Becht Engineering Blog

Gerrit Buchheim, Manager of the Pono Division of Becht Engineering, has developed a practical and simple-to-use approach to prioritizing the inspection and replacement of equipment in High Temperature Hydrogen Attack (HTHA) service.  This approach utilizes the existing and accepted “Nelson Curve”, but adapts it to better fit the realized operating conditions at an individual facility, based on several factors that have not been previously considered.BackgroundHistorically, the industry has used experienced-based curves (API 941 Nelson Curves) in the selection of materials as well as evaluating existing in-service equipment.   These curves have served the industry well to now, but in the past 5 years, there have been several notable cases of HTHA that fall below the established curves and there is still a sizeable base of C-0.5 Mo equipment operating above the carbon steel curve.  Therefore, industry needed a more realistic method for evaluating existing equipment in potential HTHA service.Pono HTHA Evaluation MethodIt...

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 Sonomatic Ltd., the ultrasonic inspection technology company affiliated with Becht, and Dr. William Meeker, a statistics expert at Iowa State University.MTI was founded in 1977 and is a not-for-profit technology development organization serving the needs of its members in key processing industries such as Refining, Mining, Energy production, Chemical production and other manufacturing industries for which safe and reliable fluid storage is critical.A typical refinery or chemical plant may have hundreds of miles of piping and hundreds of pressure vessels that require regular inspection to permit their safe and reliable operation. The inspection document developed is...

Becht was selected by the Materials Technology Institute (MTI) to adapt its Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) methodology to develop an RBI work process for above-ground, fiberglass reinforced polymer (FRP) storage tanks.  The Becht RBI methodology, which complies with API RP 580, was initially used for metallic fixed equipment and has been expanded to other types of equipment. With a successful demonstration on FRP tanks the methodology is expected to be broadened to other non-metallic structures used in the chemical and refining industry.A major component of the project was to develop damage mechanism documentation for each of the five chemicals / tank construction combinations defined during a project development meeting with the Becht team, MTI project team and a group of FRP subject matter experts. The figure above shows an example graphic which aids the user in identifying tank damage mechanisms.A simple, user friendly spreadsheet tool to guide the user through the RBI...

Providing “Best in Class” risk based fixed equipment turnaround inspection planning entails a four phase workflow process to scope, plan, execute and evergreen inspection plans to cost effectively mitigate a client’s regulatory and business risk. Becht Engineering has successfully completed piloting  the, “Inspection Planners Position” to bridge gaps inherent in developing and executing inspection plans between a facilities Inspection and Turnaround Planning Department’s. Since 2011 this pilot has continuously improved to consistently provide the following results:Mitigated clients regulatory and business riskConsistently positioned client to execute scheduled outages within schedule and on budget20 to 40% in reduced inspection turnaround costs and savings achieved  Meets industry best practice and RAGAGEP expectationsThe Inspection Planner plays a pivotal role on the planning team by executing the skill sets necessary to bridge intricate technical and systemic gaps encountered between Departments during execution of a turnaround program. The Planner assures the “hand-offs" of each phase of the...