In 2008, Becht Engineering was awarded a project by the Materials Technology Institute (MTI) to develop an inspection guideline document and software tool for the collection and analysis of inspection data for piping, piping components and pressure vessels. Dr. Eileen Chant , as project manager, collaborated with Bob Sims of Becht, Dr. Mark Stone of […]
Why do outlet collectors only rarely fail, even when subjected to pressure-drops well above the design basis of the collector? The answer lies in the design approach which incorporates simplifying assumptions to accommodate a tractable and conservative approach. These conservatisms can be relaxed where necessary to give results much more in line with actual experience […]
Bringing Order and Logic to the Evaluation Process There is a multitude of documents and reports that describe the damage mechanisms of ASME pressure equipment (vessels, pumps, valves, piping, and tanks, and their supports) in nuclear power plants. Thousands of pages published by EPRI, the NRC, ASME, NACE, research laboratories, utilities, contractors, and others, to […]
Contributing Authors: Eileen Chant, Greg Epremian, Ranjan Nadarajah, Mark Stonehouse Summarized herein are the substantial changes to API 579-1/ASME FFS-1, Fitness for Service, that were incorporated in the 2016 edition, as reviewed by Becht Fitness for Service experts. API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 is a Standard jointly published by API and ASME. The purpose of the document […]
Settlement of a pipe support foundation is usually not a big deal to assess. A local piping flexibility model will reveal if the settled support keeps the pipe bending stresses within the allowable codes and, if the bending stresses are unacceptable, modifying the support and monitor periodically for further settlement is normally a quite manageable […]
This article outlines the procedure to evaluate the fitness-for-service of corroded buried pipe, and explains what CC N-806 covers … and what it does not cover. What are the Damage Mechanisms in Metallic Buried Pipe? The inspection of a buried metallic pipe, after years of service, can reveal that the pipe has little if any […]
I was the Principal Investigator for the recently issued EPRI Technical Report “Guidelines for the Evaluation of Cracks in Cement Linings and Coatings”, Technical Report 3002000599, December 2013. I worked with EPRI’s Doug Munson to develop these guidelines to help nuclear plant utility engineers make fitness-for-service assessments of damage in cement-lined and cement-coated pipes. Cement […]
When planning or performing a wall thickness inspection of buried pipe, it is necessary to establish the procedure to be used in evaluating the thickness readings, and determine the pipe’s fitness-for-service (FFS), which will be the basis of run-or-repair decisions. We are currently working with EPRI to develop such a procedure. This article is intended […]
How long will the cyclone system in a Cat Cracker reactor or regenerator last? Cyclones systems in Fluidized Catalytic Cracker units (FCC) are typically designed to a creep allowable stress, where the stress field at various locations of the system has been determined by linear elastic analysis. The basic allowable stress for such internal structures […]
It is often unsettling to have an inspection group discover a crack-like flaw in a piece of pressure containing equipment, particularly when the turn-around schedule is aggressive. Fortunately, there are well-established Fitness-for-service procedures in place to assess such flaws and help guide decision-making on whether to repair or to leave in place with a monitoring […]
