API 579-1/ASME FFS-1, Fitness-For-Service, Third Edition, is a standard developed and published jointly by the American Petroleum Institute (API) and ASME. It describes several fitness-for-service (FFS) assessment techniques that help ensure the safe and reliable operation of pressurized equipment used in oil & gas, petrochemical, and chemical facilities. The latest edition was published in June of 2016.
API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 provides procedures for performing proper fitness-for-service assessments and/or rerating of equipment that is designed and constructed to recognized codes and standards. This standard contains numerous sections on assessment procedures for calculating the impact of damage mechanisms such as brittle fracture, general metal loss and local metal loss, pitting corrosion, blisters and laminations, weld misalignment and shell distortion, crack-like flaws, creep damage, and fire damage.
This standard has procedures for evaluating several different types of equipment (pressure vessels, piping, and tankage) that may contain flaws or damage. These include the evaluation and rerating of pressure vessels designed based on the the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, and piping systems that were constructed to either the ASME B31.3 Piping Code or those constructed under API 650 and 620, along with pressure containing equipment constructed to any other codes that are recognized in the publication.
It covers both the present integrity of the component, given a current state of damage, and the projected remaining life. Qualitative and quantitative guidance for establishing remaining life and in-service margins for continued operation of equipment are provided in regards to future operating conditions and environmental compatibility. The procedures are not intended to provide a definitive guideline for every possible situation that may be encountered. However, flexibility is provided to the user in the form of an advanced assessment level to handle uncommon situations that may require a more detailed analysis.
API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 also has appendices on several other important topics, such as equations for determining MAWP, thickness, and stress in components, methods of stress analysis for Level 2 and Level 3 FFS assessments, a compendium of stress intensity solutions, guidance on material properties, failure modes and damage mechanisms, validation of assessment procedures, and information on submitting technical inquiries to API, among other things.
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May/June 2019 Inspectioneering Journal
By Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
This is the first of a two-part column on “Creep”. It presents an engineering overview of the phenomena, answers the question: “What is Creep?”, and provides readers with foundational knowledge for evaluating and managing remaining equipment life. |
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March/April 2019 Inspectioneering Journal
By Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
Brittle fracture and material toughness issues are important concerns in equipment design and FFS. These issues increase when temporary start-up and shutdown conditions require more detailed assessments than provided for in vessel and piping codes. |
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January/February 2019 Inspectioneering Journal
By Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
The distinction between primary and secondary loads is certainly important in analysis of pressure systems. But this distinction is also important for plant operations and reliability engineers to keep in mind when dealing with day-to-day problems. |
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January/February 2019 Inspectioneering Journal
By Houssam Sabry at ADNOC LNG, and Asad Ali at ADNOC LNG
An effective RBI system implementation results in, not only safeguarding your assets & people, but can also reduce unnecessary inspection activities that may be required due to conventional & nonsystematic approaches. |
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November/December 2018 Inspectioneering Journal
By Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
In this edition of the FFS Forum, Greg addresses some issues associated with inspection of vessels that have been in service for a number of decades, and offers some tips for reliability and inspection to follow when inspecting these older vessels. |
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Blog
December 27, 2018 By John Reynolds at Intertek
A quick summary of some of the important topics that were discussed at the Fall Meeting, including the upcoming API Inspection and Mechanical Integrity Summit, subcommittee activities, and progress with the API Individual Certification Program. |
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September/October 2018 Inspectioneering Journal
By Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
In this column, I touch on what I see as an underused FFS technique for corrosion assessment: point assessment of corrosion – a technique that does NOT require a thickness grid. The reason I find this technique useful is largely because it’s so easy and cheap to implement. |
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July/August 2018 Inspectioneering Journal
By Greg Garic at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
API 579-1 is a complex document covering several different types of equipment that may contain flaws or damage. Due to its complexity, this article condenses it into six things you need to know. |
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May/June 2002 Inspectioneering Journal
By Greg Alvarado at Inspectioneering Journal, and C.P. Hsiao
We have discussed various factors that can affect the reliability of NDE techniques (i.e., probability of detection - POD and sizing accuracy) in Part 1. In general, it is difficult to quantify these uncertainties. In fact, it is impossible to fully quantify the uncertainties in NDE results. However, one can achieve a higher level of reliability by reducing or minimizing the uncertainties. We will discuss some of the steps one can take to minimize the uncertainties in NDE results. By minimizing or reducing the uncertainties in NDE results, FFS assessments can be less conservative, and thus provide more margin to the serviceability of the equipment. |
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March/April 2000 Inspectioneering Journal
By Gerrit M. Buchheim, P.E. at Becht Engineering Co., Inc.
