September 2020

News & Views, Volume 48 | SI Field Service Quality and Efficiency Solutions

September 30, 2020/in News and Views, Non-Destructive Evaluation, Robert Chambers, Trey Rippy/by Structural Integrity

By: Robert Chambers and Trey Rippy

To help meet demanding outage schedules and stay within lean operation and maintenance budgets, Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. (SI) has implemented several new field data collection and analysis tools that enable delivery of a higher-quality final inspection product in a more efficient manner. These include customized software tools for streamlining the NDE data acquisition, analysis, and reporting processes. Moving forward, these tools will reduce time-on-pipe for inspections, as well as the associated analysis and reporting time.

For large inspection scopes, collecting, tagging, managing, transferring, and documenting data can be a very labor-intensive process with opportunities for human performance errors. While inspection instruments and analysis software typically have built-in reporting capabilities, these tend to be very general so they can be applied to a wide variety of applications. This can make it cumbersome to tailor these features to a specific application.

News & View, Volume 48 | Post Seismic Certification - What Do Manufacturers Do to Keep Their Products TRU Listed?

News & Views, Volume 48 | Post Seismic Certification: What Do Manufacturers Do to Keep Their Products TRU Listed?

September 30, 2020/in Critical Structures, Galen Reid, Katie Braman, News and Views, TRU Compliance/by Structural Integrity

By: Galen Reid and Katie Braman How does TRU or the public know the manufacturer is continuing to produce a product that complies with the certified construction and configuration without retesting periodically? Certification of products to withstand extreme event loading can open many opportunities for manufacturers to sell high value products when others have a […]

News & Views, Volume 48 | SI Supports Parsons’ “DetectWise” Modular COVID Test Facility

September 30, 2020/in Complex Loadings, Critical Structures, News and Views, TRU Compliance/by Structural Integrity

By: Zach Withall and Matthew Naugle, PE

The health facility is designed to fully separate patients from medical workers, protecting both parties and minimizing the PPE required to operate the suite.

COVID-19 has presented humanity with unprecedented challenges. As economies reopen, solutions are needed that allow businesses to operate while protecting the health, safety, and security of the general public.

In an effort to positively impact that change, Structural Integrity Associates (SI) is working with Parsons Corporation, a global technology leader, to design a self-contained, mobile health screening facility for rapid, efficient and scalable testing.

The mobile facility is part of Parsons’ DetectWise™ suite of health solutions meant to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. SI provided structural design services for the facility.

News & Views, Volume 48 | Implementation of Material Verification – In Support of Mega-Rule Part 1 Requirements

September 30, 2020/in David Babbitt, Mega-Rule, News and Views, Oil and Gas Pipeline, Roger Royer, Scott Riccardella/by Structural Integrity

By: Roger Royer, Scott Riccardella, and David Babbitt

Operators are now required to define sampling programs and perform destructive (laboratory) or non-destructive testing to capture this information and take additional actions when inconsistent results are identified until a confidence level of 95% is achieved.

Various sections of Mega-Rule 1 require operators of natural gas transmission pipelines to ensure adequate Traceable, Verifiable, and Complete (TV&C) material records or implement a Material Verification (MV) Program to confirm specific pipeline attributes including diameter, wall thickness, seam type, and grade. Operators are now required to define sampling programs and perform destructive (laboratory) or non-destructive testing to capture this information and take additional actions when inconsistent results are identified until a confidence level of 95% is achieved. Opportunistic sampling per population is required until completion of testing of one excavation per mile (rounded up to the nearest whole number) up to 150 excavations (if the population exceeds 150 miles). Regulators have communicated an expectation that sampling locations or test sites are to be equally spaced throughout the population mileage.

News & Views, Volume 48 | Strategic Evaluation of MAOP – Reconfirmation Plans and Options

September 30, 2020/in Bruce Paskett, News and Views, Oil and Gas Pipeline, Scott Riccardella/by Structural Integrity

By: Scott Riccardella and Bruce Paskett

On October 1, 2019, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published amendments to 49 CFR Parts 191 and 192 in the Federal Register issuing the Pipeline Safety: Safety of Gas Transmission Pipelines: MAOP Reconfirmation, Expansion of Assessment Requirements, and Other Related Amendments Final Rule (Final Rule).

The Final Rule requires that for on-shore steel transmission pipelines in an High Consequence Area (HCA), Class 3 or 4 location without Traceable, Verifiable and Complete (TV&C) records for §192.619(a)(2) (pressure testing, including records required by §192.517(a)) ; or where the Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure (MAOP) was established based on the Grandfather Clause and the MAOP creates a stress ≥ 30% of the Specified Minimum Yield Strength (SMYS), an operator will need to reconfirm the MAOP in accordance with the provisions of §192.624.

News & Views, Volume 48 | Optimizing Cathodic Protection Commitments Aging Management Program (AMP XI.M42)

September 30, 2020/in Mark Jaeger, Nuclear Energy, Shane McManus/by Structural Integrity

By: Shane McManus and Mark Jaeger

License renewal applications (LRAs) often involve commitments to future actions. These can be classified into one of three categories: appropriate, overcommitment, and ambiguous implementation. Appropriate commitments include those actions that are expected by the NRC (such as those explicitly identified in the GALL⁽¹⁾and GALL-SLR⁽²⁾) as well as some less restrictive actions that are technically justified by engineering evaluation. These commitments can generally be implemented within one operating cycle using existing technology, are cost-effective, and are consistent with the GALL and GALL-SLR.

Overcommitments and those commitments with ambiguous implementations can be avoided and cost-effectiveness optimized by obtaining independent third party reviews (ITPR) of the LRA.