An Overview of Small Diameter Steel Pipe

Steel pipe comes in a wide range of sizes, from large pipes used to transport gas throughout a city to the small diameter pipe used as micro piles. Steel pipe can be short or long, can have a thick wall or a thin one, and can be finished with varying coating materials. Because steel is malleable and versatile, it’s often used to create small diameter pipes.

Small Diameter Steel Pipe Dimensions

The size of small diameter steel pipe varies depending on the application, but diameters in the heavy civil and oil and gas sectors are typically under 10” outside diameter.

Small Diameter Steel Pipe Styles

Just as with large steel pipe, small diameter steel pipe can be seamless or welded. Seamless steel pipe is manufactured in such a way as to be smooth all the way around (without a weld), while welded steel pipe will have a straight or spiral seam running along its side.

Small Diameter Steel Pipe Applications

Small steel pipe has a wide range of applications and is used for heat exchanger tubes, control lines for oil and gas, micro piling, excavating, and more. In addition, small diameter pipes have applications in different industries, specifically in the aerospace and nuclear sectors.

Micro Piling

Micro piles, also known as “minipiles”, “pin piles”, and “needle piles”, are small diameter steel pipe piles used for deep foundation projects. Typically, the steel pipe piles are bonded into the soil with cement grout. This technique is used for structural support in weak soils, and work to essentially “stitch” the soil together to create more stability and a stronger base. In addition, the micro pile technique can be utilized to transfer loads. The micro piling technique is a very cost-effective method for foundation stabilization.

Excavating

Hollow steel pipe is often called casing. Casing is utilized in a variety of ways, including pile driving, groundwater protection, drilling, oil and gas, excavating, and much more. One way that temporary casing is used is for stabilization during the excavating process to stabilize the drilled shaft. Sometimes, multiple smaller diameter casings are used progressively, called a telescope casing process.

Hydraulic Lines

The aerospace industry uses small hydraulic tubes in the engines and airframes of both commercial and military aircraft. Small steel pipe works well in this setting because of its high strength to weight ratio. The diameter of hydraulic lines ranges from 0.125 inches to 1.5 inches and is used to trigger flight control surfaces such as flaps and slats. The pipe is also necessary for things like landing gear and brakes.

Instrumentation Tubes

Both the aerospace industry and the nuclear power industry rely on precision tubing to protect their control systems and instruments. For example, pilots rely on pitot tubes to measure flow speed while in the air. Similarly, control and measuring devices are critical to the safe functioning of nuclear reactors. Each of these industries utilize steel instrumentation tubes to monitor factors such as pressure, temperature, density differences and fuel burn up rates. Instrumentation tubing is most commonly made of special grade stainless steel and can range in diameter from 0.020 inches to 1.5 inches.

Heat Exchanger Tubes

Heat exchanger tubes heat or cool gases and air. They’re used by a wide range of industries, including the chemical processing, oil and gas, alternative energy, nuclear and aerospace industries. Small diameter steel pipe is required to manufacture heat exchanger tubes due to its high strength and resistance to corrosion.

Control Lines

The oil and gas industry requires continuous lengths of steel control lines, which are used for a variety of applications including hydraulic controls, chemical injections and flowline controls.

Nuclear Control Rod Tubes

Small diameter steel pipe is used in the nuclear power industry inside the cores of nuclear reactors. For example, pipe is used in control rod and cladding tubing, which ranges in diameter from a 0.25 inches to 1.0 inch.

High Pressure Tubes

High pressure tubes have many applications, including oil and gas extraction, high pressure liquid chromatography, military uses, water jet cutting and more. Small diameter steel pipe is used to create the high-pressure tubes needed for these systems.

To learn more about steel pipe, check out our blog "All About Steel Pipe".

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