Pressure System Design

Audience

This course is ideal for professionals involved in pressure system design, operation, maintenance, or oversight, including:

• Mechanical and process engineers
• System designers and integrators
• Maintenance and reliability personnel
• Safety professionals and managers
• Project and facility managers

The course is suitable for both early-career professionals building foundational knowledge and experienced practitioners seeking refreshers or practical insights drawn from real incidents and testing.

Learning Goals

Participants will learn how to:

• Build practical skills for safe, compliant pressurized system design and lifecycle support.
• Apply engineering principles to material selection, component design, and real-world system analysis.
• Identify and mitigate hazards early, including evaluating performance and failure modes.
• Perform key assessments such as piping flexibility, relief/regulator sizing, and load case analysis.
• Make safety-driven decisions that improve reliability, compliance, and operational performance.

Formats

This learning content is modular and flexible by design. Courses can be taken as individual or bundled modules. It can also be included as an add-on to other oxygen or hydrogen safety courses. Available formats include:

• In-Person Training: Delivered at WHA’s Las Cruces, NM facility or at your site, with live demonstrations and hands-on learning for select modules.
• Instructor-Led Virtual Training: Live, interactive sessions for distributed teams.
• On-Demand Training: Self-paced learning, interactive simulations, and video demonstrations.

Course Structure

11 modules | ~12.75 total hours for in-person and instructor-led formats

Modules are fully self-contained and may be taken individually or as a learning path. A detailed course and module description is available as a downloadable PDF.

Pressure System Design Fundamentals

Module 1 – Design Philosophy & Approach (30 Minutes)
Establishes a systems-level design mindset, including early definition of scope definition, identification of potential failures and hazards, site layout, and documentation.

Module 2 – Load Cases for Pressure Systems (45 Minutes)
Introduces pressure, thermal, vibration, weight, seismic, and environmental loads and how they influence system stress and integrity.

Module 3 – Materials of Construction (30 Minutes)
Covers material behavior with temperature and process media compatibility, including corrosion and degradation risks.

Module 4 – Piping & Piping Joints (1 Hour)
Reviews common piping and joint types (soldering, brazing, welding, and mechanical), highlighting advantages, limitations, and appropriate applications.

Module 5 – Pressure System Components (1.5 Hours)
This module provides an overview of the key components in a pressurized system, such as vessels, valves, safety devices, and instrumentation, highlighting their function.

Piping Analysis & Component Sizing

Module 6 – Piping Analysis (1 Hour)
Covers the principles of piping analysis for safe and reliable system design, including pressure rating calculations, load evaluation per applicable codes, and flexibility and stress analysis to prevent overstress, fatigue, and failure.

Module 7 – Pressure Regulator Selection & Sizing (2 Hours)
Provides practical guidance on regulator types, sizing principles, system response, and common performance pitfalls.

Module 8 – Pressure Relief Device Selection & Sizing (3 Hours)
Covers overpressure scenarios, relief device types, sizing fundamentals, and real-world stability challenges.

Module 9 – Captured Vent Design (1 Hour)
Addresses safe vent design, including material selection, pressure drop, dispersion, and reaction forces.

Installation, Operations & Maintenance

Module 10 – Installation & Operational Readiness (1 Hour)
Focuses on fabrication, inspection, testing, and pre-startup practices that enable safe system commissioning.

Module 11 – Operations & Maintenance (30 Minutes)
Covers leak testing, relief device recertification, and fitness-for-service considerations during system life.

Cost

This course is currently in active development. Final delivery formats, schedules, and pricing will be announced soon. Contact us using the form below if you are interested in early access or would like to be notified when the course modules become available.