Entries by Structural Integrity

News & Views, Volume 45 | Gas Pipeline Safety Regulation Update

By:  Scott Riccardella. Erica Fisette, and Bruce Paskett Update on the Safety of Gas Transmission and Gathering Pipelines Rulemaking (known as the Mega-Rule) Structural Integrity (SI) personnel have had significant involvement in the Gas Pipeline Advisory Group (GPAC) meetings focused on consideration of the proposed pipeline safety rule titled “Safety of Gas Transmission and Gathering […]

News & Views, Volume 45 | Latitude™ Delivers – Highlights from the First Field Deployments

By:  Jason Van Velsor, Dave Anthony, Joe Agnew, and Michael Lashley Introduction For the past 2 ½ years, Structural Integrity Associates (SI) has been working diligently to develop, qualify and deliver the nuclear industry’s first-of-a-kind manually acquired encoded phased array UT (PAUT) examination for Section XI dissimilar metal welds (DMWs).  Development of the encoding technology […]

News & Views, Volume 45 | Life Management for High Energy Piping (HEP)

By:  Matt Freeman High Energy Piping systems, including main steam and hot reheat piping, are typically very reliable and can often operate trouble-free for decades.  However, due to the combination of pressure and temperature at which such systems operate, a failure can have catastrophic consequences from a safety perspective and in terms of equipment loss.  […]

News & Views, Volume 45 | Metallurgical Lab: Case Study – Thermowell Failure Analysis

By:  Wendy Weiss Structural Integrity (SI) was recently asked to examine a fractured thermowell and determine the damage mechanism.  The thermowell had been removed from bypass line piping in a heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG) that ran from the High Pressure (HP) bypass valve to the cold reheat section, and sent to the SI Materials Science […]

News & Views, Volume 45 | Metallurgical Lab Featured Damage Mechanism – Acid Dewpoint Corrosion in Conventional Fossil Boilers and Combined Cycle HRSGs

By:  Wendy Weiss Acid dewpoint corrosion can occur in conventional and HRSG units in locations where temperatures fall below the sulfuric acid dewpoint temperature. This can occur when either the tube metal temperatures are below the acid dewpoint so that condensate forms on the metal surface, or when flue gas temperatures are below the acid […]

News & Views, Volume 45 | Proving Performance – What Distinguishes an ISO-Compliant Product Certification Agency?

By:  Andy Coughlin Whether it’s fair-trade coffee, sustain-ably harvested lumber, energy efficient appliances, or other certified products, consumers and companies look for products that have high standards of origin, production, and performance.  Structural Integrity Associates’ TRU Compliance mark is no different.  Our mark shows buyers a product has undergone rigorous assessment for seismic, wind, and […]

News & Views, Volume 45 | The Importance of HRSG HP Evaporator Tube Internal Deposit Evaluation

By:  Barry Dooley Evaluation of High Pressure (HP) Evaporator Tube Deposits is important for several reasons: Determining if flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) might be occurring in the lower pressure circuits. Regular evaluations can provide information on the internal deposit deposition rate, which is information necessary to help prevent under-deposit corrosion damage mechanisms. Provides information necessary to […]

News & Views, Volume 44 | Failed Grade 91 “Soft” Pipe Bend – A Case Study – Failure Occurred With Less Than 35,000 Operating Hours

By:  Kane Riggenbach and Tony Studer Grade 91 steel is widely used in tubes, headers and piping of superheaters and reheaters because of its higher strength at elevated temperature compared to low alloy steels such as Grade 22.  The improved strength is a result of a tempered martensitic microstructure with a fine distribution of carbonitride […]

News & Views, Volume 44 | Weld Overlay Repair Mitigates Thermal Fatigue Flaw Growth

By:  David Segletes A circumferential flaw in a 14-inch diameter suction pipe-to-elbow stainless steel weld was identified in both units of a nuclear power plant as depicted in Figure 1.  The two units are Westinghouse designed four-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR) plants and are mirror images of each other.  The pipe-to-elbow weld is the first […]