A Study Guide - MSTS Training

1 The Inspector s Most Important Calculations 1 December 2014 A Study Guide for Pressure Equipment Inspectors The Inspector s Calc s Corrosion Rates Equipment Remaining Life Inspection Intervals Next Inspection Date The Inspector s Most Important Calculations 2 December 2014 How are these calculations related? An important role for Authorized Inspectors is setting appropriate inspection intervals. Intervals are often based on the Remaining Life of the equipment. The Remaining Life of the equipment is most often determined using the Corrosion Rate of the equipment. Thus to set the interval, the inspector must know how to determine the Corrosion Rate and Remaining Life. Why are these calculations important? During the API certification exam, you will perform many calculations. retirement thickness, hydrotest pressure, etc. At the job-site, engineers usually perform most calculations. But .. the calcs that every inspector must successfully perform are the corrosion rate, remaining life and interval calculations.

2 These calcs belong to the inspector. Sure, most inspection records programs perform these calculations. But don t be a wimp inspector who just relies on the computer! Remember, autopilot computers can fly and land an airplane, but we still want a live pilot in the seat! Let s look at the following situations. If you were this inspector, imagine how silly you could look! Situation 1: During the turnaround the plant spends $250,000 to clean, isolate and open a large vessel. You were the one that had last inspected the vessel and had set the internal interval at 3 years. During the current inspection, the vessel is found to be in better shape than expected. Another inspector reviews the old thickness data and determines that you blew the calculations! The internal inspection could have been set at 10 years. The Process Manager is extremely upset about wasting the money required to prepare this vessel for this unnecessary inspection. The result: You re embarrassed!

3 Situation 2: You are assigned as the bundle inspector during a chemical plant turnaround. You are organized, have copies of all the old inspection data, and are basically having a great time inspecting remote from all the normal turnaround hub-bub. But .. one of the last bundles inspected has unexpected deep corrosion and is made of an exotic alloy. The word quickly gets out and suddenly the key Operations & Maintenance Leads show up at the bundle cleaning area. Their first question is not, How s the weather? , or, How s the bundle cleaners doing? , but .. Will the bundle make the next operational run??? You sheepishly look at the past records and tell them you will not know until after you have plugged the data into the computer. They walk away disgusted, muttering something about your lack of ability. The result: You re embarrassed! Situation 3: A vessel fails and results in a tremendous fire.

4 Two contract craftsmen are injured and will have permanent disabilities. During the post-fire investigation, it is determined that you made a mistake when calculating the corrosion rate. The actual corrosion rate was ipy, but .. you missed a decimal and used ipy! The primary cause of the fire was your mistake. The result: You re embarrassed! You sorrow for those hurt, you re depressed, you may be fired, you may have your API certs pulled, and you ll probably have to admit your mistakes in a lawsuit. All because of a silly little decimal point! These Calculations are Important!! The Inspector s Most Important Calculations 3 December 2014 What s a Subscript? Before proceeding further, lets understand subscripts! In math, subscripts are used to differentiate between values that use a similar symbol. For example, t often represents thickness . However, many thicknesses are important to us, nominal thickness, minimum thickness, etc.

5 Subscripts clearly communicate which thickness you are using in a calculation. Always use subscripts in Corrosion Rate calculations. YES THAT MEANS YOU! Table 1 lists the most common thicknesses and the common math symbol. What is a Speed? A Speed is how fast something moves. Speed always has units of a distance per time. Speeds are expressed different ways depending on what units are most convenient. For example, traveling in a car, speed is measured in miles-per-hour (mph). It would be ridiculous to say we re traveling 3,801,600 inches-per-hour, but that s exactly the same as 60 mph. Typical speed units are illustrated in Table 2. Thickness Math Symbol Notes Nominal thickness tnom or tnominal Based on std pipe or plate thickness Initial thickness tini or tinitial or tbase At a TML - First thickness reading. Also called base or first reading. Previous thickness tpre or tprevious At a TML - The previous(prior) thickness reading Last thickness tlast or tcurrent or tactual At a TML - The most recent thickness reading.

