Performance-based earthquake evaluation of a full-scale petrochemical piping system

Assessment of seismic vulnerability of industrial petrochemical and oil & gas piping systems can be performed, beyond analytical tools, through experimental testing as well. Along this line, this paper describes an experimental test campaign carried out on a full-scale piping system in order to assess its seismic behaviour. In particular, a typical industrial piping system, containing several critical components, such as elbows, a bolted flange joint and a Tee joint, was tested under different levels of realistic earthquake loading. They corresponded to serviceability and ultimate limit states for support structures as suggested by modern performance-based earthquake engineering standards. The so called hybrid simulation techniques namely, pseudo-dynamic and real time testing with dynamic substructuring, were adopted to perform seismic tests. Experimental results displayed a favourable performance of the piping system and its components; they remained below their yielding, allowable stress and allowable strain limits without any leakage even at the Near Collapse Limit State condition for the support structure. Moreover, the favourable comparison between experimental and numerical results, proved the validity of the proposed hybrid techniques alternative to shaking table tests.     

Coordinating a group departure: who produces the piping signals on honeybee swarms?

A swarm of honeybees provides a striking example of an animal group performing a synchronized departure for a new location; in this case, thousands of bees taking off at once to fly to a new home. However, the means by which this is achieved remain unclear. Shortly before takeoff, one hears a crescendo of a high-pitched mechanical signal—worker piping—so we explored the role of this signal in coordinating a swarm’s mass takeoff. Specifically, we examined whether exclusively nest site scouts produce the worker piping signal or whether it is produced in a relay or chain reaction fashion. We found no evidence that bees other than the scouts that have visited the swarm’s chosen nest site produce piping signals. This absence of relay communication in piping suggests that it is a signal that only primes swarms for takeoff and that the release of takeoff is triggered by some other signal or cue; perhaps the takeoff of bees on the swarm periphery as they reach flight temperature in response to piping.     

Bolted flange joints equipped with FBG sensors in industrial piping systems subjected to seismic loads

The vulnerability of major-hazard industrial plants to natural hazards has been recognized as an emergent issue whose importance is underlined by the Sendai Framework, established immediately after the Tohoku earthquake of 2011, in Japan. Hence, seismic risk analysis is of paramount importance as testified by the intense research activity that characterized the last years. In this respect, structural health monitoring can represent a valuable tool able to strongly help the decision-making phase. Along this main vein, optical fibers (OFs) represent a class of sensors able to both monitor critical conditions, as leakage of hazardous material, and activate safety barriers, if any. More precisely, optical fibers represent an economic solution, whose characteristics appear particularly suitable for dangerous environments like major-hazard plants. However, investigations relevant to their use for seismic monitoring of chemical/petrochemical plants are rather limited, especially when subject to strong dynamic excitations. As a result, this paper deals with the analysis of optical fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) applied to bolted flange joints (BFJ) under cyclic loadings. More precisely, two experimental programs, i.e., a cyclic test on a single BFJ and a series of shaking table tests on BFJs of a multicomponent system, demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed monitoring systems in detecting hazardous conditions and, thus, their potential use in conjunction with safety barriers.     

Protecting the piping plover under section 7 of the endangered species act

Section 7(a)(2) of the Endangered Species Act directs federal agencies to ensure that their actions do not jeopardize the continued existence of endangered and threatened species. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issues jeopardy or nonjeopardy biological opinions on proposed federal actions that affect endangered and threatened species. We summarize several biological opinions issued by the USFWS to protect the threatened piping plover (Charadrius melodus). These opinions address federal actions involving hundreds of piping plovers on the Missouri River system and a few piping plover pairs on short stretches of Atlantic coast beach. Some of these opinions are decisive, but most allow the proposed action to proceed conditional upon a lengthy set of reasonable and prudent alternatives to protect the piping plover. These conditions may prove difficult to track and will add to the workload of the USFWS.     

易燃易爆工艺管线焊接缺陷安全评定——上海石化总厂工艺管线的安全评定及其缺陷的返修技术

本文以断裂力学为基础,以“合乎使用”为原则并依据流变应力理论,通过有效地解决无损检测,应力分析、缺陷分类及验收准则等方面所遇到的若干技术问题,对管道焊接缺陷进行了安全评定,正确地区分了严重缺陷和非严重缺陷,从而对评定管道焊接缺陷的严重性提出了一种既安全可靠又经济合理的工程处理法。这一方法已被成功地用于上海石化总厂,对其部分在役易燃易爆工艺管线进行了安全评定并解决了超标焊接缺陷的修复问题。     

Application of risk based inspection in refinery and processing piping

In refineries and processing plants, the enormous amount of piping is more complex in distribution than other types of equipment. In general, compared with other types of equipment in these industries, more difficulty in inspection planning is encountered.

However, under-inspection or over-inspection can occur due to the lack of jurisdictional requirements on the inspection interval and method for piping, or the inspection interval being based only on piping service classifications in the existing regulations, such as API 570. This can result in unacceptable risks, along with costly loss of resources.

To lessen the piping risk level, more and more companies have adopted and applied risk based inspection (RBI) methodology, leading to risk reduction and cost benefits since the last decade. This study applied RBI methodology to optimize the inspection strategy of the piping in a refinery and petrochemical plants in Taiwan. Two actual case studies were corroborated better with quantitative RBI methodology than without the methodology in terms of risk and cost reductions.     

Enhanced seismic performance of non-standard bolted flange joints for petrochemical piping systems

This paper presents an experimental test campaign carried out on a number of seismically enhanced Bolted Flange Joints. In particular, two non-standard Bolted Flange Joints, comparatively thinner than standard ones, were designed and their performance was evaluated through several monotonic and cyclic tests. Experimental results exhibited a favourable performance of the examined joints under bending and axial loading and moderate internal pressure; a good capacity in terms of strength, ductility, energy dissipation and leakage was observed. A comparison between experimental results and Code-based design loads proved the usability of the proposed joints during and after Operating Basis Earthquake ground motions. Finally, a comparison between capacity and seismic demands of these joints adopted in a piping system of a realistic Case Study suggested their suitability for seismic applications as well as some building code deficiency with respect to response modification factors.