NORSOK STANDARD

COMMON REQUIREMENTS
GRP PIPING MATERIALS

M-CR-621
Rev. 1, December 1994
GRP Piping Materials M-CR-621
Rev. 1, December 1994

CONTENTS

1 FOREWORD ........................................................................................................................... 2
2 SCOPE...................................................................................................................................... 2
3 NORMATIVE REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 2
4 DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................. 3
5 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS ......................................................................................... 3
6 QUALIFICATION OF MANUFACTURERS...................................................................... 4
7 DESIGN REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................................. 6
8 FABRICATION AND INSTALLATION ............................................................................. 6
9 OPERATION ........................................................................................................................... 7

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NORSOK Standard 1 of 7
GRP Piping Materials M-CR-621
Rev. 1, December 1994

1 FOREWORD
This Standard has been developed by the NORSOK Standardisation Work Group for the
widest possible national and international application.

The Standard is based on the UKOOA document "Specifications and Recommended

Practice for the Use of Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic Piping Offshore" with amendments
given.

The UKOOA document is divided into five parts; 1) Philosophy and Scope, 2)
Components and Manufacture, 3) System Design, 4) Fabrication and Installation and 5)
Operation.
Each part of the UKOOA document, with the exception of part 1, follow the individual life
cycle of a GRP pipe system. Each part may be considered as separate documents, with part
1 giving an introduction and providing references and definitions applicable to the other
four parts.

Work has been initiated in order to transfer the NORSOK/UKOOA documents into an ISO
standard. This NORSOK Standard will apply until such a standard has been established.

2 SCOPE
The Standard defines the requirements for qualification of manufacturer, design,
manufacturing, fabrication and installation/operation of GRP piping systems on offshore
installations.

3 NORMATIVE REFERENCES
UKOOA document Specifications and Recommended Practice for the Use of Glass Fibre
Reinforced Plastic Piping Offshore, 1994.

ASTM D 3681 Standard test method for chemical resistance of thermosetting

resin pipes in a deflected condition.

ASTM D 4024 Specification for Reinforced Thermosetting Resin (RTR)

Flanges.

BS 5480 Specification for Glass Fibre Reinforced (GRP) pipes, joints

and
fittings for use for water supply and sewerage.

DIN 16966 Glass fibre reinforced polyester resin (UP-GF) pipe fittings and
joint assemblies.

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GRP Piping Materials M-CR-621
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ISO 4901 Reinforced plastics based on unsaturated polyester resins -

Determination of residual styrene monomer content.

KRV A 984/82-02 Instructions for design and installation of piping made of

glassfibre reinforced thermosetting resins, with and without
liner.

OLF document Installasjon av komposittrør offshore - Godkjenning av

montører og installasjonsledere (Approval of Pipe Fitters and
Supervisors), OLF - 1994 (DRAFT).

OLF document Installasjon av komposittrør offshore - Godkjenning av

inspektører (Approval of Inspectors), OLF - 1994 (DRAFT).

NORSOK
M-CR-630 Material Data Sheets for Piping

4 DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS

Add following abbreviations to Section 5, Part 1 of the UKOOA document:

DnV Det Norske Veritas

GRE Glass reinforced plastic made with epoxy resin.
GRVE Glass reinforced plastic made with vinylester resin.
GRUP Glass reinforced plastic made with unsaturated polyester resin.
KRV Kunststoff Rohrverband (53 Bonn, Dyroffstrasse 2, Germany)
OLF Oljeindustriens Landsforening (Norwegian Oil Industry Association)
(P.O.Box 547, N-4001 Stavanger, Norway)
TI Teknologisk Institutt, Oslo, Norway
UKOOA United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association.(UK`s counterpart to OLF)
(3 Hans Crescent, London SW IX 0LN, England).

5 TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
Typical acceptable applications of GRP piping include; service water, process water,
cooling medium, potable water, sewage/grey water (non hazardous waste), non hazardous
drains, non hazardous vents, chemicals, firewater ringmain, firewater dry deluge, firewater
wet deluge, produced water and ballast water.

The amendments given in the following sections give additional requirements or impose
limitations compared to the UKOOA "Specifications and Recommended Practice for the
Use of Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastic Piping Offshore". Unamended paragraphs in the
UKOOA document apply in full.

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NORSOK Standard 3 of 7
GRP Piping Materials M-CR-621
Rev. 1, December 1994

Amendments to part 1; "Philosophy and Scope" in UKOOA document

Section 1 of Part 1 in UKOOA`s document is only for information.

Section 2.2 Materials

Delete last sentence, "Thermoplastic liners are also excluded from this Document Suite" in
first section and add following sections:

Preferred resins are bisphenol A epoxies with aromatic or cycloaliphatic curing agent and
vinylester.
Suitable thermoplastic liner should be used in combination with vinylester and C glass or
ECR glass for transportation of concentrated hypochlorite and sulphuric acid. For
transporting other agressive fluids, the C glass or ECR glass combined with resin rich
internal barrier should be used. The reinforcement used in the resin rich barrier shall be C
glass or synthetic veil. Thermoplastic lined pipes shall be qualified, manufactured,
designed and installed according to DIN 16966 and KRV A 984/82-02.

Section 6, Bibliography.

Add following reference:

DnV Det norske Veritas Rules for Classification of Ships and Mobile Offshore
Units.

6 QUALIFICATION OF MANUFACTURERS
Amendment to part 2:" Components and Manufacture" in UKOOA document

The manufacturer shall satisfy the requirements given in Material Data Sheet MDS-P01 in
NORSOK Standard M-CR-630.

