How hard can it be? I’ve heard from several (unnamed) analysts that because they have access to an FEA program and have successfully applied FEA in other fields, that FEA for pressure vessels should be a snap. What is it about FEA for pressure vessels that makes it unique? I was recently discussing with another […]
In the past ten years, there have been a few oil storage tank annular plate failures due to soil side corrosion and fatigue loading (filling and emptying) which has led to large spills. The corrosion tends to be localized in a groove fashion and the size of the flaw could vary from 3 feet to […]
Risk based inspection (RBI) is a powerful tool to identify and manage mechanical integrity risks in fixed equipment and piping but is only one part of a robust reliability program. RBI informs inspection decision making on where, when and how to inspect most of equipment but is frequently misinterpreted as a “Silver Bullet” that covers […]
When I am asked to speak about dimensional accuracy, I often refer to a personal story that happened to me when I began my career as a young structural designer. At that time, I was eager to impress the design checker with my ability to accurately dimension structural rebar spacing in a spread footing foundation. […]
Where will crane mats be in 10 years, 20 years, 50 years? It takes approximately 90 years to grow a 12-inch by 12-inch oak timber twenty feet long. High quality hardwood timbers are becoming harder to find. This is widely known but rarely discussed. The shortage of wood timbers is a national problem. Timber Mats […]
There are a variety of conditions an in-service component (e.g. vessel, tank, piping) can be found in. The purpose of Fitness-for-Service (FFS) is to evaluate the integrity of an in-service component given a certain degraded condition and rate it for future service considering potential for any additional degradation. A degraded condition does not have to […]