6 Also called current or actual thickness Retirement thickness tretirement or tmin or tminimum Minimum allowed thickness. Also called minimum thickness Speed Types US Speed Units US Symbols Automobiles miles per hour mph Bullets feet per second fps Light miles per second mps Corrosion inches per year, or mils per year ipy or mpy Table 1: Types of Thicknesses Table 2: Speed Units tmin a subscript The Inspector s Most Important Calculations 4 December 2014 A Corrosion Rate is a Speed! A Corrosion Rate is a Speed! The Corrosion Rate is the speed of Corrosion BUG eating through the metal! The units commonly used to measure the speed of the corrosion bug are inches-per-year or mils-per-year. (A Corrosion Rate in metric measurements would be mm/yr) Current Speed vs. Average Speed If we re on a trip and want to estimate our arrival time we need to know our average speed. Our current speed is not that useful. At one moment, we may be driving at 70 mph, and then a few minutes later we get stuck in traffic and are only going 15 mph.

7 Or, we may be on a long trip and will have to stop for gas and meals. This reduces our average speed and lengthens the duration of the trip. Likewise, when we calculate the Remaining Life of equipment, we need to know the Average Speed of the Corrosion Bug , not an instantaneous speed. Some days the bug may be eating faster, and other days slower. The arrival time to the retirement thickness will be based on the average speed of the Bug . How is Average Speed Calculated? Current speeds are measured by various devices. For example, the speedometer measures the current speed of a car, and a radar gun measures the current speed of a baseball. But these devises do not measure the average speed of an object. An average speed must always be calculated. The formula for average speed is always: Illustration: An Average Car Speed You re on a trip and have traveled 340 miles in 6 hrs. Your high speed was 73 mph, but you stopped once for lunch and were slowed by some construction work.

8 What is your average speed? Key! All speeds always use the term per , as in miles-per-hour, or inches-per-year. In mathematical terms, what is the meaning of per ? PER means DIVIDED BY . Remember this and you will always be able to write the formula for a corrosion rate or any other speed. So miles-per-hour is just miles-divided by-hours. Speed = = mph 340 miles 6 hours Determining a Speed Automobile Speed (mph): Miles Traveled DIVIDED BY Hours Traveled Corrosion Speed (ipy): Inches Traveled DIVIDED BY Years Traveled Average Speed = Distance Traveled Travel Time The Inspector s Most Important Calculations 5 December 2014 Speed = Time Remaining = Travel direction Illustration: Taking a Vacation Determining the Corrosion Rate and Remaining Life is a major role for an authorized inspector. The best way to learn these calculations is by Taking a Vacation . Let s roll! Alamo here we come! We are heading west from Louisiana and want to see the Alamo in San Antonio.

9 At 1:00 we cross the Texas/Louisiana border, highway mile marker 880. At 3:00 we pass downtown Houston, mile marker 750. If we maintain the same average speed, when will we reach San Antonio, mile marker 555? Let s calculate! Step 1: Calculate Average Speed Step 2: Calculate Remaining Trip Time Step 3: Determine Arrival Time El Paso San Antonio Houston Louisiana Border Mile Markers 0 555 750 @ 3:00 880 @ 1:00 Fort Stockton 220 The Key!!! Understand these simple steps! When calculating the equipment s Next Inspection Date, we use the same basic steps! Distance Traveled Time Traveled Next, we must determine the Remaining Life of our trip Distance To Go Speed Now, let s determine our Arrival Time Arrival Time = Current Time + Remaining Time Arrival Time = 3:00 + 3 hours = 6:00 Speed = = 65 mph 880 - 750 130 miles 3:00 1:00 2 hours = 750 555 195 miles 65 65 mph = 3 hrs Time Remaining = = First we must calculate our Average Speed The Inspector s Most Important Calculations 6 December 2014 How do I calculate the Corrosion Rate?

10 The introduction is complete. Time to direct our attention to real problems. Let s first learn how to calculate a Corrosion Rate. Later we ll learn how to calculate Remaining Life and the Next Inspection Date. Remember a Corrosion Rate is a Speed! It s how fast the Corrosion BUG is eating through the metal! And speeds are always distance traveled divided by the time traveled. In corrosion, the DISTANCE TRAVELED is the METAL LOSS. Here is the formula. Illustration: Calculate the Corrosion Rate Here is the thickness data for a specific TML. Calculate the Corrosion Rate. TML # Jan. 2014 Jan. 2004 01 Always add units to your answer! Don t say the corrosion rate is Is that mm/yr or ft/second? tprevious tlast time period metal loss time period Corrosion Rate = = Formula #1: Corrosion Rate Thickness Data tprevious tlast time CR = 2014 2004 CR = 10 = = ipy The Inspector s Most Important Calculations 7 December 2014 Time to Practice: Calculate the Corrosion Rate in the following exercises.