Risk Based Strategies for Inspection & Maintenance

Introduction:

Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) methodology enables the assessment of the likelihood and potential consequences of pressure equipment failures. RBI provides companies the opportunity to prioritize their equipment for inspection; optimize inspection methods, frequencies, and resources; develop specific equipment inspection plans; and enable the implementation of Reliability Centered Maintenance. This results in improved safety, lower failure risks, fewer forced shutdowns, and reduced operational costs

Targeted Groups:

• Operations Engineers
• Maintenance Engineers
• Engineering Managers and Supervisors
• Technical Staff with responsibilities for inspection, maintenance, assessment and mitigation of plant equipment degradation, and who want to use RBI effectively in their plants

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course the participants will be able to:

• Provide a clear understanding of the key aspects of Risk-Based Inspection, its advantages and limitations
• Provide a clear understanding of how it is linked to reliability-centered maintenance
• Understand how fitness-for-service assessment affects the Risk
• Show how to develop a successful RBI program at your facility
• Gain practical and effective methods they need to perform practical likelihood and consequence analysis
• Develop optimum Inspection intervals for individual equipment based on the assessment of the active degradation mechanisms

Targeted Competencies:

• Being multi-disciplined
• Realistically applicable to plant integrity
• Designing with future scenarios in mind
• Consideration of all potential degradation mechanisms
• Understanding of the risks involved
• Awareness of Fitness for Service assessment techniques

Course Content:

Unit 1: Significance of Inspection in Plant Integrity and Maintenance Costs:

• The Real Function of Inspection
• Inspection Key Performance Indicators
• Common Inspection Strategies and Their Limitations
• Risk-Based Decision-Making Fundamentals and Tools
• Risk Assessment - Probability of failure, consequences of failure
• Risk Management – Avoidance, Mitigation
• Risk Communication
• Understanding and Managing Risk
• Principles of Risk Assessment
• Risk Assessment Elements
• Qualitative, Semi-quantitative, and Quantitative Assessment

Unit 2: Risk-Based Inspection (RBI)

• Definitions
• Evolution
• Key Elements of RBI
• Reasons for implementing RBI
• Benefits and Limitations of using RBI
• RBI as a part of plant integrity management
• Economic Benefits
• API Risk-Based Inspection Methodology
• API RP 580
• API BRD 581 – Various levels of RBI Analyses
• Impact of RBI on Related API Codes, Standards, and Recommended Practices
• API 510, 570 and 650
• API 579 Fitness-For-Purpose
• API Risk-Based Inspection Software

Unit 3: Overview of API 571 - Recognition of Conditions Causing Deterioration of Failure:

• Overview of over 60 damage mechanisms found in refineries
• Detailed discussion of some common damage mechanisms: Internal and external corrosion, brittle fracture, fatigue, SCC, HIC, internal and external corrosion
• Identification of Deterioration Mechanisms & Failure Modes
• Active damage mechanisms in critical plant equipment
• Inactive or “unlikely” mechanisms
• Identification for assessment
• Impact of simultaneous mechanisms
• Selection of Suitable Materials for Specific Deterioration Mechanisms
• Integrated Asset Management
• Linking Risk Assessment, RBI, and RCM
• Managing Risk Using RBI

Unit 4: Development of Inspection Plan (Based on RBI Risk Ranking):

• Inspection Planning Guidance
• Need for Some Speculative / Exploratory Inspection
• RBI Implementation
• Essentials for Establishing a Successful RBI Program
• The RBI Team - Recommended Structure and Mandate
• Developing Equipment and Piping Systems / Circuits Inventory
• Inspection History, Interpretation
• Equipment Criticality Rating
• Equipment DataBase
• Shared Database by RBI and RCM
• Importance of Data Quality
• Computerized Maintenance Management Systems

Unit 5: Inspection Interval Optimization Based on Assessed Risk:

• Evaluation of Inspection Results
• Data Quality
• Corrosion Rate Calculations
• Remaining Life Calculations
• Fitness-For-Service Assessments
• Estimation of Consequences of Failures