Damage Control: CUI Assessment
Evergreening an RBI-Based Inspection Program
FFS Forum: Acoustic Emission Testing - The Least Understood Inspection Technique (Part 2 of 2)
How to Reduce Your Exposure to High Consequence FEMI Events
Inspection and Best Practice in Single Stud Replacement
Into the Grain - Advancements in HTHA Detection Methods - Part 1
Robotics for Internal In-Service Inspection of Aboveground Storage Tanks
Simplifying Complex Failures with EDX Images
Wireless Battery-Free Ultrasonic Thickness Measurement Patches for CO2 Absorber
Combining Drones and Rope Access to Increase Coverage and Data
Data-Driven Reliability – Reliability Done Right
Feasibility Study for Fitness-for-Service Assessment of Reinforced Thermoplastic Pipes
FFS Forum: Acoustic Emission Testing – The Least Understood Inspection Technique (Part 1 of 2)
Identifying and Understanding the Risk of Acoustic-Induced Vibration Failures
Pipeline Ultrasonic Thickness Data Analysis Using Gaussian Distribution
Baseline Inspection of Heat Exchanger Tubing
Composite Repair to Restore In-Plant Piping - A Case Study
Damage Control: Thermal Fatigue Mitigation
How Effective Are Your BIG FIVE FEMI Risk Management Programs?
Lessons Learned from the Rupture of a Steam Superheater Header
Piping CML Optimization: Optimizing the Definition
A Material Verification Process for Dealing with PHMSA’s “Mega Rule”
An Overview of Heat Treatment in the Refining, Power, and Petrochemical Industry - Part 1
Composite Repair of Equipment and The Practical Applicability of ASME PCC-2
Damage Control: Thermal Fatigue Assessment
Integration of Integrity Operating Windows into Process Safety Management
11 Primary Elements to Ensure Asset Integrity in the Lifecycle of Oil and Gas Facilities
Damage Control: Thermal Fatigue Detection
Digital Transformation in 5 Guided Steps
How Many Inspectors Do You Need at Your Operating Site?
Implementing an Effective Mechanical Integrity System
Importance of 3D Modeling in High-Definition Remote Visual Measurement Systems
RBI Pitfalls to Avoid and Helpful Advice
Design of Pressure Vessels to Increase Equipment Reliability
Digital Solutions to Improve Workforce Connectivity
FFS Forum: Dealing with Multiple Damage Mechanisms in an FFS Assessment
High Temperature Hydrogen Attack in API RP 581 RBI Methodology: A Commentary
How COVID-19 and the Decline in Oil Prices have Affected Mechanical Integrity Programs
How Valves Flow Into Your Integrity Program - Part 2: Mechanical Integrity Considerations
Processing Lower Cost Crudes with Greater Confidence & Improved Reliability
Rapid Ultrasonic Gridding and Its Impact on RBI Effectiveness
Article Index
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September/October 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Wenwu Shen at Saudi Aramco, Dr. Zhenzhu Wan at Saudi Aramco, Rashed Alhajri at Saudi Aramco, and Nasser M. Balhareth at Saudi AramcoUnderstanding asset integrity and its management framework is important to sustaining the integrity of assets in the oil and gas industry. This article will discuss eleven primary elements that make up an asset integrity management program.
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November/December 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Jason Edwards at ROSEN Germany GmbHThrough a combination of new ILI technology and non-destructive in-situ techniques, all the necessary tools and processes are now in place and available to operators around the world to proactively improve their integrity management systems.
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A Thousand Important Roles & Responsibilities of the Plant Fixed Equipment Inspection and Mechanical Integrity Group
July/August 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at IntertekIn the author's experience, one of the largest gaps in plants is a lack of understanding of what the entire fixed equipment mechanical integrity group does. This article will shed light on the many roles and responsibilities within these groups.
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November/December 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Ben Osborne at TEAM, Inc.Heat treatment has been used by mankind for centuries. This article details reasons to heat treat, the types of heat treating available, methods of heat treating to achieve specific material properties, and the role of MI in heat treating.
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An Overview of Heat Treatment in the Refining, Power, and Petrochemical Industry - Part 2: The Importance of Heat Treatment to Mechanical Integrity
March/April 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Ben Osborne at TEAM, Inc.
