Pressure Relief Devices: ASME and API Code Simplified 1st Edition

This book is a decent guide for mechanical engineers (and probably operations personnel) and provides a good introduction to relief valves. However, the book lacks important chemical engineering information on how to size 2-phase relief scenarios, runaway reactions, emergency venting and depressuring, etc... Also it doesn't say much about how to estimate fluid properties and how these can change during a relief event (e.g. Joule Thompson cooling during depressuring).

The author has obviously put a lot of work into this book. Unfortunately, the result does not warrant the effort. In my mind, the book creates more confusion than clarity.A main shortcoming of the book is the illogical composition. The book follows the categorization of pressure relief valves as presented in the first chapter and used throughout. Pressure Relief Valves are sub-categorized into Safety Relief Valves, Relief Valves and Safety valves. Huh…?What is the logic in that classification? How can Safety Relief valves and Relief valves be two separate, mutually excluding categories? Or Safety Relief Valves or Safety Valves. If you go to the ‘Terminology’ chapter, you will find no help - none of the categories are explained. In the text of the book the descriptions of the categories is largely overlapping and therefore gives no understanding of the logic. The categorization may reflect that terminology is simply not consistent between the different sections of the ASME codes, e.g. between section I and section VIII. But shouldn’t the author point out the inconsistency to the reader, rather than unreflectingly adopting it as the backbone of his book?A good point of the book are the numerous illustrations. That many of the photographs are greyish low resolution shots retracts somewhat. As for the language of the book, it marked by the author not being a native English speaker. It is flat and has the occasional hick-up like ’…must be generated during the allowable pressure’. Take into the consideration that the book is from 2005, which means that the codes that it is presenting has by now been changed several times and that parts of the book may now be outdated.In summary: Regrettably I cannot recommend this book.

Excellent book fully covers the topic. It was so emotional I wanted to cry. Lusty in parts but peacuful in others. I recommend oit highly.

Good