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Piping Design Basics- Isometric Drawings

By Nur Hidayah Haron

Table of Contents 
1. What is Isometric Drawing?
2. Features of Piping Isometric Drawing
3. How to Read Isometric Drawings?
4. Example of length calculation
5. Example of offset

What is Isometric Drawing?

Once the three dimensional (3D) model has been established id piping design software like PDS, PDMS or
SP3D, Piping Designers/Engineers need to convey that information to the yard for fabrication and site for
Construction. T he transferred information must have to be sufficient for the fabricator with the vision of
what is to be fabricated and how the piping should be connected with other elements, with exact
dimensions and complete build/Bill of materials (BOM). T his is where Isometric Drawings play a
magnificent role. So piping isometrics are directly used for the following situations:

For Construction Services

For marking up deviation during site modifications/ as-builting.
For reference as Stress Analysis model built up and final stress mark up for updating stress
requirements.

By definition, Isometric drawings are a pictorial representation that combines height-width-depth/length

into a single view with 30 degrees from its horizontal plane as shown in the below attached image.

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Built -up of Isomet ric Drawing

Features of Piping Isometric Drawing

Isomet ric Drawing is a t wo dimensional (2D) drawing t hat represent s t he 3D piping syst em. T he
important features are

It is not drawn to the scale, but it is proportionate with exact dimensions represented.
Pipes are drawn with a single line irrespective of the line sizes, as well as the other configurations
such as reducers, flanges, and valves.
pipes are shown in the same size. T he actual sizes are notified in Bill of Material, tagging, call-out or
notes.

Isometric drawings are popular because of its simplicity yet efficiency to convey complex information.
T he following figure gives an example of how one Isometric drawing can represent three orthographic
drawings. T hat is just a simple piping drawing. Imagine complex design and yet orthographic drawings are
used for construction, that is really a headache.

Ort hographic Vs Isomet ric Drawing

Earlier days, Isometric drawings were hand-drawn. With innovation and advancement of the digital age,
isometrics are drawn by AutoCAD/Microstation software. In recent days, the 3D models could
automatically extract the Isometric by a single click of a mouse.
 Sample Isomet ric Drawing

How to Read Isometric Drawings?

1. First, imagine that the piping system is built in a box. T his basic imagination is required for the piping
having an offset. So, it will help you to imagine, how the piping configuration will look like as it travels.

Generat ion of Piping Isomet ric

2. Offset  happens when the pipe turns to any angle other than 90-degree or to accommodate odd
nozzle’s location or tie in point connections. A popular use is a 45-degree elbow and this is used
extensively in piping design. In such cases, piping design may land on Northeast, Southeast, Northwest or
Southwest axes. In order to check the dimension of pipe length with offset, common Pythagoras’s
theorem and Trigonometric rule can be used. A sample calculation is shown below as a reference-

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Pyt hagoras T heorem

Example of length calculation

 Example 1 of Pipe Lengt h Calculat ion

Example 2 of Pipe Lengt h Calculat ion

Example of offset
 Image showing Offset

If you happened to have difficulties in reading the offset, try to draw the imaginary box. It could help you in
having a better understanding of which axes the pipe travel and how the piping should look like. In the
example given, take the flow from ‘x’, the pipe goes up; then up-northwest; then north. As you get along
with Iso a lot, things will come naturally.
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3. A Nort h arrow is provided in all piping isometrics to inform the location of the piping system in piping/
general arrangement drawing.

4. T he piping isometrics also has coordinat es & elevat ion det ailed information to verify the exact length
of pipe in horizontal and vertical axes respectively. T he dimensions in Isometric drawings are measured
from the pipe centreline and not from the outer diameter of the pipe (refer to the image attached below
for reference).

Piping Dimension in Isomet rics

With the advancement of technology, there could be minimum or even zero possibilities that the North
arrow, coordinates, and elevation in Isometric would differ from the piping arrangement; hence the
dimensions and MT O should match exactly if the source 3D model is the same.
However, It is always better to check and to verify as there could be some issues with the modeling itself
that may cause discrepancies on material and quantity. For example, if double piping is modeled by
mistake, it will read double quantity of material.

5. Isometric drawings also inform which piping should be constructed at the fabrication shop and which
should be assembled at the construction/platform field itself. T he complete piping system is separated
into pieces that is transported to the site for erection. T hese small pipe pieces are termed as piping
spools. One sheet of Isometric drawing normally has few spools.

Every weld that is assembled between spools at the construction site is termed as field weld (FW). T here
is one more type of weld that is known as field-fit weld (FFW). T his FFW is defined by the designer if
he/she could foresee that the spool might require some adjustment before the final fit-up, so at the
location of FFW has been marked, it will be given some pipe length tolerance (commonly 150-300mm).
Usually, FFW will occur at the nozzle of equipment or tie-in locations.

FFW at T ie-in Point

FFW example 2

T he whole assembled piping will look like the following after it is assembled at the field.
 Assembled Drawing

Some more Resources for you…

Salient Points to check while reviewing Piping Isometric Drawings

Preparation of Piping Isometrics
Types of Piping Drawings

References

Credit to other sources: svlele.com, wermac.org, pipingengineer.org, thepiping.com, spedweb.com,

enggcyclopedia.com, rishabheng.com
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/piping-isometric

About t he aut hor: Passionate Piping Engineer that has extensive experience in the oil and gas field;
mainly for topside piping system, subsea manifold, and onshore LNG facilities. Follow her on;
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nur-hidayah-haron-04881737

Nur Hidayah Haron

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