End-of-Life, Remaining-Life, and Fitness-for-Service Assessments
Fitness for service (FFS) is a methodology to determine the adequacy of a structure for continued service when it contains a flaw or is operating in a particular condition where there is risk of failure. Failure conditions and types of flaws may include:
- brittle fracture
- fire damage
- geometrical irregularities
- general corrosion / erosion
- local metal loss
- pitting corrosion
- blisters
- crack-like flaws
Cracking flaws may include:
- amine cracking
- ammonia cracking
- carbonate cracking
- hydrogen damage (H2S, HF)
- hydrogen attack
- caustic cracking in SS
- chloride cracking in SS
- polythionic cracking in SS
API RP 579 provides the methods and procedures intended to supplement and improve requirements of API 510, API 570, API 653 and API 750.
AOC consultants include engineering personnel with expertise in FFS assessments. We offer three levels of assessment per API RP 579.
Level1
- Conservative screening
- Minimum amount of inspection or component information
- Plant inspection or engineering personnel
Level 2
- More detailed less conservative with more accurate results
- Inspection information similar to that of Level 1
- Qualified engineering personnel
Level 3
- The most detailed evaluation
- The most detailed inspection and component information
- Recommended analysis procedures based on numerical analysis techniques such as the finite element method
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