By: Jason Van Velsor, Dave Anthony, Joe Agnew, and Michael Lashley Introduction For the past 2 ½ years, Structural Integrity Associates (SI) has been working diligently to develop, qualify and deliver the nuclear industry’s first-of-a-kind manually acquired encoded phased array UT (PAUT) examination for Section XI dissimilar metal welds (DMWs). Development of the encoding technology […]
By: Matt Freeman High Energy Piping systems, including main steam and hot reheat piping, are typically very reliable and can often operate trouble-free for decades. However, due to the combination of pressure and temperature at which such systems operate, a failure can have catastrophic consequences from a safety perspective and in terms of equipment loss. […]
By: Wendy Weiss Structural Integrity (SI) was recently asked to examine a fractured thermowell and determine the damage mechanism. The thermowell had been removed from bypass line piping in a heat-recovery steam generator (HRSG) that ran from the High Pressure (HP) bypass valve to the cold reheat section, and sent to the SI Materials Science […]
By: Wendy Weiss Acid dewpoint corrosion can occur in conventional and HRSG units in locations where temperatures fall below the sulfuric acid dewpoint temperature. This can occur when either the tube metal temperatures are below the acid dewpoint so that condensate forms on the metal surface, or when flue gas temperatures are below the acid […]
By: Andy Coughlin Whether it’s fair-trade coffee, sustain-ably harvested lumber, energy efficient appliances, or other certified products, consumers and companies look for products that have high standards of origin, production, and performance. Structural Integrity Associates’ TRU Compliance mark is no different. Our mark shows buyers a product has undergone rigorous assessment for seismic, wind, and […]
By: Barry Dooley Evaluation of High Pressure (HP) Evaporator Tube Deposits is important for several reasons: Determining if flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) might be occurring in the lower pressure circuits. Regular evaluations can provide information on the internal deposit deposition rate, which is information necessary to help prevent under-deposit corrosion damage mechanisms. Provides information necessary to […]
Structural Integrity – led by our own Derrick Watkins and John Svet – is mentoring students from the University of California, San Diego during their senior design Capstone project.
By: Kane Riggenbach and Tony Studer Grade 91 steel is widely used in tubes, headers and piping of superheaters and reheaters because of its higher strength at elevated temperature compared to low alloy steels such as Grade 22. The improved strength is a result of a tempered martensitic microstructure with a fine distribution of carbonitride […]
By: David Segletes A circumferential flaw in a 14-inch diameter suction pipe-to-elbow stainless steel weld was identified in both units of a nuclear power plant as depicted in Figure 1. The two units are Westinghouse designed four-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR) plants and are mirror images of each other. The pipe-to-elbow weld is the first […]
By: Andrew Crompton and Mark Jaeger In recent years, SI has observed an increasing trend in the use of specialty instrumentation to solve “impossible” problems or answer “indecipherable” questions. This shift was particularly apparent within commercial nuclear, where data-driven solutions have long been perceived as challenging due to short outage windows, personnel dose concerns, and […]
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