, you must use engineering judgment
such as, locate the butt welds as far apart as possible to avoid overlapping weld heat affected zones and
stress concentration effects. For girth weld spacing, a criterion that has been used for many years is: the
greater of 2 inches or 4 times the wall thickness.
You might also want to talk to a good Welding Engineer as it could be dependent on the actual welding
process. If this is for proximity of weld joints to one another there could be other concerns--again the
Welding Engineer could help you.

(Just for interests sake, Australian Standard AS 4458 specifies the following: "The distance between the
edge of two circumferential butt welds shall be not less than four times the pipe wall thickness or 30 mm,
whichever is the greater, unless the first weld is post weld heat treated (PWHT) before the second weld.",
Also there is Saudi Aramco Standard as attached below.)

This means that if you do local or Oven Post Weld Heat Treating of the welds to "Normalize" the weld Heat
Affected Zone then you can reduce the distance between the welds.
ASME B31.3

AustralianStandard,AS4458

SaudiAramcoStandard,SAESW011.

11.16 Weld encroachment and minimum distance between welds. The requirements for minimum separation
between adjacent welds are listed in

11.16.1 and 11.16.2. The distances shall be measured between the edges of the adjacent cap passes. These
restrictions do not apply if one of the welds has been post weld heat treated prior to making the second weld or
both welds have been post weld heat treated and inspected.

11.16.1 The minimum distance between parallel butt welds shall be 20 mm or three times the wall thickness of the
joint, whichever is greater.

11.16.2 Pressure containing welds (e.g., nozzles and other attachments) shall be separated from other pressure
containing welds by no less than 20 mm or three times the joint thickness, whichever is greater. Radiography of the
butt welds is required for situations in which the minimum separation is not achieved. For joints other than butt
welds, other appropriate inspection methods shall be used, depending on the geometry and material. The following
are exemptions:
11.16.2.1 Structural components and reinforcing pads
11.16.2.2Hottapsplitteeendweldswhichcrossthepipelongitudinalseam.