We were, once again, thrilled to have participated as a Gold sponsor in the 2019 IPEIA Conference in Banff February 27th – March 1st. The conference website can be found here:  IPEIA

The IPEIA Conference began over 20 ago years and has become an internationally recognized annual conference to gather Pressure Equipment Integrity industry groups together to further improve best practices and provide education for those committed to this specialty in the energy sector. There are a number of ways that conference attendees can engage with one of our 20 Acuren representatives participating in the conference:

Presentation – Stack Life Extension through Fitness for Service and Rope Access

Our very own Andrew Seymour, M. Eng., P. Eng. – Manager, Engineering  delivered a presentation this year. Through strategic application of inspection, API 579 methodologies, detailed structural analysis, and rope access industrial trades services, stack life extension costs can be significantly reduced.  He presented a case study on a recent project outlining the details and strategies deployed for asset life extension.

His presentation was delivered Wednesday February 27^th at 4:00 pm.

Presentation – Avoiding Pitfalls Associated with Vacuum Rings in High Temperature Vessels

Skystone’s Dr. Alex Tatarov, Ph.D., P. Eng., Principal Engineer, was also a presentater this year.

A stainless-steel vessel was designed to ASME Section VIII, Division 1. The vessel was designed to operate in two regimes:

1. Under vacuum/external pressure at a shell temperature of up to 370⁰C, so vacuum/stiffening rings were installed.
2. Under internal pressure at a shell temperature of up to 600⁰C.

Due to high operation temperature, the vessel was wrapped in thermal insulation and cladding. Thermal insulation is not always part of the ASME vessel design. However, it appeared that the presence of stiffening rings and the varying thickness of the thermal insulation may have resulted in unacceptably high stress and potential failure in the shell.

An API 579/ASME FFS-1 fitness-for service assessment was performed. It included a set of finite element analysis (FEA) calculations to establish temperature distributions in the vacuum rings and stress of the vessel shell near the stiffening rings. Potential solutions were explored such as the minimum thickness of thermal insulation that would not result in unacceptably high stresses.

His presentation was delivered Wednesday February 27^th at 4:00 pm.

Presentation – Going Beyond Typical Failure Analysis

Frank Gareau, P.Eng., IPVI, Vice President, Engineering, of Skystone also  delivered a presentation this year.

The ultimate goals after completion of failure investigations are the prevention of future incidents, injuries, fatalities, and clean-up costs. Additional goals include the minimization of production interruptions, unavailability of the asset, regulator penalties, stressful work under a regulator’s timeline and potential pressure from media and the public. Root cause failure analysis methods can be used to complement failure investigations by addressing culture, normalization of warning signs, operation outside design limits, production pressures, training and competence and many other potentially preventive actions. Two examples of the application of root cause failure analysis will be presented to demonstrate preventive value for equipment owners.

His presentation was delivered Thursday February 28^th at 1:30 pm.

Acuren Specialists – Booth #44 – Same spot for IPEIA 2020!

We were pleased to have some specialized individuals at our booth this year and we encouraged attendees to come speak to them about their issues, questions, or comments. Here is a summary of their areas of specialty:

Sean O’Brien – Manager of Advanced Non Destructive Examination – Western Region

Mike Stump – Director UAV Inspection Services for our drone program

You can head on over to our drones page, by clicking here, or download our drones brochure ahead of time by clicking on the link here:  Acuren Drone Brochure

Schuyler Koprla – Subject Matter Expert – moisture detection imaging

We had our latest tool in the fight against CUI at our booth. Check out our Corrosion Under Insulation solutions page by clicking here before the conference, or download one of the two brochures:
Acuren Moisture Detection Imaging

Acuren Solutions for Corrosion Under Insulation

Jennifer Dowdle – P.Eng.  API653/510/570, ABSA IBPV, NBIS, Materials Engineer, Senior Inspector

For other integrity services, please download our asset integrity services brochure by clicking the link below.  Thank you to all who stopped by our booth to visit us.

Asset Integrity Services Brochure

If you have any questions about any of this information, or about our involvement at IPEIA, please reach out to us at 1-800-218-7450 or email us.