Entries by Structural Integrity

News & Views, Volume 53 | Encoded Phased Array Ultrasonic Examination Services for Cast Austenitic Stainless Steel (CASS) Piping Welds

/in , , , , , /by

IN PRESSURIZED WATER REACTOR (PWR) COOLANT SYSTEMS By:  John Hayden and Jason Van Velsor The CASS piping welds present in many PWR plants provide numerous and complicated challenges to their effective ultrasonic examinations. To this point, a viable ultrasonic examination solution for the inspection of these piping components, as required by ASME Code Section IX,  […]

News & Views, Volume 53 | Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing (PAUT) Monitoring with Ultrasonic Thick-Film Arrays

/in , , , , /by

Traditional nondestructive examination (NDE) activities are planned based on hours of service, number of load cycles, time elapsed since previous inspections, or after the emergence of clear and obvious damage in a component. While engineering judgment and risk analysis can, and should, be used to prioritize inspections, these prioritizations are not based on the actual […]

News & Views, Volume 53 | An ECA Process for the Impact of Hydrogen Blending on Girth Weld Defects

/in , , , , , /by

By:  Scott Riccardella, Owen Malinowski and Chris Tipple Several pipeline operators have established pilot demonstration programs to blend hydrogen with natural gas (hydrogen blending) in their gas transmission pipelines.  Structural Integrity Associates (SI) has been providing clients technical consulting support to complete engineering critical assessment (ECA) projects to help evaluate the potential impact to pipeline […]

News & Views, Volume 53 | Materials Lab Featured Damage Mechanism

/in , , , /by

CIRCUMFERENTIAL THERMAL FATIGUE IN CONVENTIONAL WATERWALL TUBES By:  Wendy Weiss Circumferential Thermal Fatigue damage in Conventional Waterwall Tubes most commonly appears as circumferentially oriented cracking in the waterwalls of coal-fired supercritical units. Initially, the formation of ripple magnetite was a significant factor in the formation of this damage. Later, the introduction of oxygenated treatment controlled […]

SI Appoints New Leadership

/in , /by

Structural Integrity Associates, Inc. (SIA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Michael Battaglia as Vice President, Nuclear and Chief Nuclear Officer. Mr. Battaglia has served the prior three years leading the Project Management Office and Nuclear Business Development areas at SIA. During his 25-year career in the nuclear industry, Mr. Battaglia has held a variety of […]

News & Views, Volume 53 | PEGASUSTM Nuclear Fuel Code

/in , , , , /by

ADVANCED FUEL MODELING DEVELOPMENT STATUS By:  Bill Lyon INTRODUCTION The PEGASUS nuclear fuel behavior code features a robust 3D, finite element modeling (FEM) computational foundation capable of performing both thermo-mechanical and structural non-linear analyses within a highly versatile and customizable computational platform. The first applications of PEGASUS were for light water reactor (LWR) fuels and […]

News & Views, Volume 53

/in , /by

The summer issue of Structural Integrity’s biannual technical newsletter, News and Views, is now available. We are excited to once again bring you this free source of technical information and advancements spanning multiple engineering disciplines and programs. In it, our expert team of Associates from our Nuclear, Energy Services, Pipeline Integrity Compliance Solutions, and Metallurgical […]

News & Views, Volume 52 | PHMSA Rupture Mitigation Valve Rule

/in , , , , /by

PREPARING CLIENTS TO MEET NEW PIPELINE AND SAFETY REGULATION By:  Bruce Paskett and Erica Rutledge On April 8, 2022, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published amendments to 49 CFR Part 192 in the Federal Register issuing new valve installation and rupture detection requirements for onshore transmission pipelines and gathering pipelines .  The […]

News & Views, Volume 52 | Forecasting the Life of a Mass Concrete Structure, Part Two

/in , , , , , /by

These methods are not only applicable to new structures.  Armed with the knowledge we can gain from record drawings, visual inspection, and non-destructive examination, SI is able to predict the life of concrete structures, new and old, giving key insights into their behavior in the future. HEAT OF HYDRATION In understanding the life of a […]

News & Views, Volume 52 | Heat Exchanger Tube Sheet Reliability Analysis

/in , , , , /by

By:  Kannan Subramanian, PhD, PE, FASME & Dan Parker, PE BACKGROUND The hot section of a waste heat boiler, also known as the hot spent boiler, is an essential component in the regeneration of spent sulfuric acid in chemical plants that process sulfur. Due to the ever-increasing demand for sulfuric acid and other sulfur compounds, […]