This article discusses the benefits of an established heat treating process with regards to mechanical integrity, as well as certain quality control measures and the importance of a heat treatment plan.
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January/February 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Timothy L. Rush at MISTRAS Group Inc.The purpose of baseline inspections is to provide cost savings upfront versus the cost incurred during operations. So, what are the possible heat exchange tubing defects or anomalies and how are they validated?
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March/April 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Danny Landry at Premium Inspection & Testing GroupAs more are educated on the benefits of utilizing ropes and drones, skepticism has become far less common, and we’re sure to see adoption grow in the coming years of both of these methods—and, perhaps, of this new hybrid approach to work as well.
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November/December 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Ashfaq AnwerThe author estimates that, if the composite repair approach is implemented properly in place of welding repairs, approximately 70-80% of hot work at operating sites could be eliminated.
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January/February 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Abdulaziz Moshaweh at Saudi Aramco, Meshal Al Saiari at Saudi Aramco, Faiyaz Hussain at Saudi Aramco, and Abdullah Alotaibi at Saudi AramcoRestoring process piping within a short time frame requires an innovative approach. This article discusses how a repair using composite materials proved to be successful and enabled a quick return to operations.
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Partner ContentFloodlight Software digitalizes inspection and testing operations and eliminates paper forms, filing cabinets, and spreadsheets. Your inspection forms plus our software equals a user-friendly mobile interface for inspectors and a robust reporting...
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May/June 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Phillip E. Prueter at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc.In this article, FFS assessment methods are summarized and practical guidance is offered for qualifying CUI damage on carbon and low-alloy steels.
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March/April 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Phillip E. Prueter at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc.
Corrosion under insulation is a form of external corrosion that is caused by trapped water on insulated surfaces. It is an industry problem affecting equipment in the oil and gas, petrochemical, specialty chemical, fertilizer, and related industries.
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November/December 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Phillip E. Prueter at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc.
Conventionally, three primary fatigue analysis methods have been used to estimate fatigue life; these are the stress-life (S-N) approach, the strain-life (ε-N) approach, and the fracture mechanics (crack growth) approach.
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Partner ContentTraditional, paper-based inspection processes can prevent plants from being as effective as they can be. By digitalizing your mechanical integrity process and data with MISTRAS Digital®, plants have realized up to 75% gains in IDMS data entry and...
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September/October 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Phillip E. Prueter at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc.This article reflects the first in a series on damage mechanisms that will appear in this recurring Inspectioneering column entitled “Damage Control.” The inaugural topic discussed in this column is thermal fatigue.
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January/February 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Phillip E. Prueter at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc.
Thermal fatigue, a specific form of fatigue driven by varying metal temperature gradients and ensuing differential thermal expansion, is generally most effectively mitigated by reducing the severity of metal temperature gradients.
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March/April 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Sean Rosier at PinnacleThe manner by which reliability is achieved is experiencing a much-needed paradigm shift in the way it uses data. In this article, we’ll explain how you can leverage this industry shift to implement data-driven reliability at your facility.
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July/August 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Qasem Fandem at Saudi Aramco, and Bryan Redmann at WorleyParsonsPressure vessel design is crucial in ensuring compliance with safety regulations and facilitating reliability and integrity. This article provides an overview of the ASME Section VIII approach to designing pressure vessels.
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July/August 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Stephen Thomas at PK CompaniesThe utilization of digital tools, such as the one outlined in this article, will go a long way in assuring that work will proceed in a timely manner, based on accurate information and with involvement of connected and knowledgeable personnel.
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September/October 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Nasrin Azari at Floodlight SoftwareThis article provides a guide through the actual execution of digital transformation. The author explains what digital transformation is and helps you understand the benefits you will achieve and the challenges that arise.
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May/June 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Ben Charlton at Valero Energy CorporationThis article describes an owner-user’s evergreening process to maintain accurate data to support the mechanical integrity program and assist in planning inspections, turnarounds, repairs, replacements, and upgrades.