The release of API RP579 will bring about some changes to other existing API standards. The plan is to offer an integrated suite of API standards, where information is presented once and the other documents refer and are linked to that information. |
E²G, an employee-owned engineering firm specializing in consulting services for new and aging infrastructure in refining, petrochemical, chemical and other industries. E²G helps clients improve profitability with consulting strategies and software tools that manage risk & control inspection costs throughout the life-cycle of a facility’s equipment.
E²G, an employee-owned engineering firm specializing in consulting services for new and aging infrastructure in refining, petrochemical, chemical and other industries. E²G helps clients improve profitability with consulting strategies and software tools that manage risk & control inspection costs throughout the life-cycle of a facility’s equipment.
Pro-Surve Technical with subsidiaries ProSource Radiography and ProForce Industrial are an integrated inspection, NDT, reliability engineering, Data management and project controls service provider assisting clients across CapEx/OpEx budgeted projects processes. We concentrate on solutions provided by the integration of engineering and inspection.
Pro-Surve Technical with subsidiaries ProSource Radiography and ProForce Industrial are an integrated inspection, NDT, reliability engineering, Data management and project controls service provider assisting clients across CapEx/OpEx budgeted projects processes. We concentrate on solutions provided by the integration of engineering and inspection.
Becht Engineering provides comprehensive and technically excellent engineering consulting, and project and turnaround management services to the energy, industrial gas & chemicals sectors, worldwide.
Becht Engineering provides comprehensive and technically excellent engineering consulting, and project and turnaround management services to the energy, industrial gas & chemicals sectors, worldwide.
Quest Integrity Group is a global leader in the development and delivery of asset integrity management and asset reliability solutions for our clients in the refining and chemical, pipeline, syngas and power industries. Our services include furnace tube inspection for the refining and chemical industries, in-line inspection for the pipeline industry, steam reformer tube inspection for the syngas industry, as well as fitness-for-service assessment, remaining life assessment, structural integrity, failure analysis and materials consulting for various industries including the power industry. We specialize in condition assessment for fired heater coils, unpiggable pipelines, steam reformer tubes, storage tanks, gas turbines and other assets.
Quest Integrity Group is a global leader in the development and delivery of asset integrity management and asset reliability solutions for our clients in the refining and chemical, pipeline, syngas and power industries. Our services include furnace tube inspection for the refining and chemical industries, in-line inspection for the pipeline industry, steam reformer tube inspection for the syngas industry, as well as fitness-for-service assessment, remaining life assessment, structural integrity, failure analysis and materials consulting for various industries including the power industry. We specialize in condition assessment for fired heater coils, unpiggable pipelines, steam reformer tubes, storage tanks, gas turbines and other assets.
Stress Engineering Services is an independent, employee-owned consulting engineering firm committed to engineering problem solving. With years of experience in refineries, power stations, chemical plants and pipelines, our focus is on providing engineering solutions to improve plant and refinery on-stream efficiency, safety, and reliability.
Stress Engineering Services is an independent, employee-owned consulting engineering firm committed to engineering problem solving. With years of experience in refineries, power stations, chemical plants and pipelines, our focus is on providing engineering solutions to improve plant and refinery on-stream efficiency, safety, and reliability.
Stress Engineering Services is an independent, employee-owned consulting engineering firm committed to engineering problem solving. With years of experience in refineries, power stations, chemical plants and pipelines, our focus is on providing engineering solutions to improve plant and refinery on-stream efficiency, safety, and reliability.
Stress Engineering Services is an independent, employee-owned consulting engineering firm committed to engineering problem solving. With years of experience in refineries, power stations, chemical plants and pipelines, our focus is on providing engineering solutions to improve plant and refinery on-stream efficiency, safety, and reliability.
