Objective
The overall aim of this project is to demonstrate an advanced approach to inspection of hydrocarbon process plant which is expected to lead to major reduction in operating costs associated with inspection maintenance and repair (IMR) and enhanced availability by combining :
* a RISK-BASED APPROACH TO INSPECTION designed to target inspection more closely towards systems and components with an increased risk of failure,
* NON-INVASIVE INSPECTION TECHNOLOGY employing advanced non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques to minimise the requirement to open pressure and process vessels and piping systems to facilitate internal inspection.
A realistic target for the project is to achieve a one day reduction in annual outage duration for a typical production platform. For a typical platform this represents a saving of 700000 ecu per shutdown.
Meetings have been held with a number of potential end users of the technology being demonstrated to define the components and defect types of main interest. These potential end users have formed a Steering Group and are sponsoring the project. Various inspection strategies have been reviewed.
Non-invasive inspection techniques and equipment have been demonstrated by onshore trials on ex-service plant containing additional simulated defects, and by offshore trials on a separator vessel. Extreme value statistical analysis software was used to help determine the scope of the inspections.
A typical process train within the oil and gas production environment consists or pressure vessels and piping systems which require periodic in-service inspections to comply with safety and environmental requirements (e.g. CEC Council Directive on Pressure Equipment 1993). The purpose of this project is to demonstrate an improved methodology for developing a rational and cost effective philosophy for in-service inspection, encompassing :
* risk-based assessment of component criticality
* non-invasive inspection techniques
The partners bring to the project several key technologies which will be demonstrated :
* computer simulation model of offshore plant, including process plant, capable of modelling failure probabilities and inspection, repair and maintenance costs;
* advanced ultrasonic techniques for non-invasive inspection;
* advanced electromagnetic techniques for non-invasive inspection;
* computer modelling techniques for ultrasonic NDT.
The project application is to demonstrate on a typical production process train that a risk-based approach to inspection combined with advanced non-invasive inspection techniques can contribute to a major reduction in overall operating cost through improved plant availability and reduced duration of planned outages. The project includes a practical, interim demonstration, by offshore trials, of the effectiveness of advanced NDT techniques in minimising the requirement for man-entry into components for inspection. The trials generate data capability of this non-invasive approach to inspection.
The data from these practical trials is entered into the plant simulation model, enabling a DEMONSTRATION to be made in the form of a comparison between the costs and anticipated system reliability associated with * conventional inspection approach
* risk-based inspection philosophy using conventional NDT
* risk-based inspection philosophy incorporating specialised non-invasive NDT techniques.
If the target of a one day reduction in annual outage duration for a typical production platform is achieved, this equivalent to 2.7 MECU per year for platform producing 200,000 bpd.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- natural scienceschemical sciencesorganic chemistryhydrocarbons
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsfossil energynatural gas
- social sciencessociologygovernancecrisis management
- natural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsmathematical model
- humanitiesphilosophy, ethics and religionphilosophy
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Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
DEM - Demonstration contractsCoordinator
PA4 8UW Renfrew
United Kingdom