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March/April 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Dr. Rob Kulka at TWI LtdGlobally accepted FFS procedures for non-metallic components, such as reinforced thermoplastic pipes, do not exist. There may be opportunity in adapting existing procedures for metallic components and their damage mechanisms to composite components.
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May/June 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.This article addresses some of the advantages and disadvantages of acoustic emission testing and discusses a few examples of its typical applications.
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March/April 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
FFS assessments usually originate from inspection results and often end with a recommended inspection plan. This FFS Forum tries to provide a little better understanding of one particular inspection method: Acoustic Emission Testing.
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July/August 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
Assessment procedures in API 579 are organized by damage mechanism. But what happens when different damage mechanisms are in play since the evaluation criteria may not be compatible?
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FFS Forum: Using Fracture Mechanics to Lower Risk and Improve Plant Reliability - Part 1, Introduction to Fracture Mechanics
September/October 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.Fracture mechanics is a branch of engineering that describes the behavior of cracks – how they grow and when they fracture. Fracture of cracks is particularly dangerous because it can happen without warning under normal operating conditions.
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FFS Forum: Using Fracture Mechanics to Lower Risk and Improve Plant Reliability - Part 2, A Closer Look at the FAD
November/December 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
Every fitness-for-service (FFS) assessment must have a well-defined acceptance criterion. For many damage mechanisms, it’s the “remaining strength factor” (RSF). But for crack-like flaw assessment, it’s the Failure Assessment Diagram, or FAD.
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FFS Forum: Using Fracture Mechanics to Lower Risk and Improve Plant Reliability - Part 3, Practical Applications
January/February 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
The first two parts of this series covered the basics of fracture mechanics and how the FAD is interpreted. This article touches on a few practical points regarding the application of fracture mechanics in a plant environment.
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July/August 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Ibrahim Kodssi at Husky Energy, and Hussain FadhelThis article explores the API RP 581 third edition approach to HTHA damage factor calculations to obtain a probability of failure that subsequently affects risk. Sample calculations are provided to affirm an understanding of the concept.
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July/August 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Jeremiah Wooten at Inspectioneering, LLC.Inspectioneering and Pinnacle co-hosted their 6th bi-annual Meeting of the Minds roundtable discussion earlier this year. This meeting’s focus was on how Covid-19 and the decline in oil prices have affected MI programs across the industry.
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January/February 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at IntertekIf I suddenly accepted the position of site manager at your operating site, one of the first things I would do is trot on down to the FEMI group and ask questions to assess what we need to be doing to avoid the potential for big FEMI events.
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September/October 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at IntertekThis article presents a methodology for calculating and understanding how many qualified API inspectors you need to staff in order to improve fixed equipment mechanical integrity and reliability at your operating site.
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May/June 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at IntertekThis article is oriented toward identifying and assessing the risk of potentially high consequence, but usually lower likelihood, FEMI issues that could cause a big event at operating sites if sufficient safeguards or barriers are not in place.
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July/August 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Evan M. Sparks at TEAM Inc., and Mike Pelezo at TEAM Inc.Ideally, all valves should work when needed; but the truth is that valves fail. This article discusses the common failure mechanisms that affect valves as well as what inspectors should look for during an inspection.
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March/April 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Nathan Libertowski at The Equity Engineering Group, and Michael Bifano, Ph.D., P.E. at The Equity Engineering GroupThis article provides insights into the AIV damage mechanism, reviews approaches to calculate the probability of AIV failure in piping, provides design practices to prevent AIV failure, and introduces a RBI approach to evaluate risk of AIV failures.
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September/October 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Luciano Narcisi at Stork AMT, and Robert Westerhuis at Stork AMTImplementing RBI as part of a Mechanical Integrity system at different sites is not a simple copy and paste project. Each case has its own characteristics and challenges. This article describes implementation in two vastly different facilities.
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September/October 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Charles Janecka at OlympusAdvances in charge-coupled device size, optics manufacturing, and point-matching algorithms can all be combined to create a new super wide field stereo measurement system. With measurable areas as much as 4x greater, larger measurements can be taken.
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May/June 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Thomas Lamb at Hydratight, and Ian Thompson at HydratightA safety-focused mindset and awareness of the dangers associated with the process, environment, and associated tasks through planning and execution is essential for the safe completion of a single stud replacement campaign.