Section 2.1.9 Adhesive/resin for bonded/laminated joints

Add new section 2.1.9.

The adhesive used for bonded joints or resin used for laminated joints shall be qualified
according to section 2.1.2 and 2.1.3.

The adhesive/resin shall have suitable properties for field assembly and fullfilling the
following requirements:

-The adhesive/resin shall have a suitable viscosity for application at room temperature. The
viscosity shall not be above 0.4 kPas at 23°C with a shear rate of 10 rotations per
second (absolute viscosity data).

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GRP Piping Materials M-CR-621
Rev. 1, December 1994

-The fracture elongation of the cured adhesive/resin in joints shall not be less than that of
the resin used in the piping.

-The glass transition temperature (TG) or the residual heat of reaction of the cured
adhesive/resin shall be determined by DSC according to Annex C, by measurement
of
samples taken from joints of components used in qualification testing.

-Alternatively, for polyester and vinylester based products, the residual styrene monomer
content for joints in components used in qualification testing may be determined.
The measurement shall be performed according to ISO 4901.

Section 2.1.10 Component Data for Fabrication, Prefabrication and Installation

Quality Control Baselines.

Add new section 2.1.10:

The manufacturer shall generate from the qualification programme baseline values
including acceptance criteria for the fabrication and installation quality control programme.

This includes measurement of degree of cure and glass content.

The degree of cure shall be determined by DSC in accordance with Annex C or by residual
styrene content measurement in accordance with ISO 4901 for the adhesive used in bonded
joints and the resin used in laminated joints. Reference to new section 2.1.9.

The percentage of fibreglass reinforcement in laminated joint shall be determined in

accordance with ASTM D 2584. Three samples shall be taken from three locations situated
120° apart in the same joint cross section.

Section 2.4 Component Properties for System Design

Delete the two words “Where applicable” in the first sentence.

ANNEX C Test Method for Determination of Degree of Cure by Differential

Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)

C.5.3

Delete sentence and replace with:

Obtain the TG1 (midpoint of the inflection in the DSC curve) and/or the residual heat of
reaction from the first scan and second scan. (Sample not powdered).

C.6.5

Delete sentence and replace with:

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GRP Piping Materials M-CR-621
Rev. 1, December 1994

Record of glass transition temperature (inflection value) as TG1 and /or residual heat of
reaction for both the first and second scan.

7 DESIGN REQUIREMENTS
Amendment to part 3: "System Design" in UKOOA document

Section 8.1.4 Flanged Joints

Replace last sentence with following sentence:

Allowable bolt torques and flange mis-alignment shall be defined by Manufacturer.

8 FABRICATION AND INSTALLATION

Amendment to part 4: "Fabrication and Installation" in UKOOA document

Section 4.4. Jointing

Add the following before last paragraph:

The adhesive/resin used shall be according to manufacturer recommendation satisfying the

requirements given in clause 6, section 2.1.9 and 2.1.10 in this document. The glass
transition temperature (TG) or the residual heat of reaction of the cured adhesive/resin
measured according to Annex C in part 2 of the UKOOA document shall not deviate more
than the following compared to qualified values:

• TG max. 5°C lower

• Residual heat of reaction max. 10% higher

Alternatively, for polyester and vinylester based products, the residual styrene monomer
content for joints in components used in qualification testing may be determined.
The measurement shall be performed according to ISO 4901.

The residual styrene content shall be maximum 10% above the level measured during
component qualification, but not above 2% total content.

Section 4.6 Quality Programme for Installation

Add following sentence to the list in the third paragraph starting with "Quality control
shall be based on the implementation of:"

-curing temperature and time shall be regularly recorded for adhesive bonded joints and
laminated joints;

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GRP Piping Materials M-CR-621
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-TG or residual heat of reaction shall be measured by DSC (Annex C in Part 2) for 10% of
the joints of samples taken from the adhesive in bonded joints or the resin in
laminated joints.

Section 5.0 Installer Certification

Add following sentences:

Pipe fitters, supervisors and inspectors shall be exclusively qualified and certified for
specific joint type(s). As a minimum, it is required that the pipe fitters, supervisors and
inspectors are certified according to OLF documents "Godkjenning av montører og
installasjonsledere". (“Approval of Fitters and Supervisors”) and “Godkjenning av
inspektører” (“Approval of Inspectors”) (OLF - 1994 /DRAFT).

9 OPERATION
Amendment to part 5: "Operation" in UKOOA document

Section 4.3.2 Laminated Joint.

Add following paragraphs after the third paragraph:

The resin used shall be according to manufacturer recommendation satisfying the

requirements given in clause 6, section 2.1.9 and 2.1.10 in this document. The glass
transition temperature (TG) or the residual heat of reaction of the cured adhesive/resin
measured according to Annex C in part 2 of the UKOOA document shall not deviate more
than the following compared to qualified values,

• TG max. 5°C lower

• Residual heat of reaction max.10% higher.

Alternatively, for polyester and vinylester based products, the residual styrene monomer
content for joints in components used in qualification testing may be determined.
The measurement shall be performed according to ISO 4901.

The residual styrene content shall be maximum 10% above the level measured during
component qualification, but not above 2% total content.

Section 6.0 Fitter and inspector certification

Add following sentences:

Pipe fitters, supervisors and inspectors shall be exclusively qualified and certified for
specific joints type(s). As a minimum, it is required that the pipe fitters, supervisors and
inspectors are certified according to OLF's document "Godkjenning av montører og
installasjonsledere". (“Approval of Fitters and Supervisors”) and “Godkjenning av
inspektører” (“Approval of Inspectors”) (OLF - 1994 /DRAFT)..
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NORSOK Standard 7 of 7