Risk Based SBF Management

Fatigue failures of small bore fittings are a leading cause of loss of containment in the oil and gas industry worldwide and are hard to predict using regular inspection methods. Failure of small bore fittings is a safety risk and also interrupts production when safety systems shut down machinery.
 
A risk based approach to surveying small bore piping is the most effective way to manage piping integrity risk. However, surveys of piping are usually done on an irregular basis, resulting in unforseen failures.
 
SVT’s risk based method focuses efforts for surveys and inspections. It follows established risk based methodologies and can be implemented into existing systems. Most importantly, it allows operators to proactively identify potential failures before they occur and reduce overall cost and risk.

Our Expertise

Managing the risk
Understanding the consequence and likelyhood of piping and small bore fitting failures is critical to reducing risks to integrity and reliability. SVT can help you quantify risk for your small bore systems and create a risk register, which gives you an overview of your fatigue risk, allowing you to optimise your testing and inspection regimes.
 
Demonstrating compliance
Regulations require that risks to health and safety are minimised as far as reasonably practicable. Maintaining a register of small bore fittings and piping that are ranked by risk is an effective way to demonstrated compliance.
 
Testing and assessment
Testing and assessment quantifies the likelyhood of failure through on site measurement and analyses. This is most effective when focused on high risk areas identified using SVT’s risk based approach. If a fitting exceeds the assessment criteria, SVT can perform further analyis (including finite element modelling) to establish whether remedial action such as bracing is needed.
 
Bracing design
If small bore piping is deemed to be at risk of fatigue failure, bracing can solve the majority of problems. When installing bracing is practical, SVT can design it accounting for the right planes of vibration, produce fabrication drawings and test and assess after installation.