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November/December 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Matthew K. Caserta, PE at Becht Pono DivisionIOWs are an important component of a world-class mechanical integrity program. In order to have a robust IOW program, the integration of IOWs into other areas of PSM is critical. This article provides four concrete examples of integration.
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May/June 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Jose Aparicio at Gecko Robotics, Inc.Hydrogen-induced damage mechanisms have been studied endlessly, leading to changes in equipment design and development of new inspection practices. However, the highly localized nature and difficulty of detection of HTHA add additional complexities.
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January/February 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Peter Tait at MethanexThis article discusses the header specification, design, fabrication, and inspection processes to identify where opportunities were available to proactively address the vulnerabilities that resulted in the header rupture.
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March/April 2021 Inspectioneering JournalThis article will discuss a statistical analysis method that was developed to evaluate the integrity of pipelines that can identify, in a first phase inspection, whether the nature of the active damage mechanism(s) are uniform (general) or localized.
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January/February 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Mike Sparago at The Equity Engineering Group, and Chris Massengale at The Equity Engineering Group“Condition monitoring location (CML) optimization” is a frequently used term, particularly for piping circuits. Everyone wants their circuits to be “CML optimized,” but what does this truly mean?
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Partner ContentTraining options to meet your needs. E²G contracts with API to deliver training programs for FFS, Risk–Based Inspection, Damage Mechanisms, and Pressure Relieving Systems. ETI and Customized Training offers specialized courses based on industry...
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January/February 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Geoff Clarkson at UTComp, Inc.Even with significant work to establish standards and codes for FRP vessel design, failures still occur, some of which could have been prevented or mitigated by following a systematic external inspection program.
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July/August 2020 Inspectioneering JournalThis article presents a model to better predict the corrosivity of hot crude oil streams, which is based on open literature going back for almost 60 years and incorporates published information from joint industry projects (JIPs).
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July/August 2020 Inspectioneering JournalInspectioneering chats with Gecko Robotics about the new rapid ultrasonic gridding technique and how it can be utilized to increase the speed and effectiveness of equipment inspections.
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September/October 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Alvarado at Inspectioneering JournalThis article discusses some of the common roles of the RBI team and provides a glimpse of an RBI program gap assessment, while offering helpful advice for improvement.
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November/December 2020 Inspectioneering JournalAt just 36 years old, Tyler had already established himself as a massively influential force within our industry. His vision for the future of mechanical integrity was progressive and optimistic and he had more ideas than time to implement them.
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May/June 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy George C. Williamson at Integrity & Emission Reduction Partners, LLC, and Steven Trevino at Quasset, Inc.Asset owners can realize economic and HSE benefits from utilizing internal in-service robots for hazardous fluid tank inspection. Achieving high levels of coverage and collecting enormous amounts of quantitative data are possible for clean tanks.
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May/June 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Matthew Bell, P.Eng. at IRISNDTIt can be challenging for failure analysts to present complex information to audiences that don't the same knowledge on specialized subjects. Sometimes, failure mechanisms can be summarized with images that can tell the whole story –...
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September/October 2020 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Natarelli at T.A. Cook Consultants Inc.COVID-19 has forced organizations to adapt. The old way of doing business, at least for some, is gone and will not return. In these challenging times, innovation is key. But is implementing a new innovation today any different than twelve months ago?
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November/December 2020 Inspectioneering JournalFacilities that can successfully leverage both their data and expertise while effectively integrating this unified model into their core business processes can improve performance and eliminate non-value-added activities.
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Utilizing Quantitative Reliability Optimization to Better Drive Facility-Wide Reliability and Maintenance Budgets
May/June 2021 Inspectioneering JournalThis article discusses how Quantitative Reliability Optimization (QRO) can help empower reliability and operations leaders with better data to make smarter and more confident reliability decisions for their facilities.
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May/June 2021 Inspectioneering JournalBy Martyn Cooper at SantosThis case study of a CO2 absorber tower in a remote location investigates the use of a new type of wireless ultrasonic sensor for monitoring the thickness of equipment while on or offline.
