The ASME B31 Code for Pressure Piping and the ASMEBoiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section III, Nuclear Components, Subsections NC and ND piping rulesrequire the use of stress intensification factors (SIFs ori-factors) and flexibilityfactors (k-factors) when checkingthe adequacy of components and joints (welded andnonwelded) in piping subject to various loads, includingcyclic loads, that may produce fatigue failures. As usedherein, where the wordCodeis used withoutspecificiden-tification, it means the Code that incorporates or refer-ences this Standard. Experimental methods todetermine SIFs, flexibility factors, and sustained loadfactors are provided in the Nonmandatory Appendices.Compiled stress intensification and flexibilityfactorequa-tions for common piping components are included inTable 1-1; see also Tables 1-2 and 1-3 and Figures 1-1through 1-7.
