Source & Citation Policy — Where the Numbers Come From

Engineering software earns trust by being explicit about what it computes from where. Piping Toolset enforces that with an architectural rule, not a style guide: equations live in code; copyrighted table values never do — unless a written authorization covers them.

1. Citation policy

• Every calculator cites its governing method by standard and paragraph/equation number (e.g. ASME B31.3 ¶304.1.2 Eq. (3a)) — on the calculator card, on its landing page here, and in generated reports.
• Code equations and public-domain engineering methods (Kellogg guided cantilever, Euler buckling, WRC closed forms) are implemented in open code you can verify against the cited source.
• Code table values — allowable stresses, quality factors, Y/y coefficients, f-factors — are inputs you supply from your governing edition. Pages on this site never reproduce them.

2. The data firewall

Reference data flows through a dedicated data service where every dataset carries a mode flag with a strict progression:

user_supplied  →  derived  →  licensed_embedded

• user_supplied — the default. You key in the value from your own copy of the standard.
• derived — computed or restructured from freely published data, with attribution (e.g. pipe-support catalog selection data, used with "confirm with the manufacturer at order time" disclaimers).
• licensed_embedded — shipped inside the app, only after written authorization from the rights holder, gated by an explicit authorized-sources list in code.

3. ASME authorization scope

As of 2026-07-04 the operator holds ASME authorization to utilize B31.1, B31.3, BPVC, and BPE. Under it, the BPE Part DT-4.1 fitting-dimension tables ship embedded and the SD-3.1.2.2 dead-leg limit is populated in-app. On 2026-07-20, following ASME's review of the deployed product, the operator's submittal was approved — the authorization is confirmed to cover commercial/subscription distribution of the embedded ASME data. Every other referenced standard — API, NEMA, WRC charts, PPI HDB values, ISO 14692 / BS 7159 — remains strictly user_supplied.

4. Validation sources

• Hand derivations — recorded case-by-case in the fixture files (see validation methodology).
• PVP Suite validation set — 112 checks from a legacy validated toolset; driving inputs reverse-derived and locked as fixtures for seventeen calculators.
• Published worked examples — e.g. the expansion-loop coefficient rule (6.225·√(ΔL·D)), reproduced by the general form within 0.03% and locked as fixtures.

5. No runtime AI — and what telemetry exists

There is no LLM, no retrieval system, and no AI-generated number anywhere in the calculation path. Every result is a deterministic function of your inputs, and the same inputs produce the same outputs, forever — that is what makes a calculation report auditable.

Site pages carry Google Analytics for anonymous usage measurement (page views and which calculators are opened). All advertising signals are disabled, analytics consent is denied by default in the EEA/UK, and calculation inputs are never transmitted — calculators run entirely in your browser.

6. Corrections

Found a citation error or a number you cannot reproduce? Report it — a confirmed discrepancy becomes a fixture case first and a fix second, and both land in the calculation changelog.