In the early 1990s, with the increase in the number of accidents leading to death and injury in the American oil industry, the need to formulate a standard to evaluate the efficiency of depreciating equipment was felt in order to check the possibility of continuing their service.
FFS evaluation methods based on the ASME FFS1/API 579 standard, is a series of quantitative engineering evaluations that cover the current condition (integrity) of the equipment according to the current service conditions, along with determining the remaining life of the equipment. The final product of an FFS assessment process is to decide whether the equipment can continue operating under current conditions, repair, monitor or replace the equipment.Another FFS evaluation output will be the determination of inspection intervals. As a result, one of the main applications of this technique is to provide the data needed to establish a coherent risk-based inspection (RBI) system. FFS assessment guidelines are classified into three levels for different equipment according to the type of crack and/or degradation mechanism.
Pajhwok Plateau Technical Inspection Company (FPI) has provided FFS services for the above-mentioned industries, considering the age of facilities in the oil, gas, petrochemical and refining industries in the country and the need for maintenance and maximum use of available resources and equipment with high reliability.
The equipments that are evaluated by FFS are:
ü Pressure vessels – all components under pressure
ü Pipe lines – pipes and pipe components
ü Atmospheric and pressurized storage tanks
ü Rotating equipment – components under pressure
ü Steam boilers and furnaces – components under pressure
Heat exchangers (shell, lens, channels and pandles)
The stages of implementing FFS projects are:
