Eventos Anais de eventos
ENCIT 2016
16th Brazilian Congress of Thermal Sciences and Engineering
RISK BASED INSPECTION OF PIPING: APPROACHES AND APPLICATIONS
Submission Author:
Raíssa Oliveira Marques , MG
Co-Authors:
Vanderley Vasconcelos, WELLINGTON SOARES, Amir Zacarias Mesquita
Presenter: Vanderley Vasconcelos
doi://10.26678/ABCM.ENCIT2016.CIT2016-0678
Abstract
Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) is a methodology that involves assessment of both failure probability and consequence associated with equipment or systems. A RBI program classifies equipment by their risks and prioritizes inspection efforts based on this classification. In traditional deterministic approach, inspection frequencies and modes are constant. The use of RBI methodology reduces inspection frequencies, resulting in lower risk levels and keeping safety in acceptable levels. Thus, it reduces inspection of lower risk items, focusing on high-risk items, which, in general, leads to reduction in costs. Another advantage is to reduce worker exposure to hazards during inspections in dangerous activities, like thermal or nuclear radiation expositions. RBI has its origins in the petroleum industry, but other industrial facilities employ this methodology, as nuclear power plants. It is a proactive inspection methodology, which uses available risk information to manage risks. The ultimate goal of RBI is to develop a cost-effective inspection and maintenance program that provides assurance of acceptable mechanical integrity and reliability. In RBI, risk assessment is used to improve the effectiveness of inspection and maintenance programs, increases the reliability of systems and equipment, optimize costs and improve safety and availability. In many industry sectors, such as the petrochemical area, damage to piping is responsible for many accidents, particularly involving pressurized equipment. In the nuclear sector, the majority of the available RBI references are directed to nuclear reactor piping systems, inside the approach called Risk-Informed In-Service Inspections. This paper studies several approaches and applications of RBI to nuclear power plant piping, including the use of softwares developed by Reliasoft® Corporation.
Keywords
RBI, maintenance, piping
