Intertek (United States)

Abstract The ASME B31.1-2024 Power Piping Code (Code) para. 102.2.4 [1] provides an allowance regarding operating above the design temperature and internal pressure for short time periods. The concept of allowing occasional operation for short periods of time at higher than the design pressure or temperature has been in the Code since 1967. The 1967 Code para. 102.2.4 limitations were based on engineering judgment that can now be quantitatively evaluated for the additional creep life consumption. The Code states that the pressure or temperature or both may exceed the design values if the computed circumferential pressure stress does not exceed the maximum allowable stress from Mandatory Appendix A for the coincident temperature by: (A) 15% if the event duration occurs for no more than 8 hours at any one time and not more than 800 hours per year, or (B) 20% if the event duration occurs for no more than 1 hour at any one time and not more than 80 hours per year. In 2019 it was estimated that using para. 102.2.4 Allowance A or B for 11 materials operating in the creep range over 10 operating years resulted in increased creep life consumption in the range of 0.0% to 6.4% [2]. The proposed revision to para. 102.2.4 in this study will align the increased creep life consumption for the same 11 materials to a similar range of 1% to 6%. This study provides a technical basis for a possible revision to para. 102.2.4 considering the additional creep life consumption for 11 materials operating in the creep range. The materials considered in this paper are: 1. Low carbon steel 2. 1.25Cr 0.5Mo 3. 2.25Cr 1Mo 4. 9Cr 1 Mo V 5. Type 304 SS 6. Type 316 SS 7. Type 316L SS 8. Type 321 SS 9. Type 321H SS 10. Type 347 SS, and 11. Type 347H SS If operated within the limits of proposed Equation 1 for 10 years (80,000 operating hours), the methodology resulted in an estimated range of 1% to 6% increased creep life consumption compared to the piping system operating at the design temperature and design pressure during the 10 years. In addition, the proposed methodology may be used to evaluate operations slightly above the design temperature and design pressure during each year.

Residual oil saturation in reservoirs is primarily influenced by viscous and capillary forces, with interfacial tension (IFT) being a critical factor in fluid distribution due to capillary pressure. Adjusting IFT is essential for enhancing oil recovery, particularly in waterflooding, which is the most common secondary recovery technique after primary production. The salinity of injected water directly affects the IFT between crude oil and brine, making it a crucial factor in optimizing recovery. However, limited studies have examined IFT using live oil samples under actual reservoir conditions. In this study, a high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) drop shape analyzer was used to measure the IFT between live oil and brine under reservoir conditions. Five live oil samples and two sodium chloride (NaCl) brine concentrations (30,000 and 100,000 ppm) were tested at a reservoir temperature of 180 °F. Measurements were conducted above the bubble points of the oils, replicating undersaturated reservoir conditions. The results revealed that the impact of pressure on IFT was more complex than that of salinity. IFT generally decreased with increasing pressure but showed mixed behavior across different samples. Conversely, IFT consistently increased with higher salinity. These findings enhance the understanding of IFT behavior under reservoir conditions, supporting improved reservoir simulations and oil recovery strategies.

Arc flash is a hazardous electrical event that can cause severe injuries, equipment damage, and fatalities. This paper explores the fundamentals of arc flash, its historical context, notable accidents, and the importance of arc flash analysis in mitigating risks.

Product safety standard requirements overview, including certification obstacles and roadmap for US/Canadian batteries and energy storage systems.

Abstract In 2013, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (now Canadian Nuclear Laboratories) experimentally measured the damping of a straight tube with a variety of tube supports to examine low-frequency damping. These tests were motivated by the discovery of severe tube damage caused by in-plane fluidelastic instability (FEI) in the U-bend regions of new replacement recirculating steam generators (SG). The measurements were intended to assess the applicability of existing design guidelines for estimating the support-related damping of a tube. In the tests, the damping ratios of a single steam generator tube were measured using both log-decrement and power-based methods. Noncontacting excitation and position-sensing techniques were employed to improve accuracy. Initial baseline tests explored configurations with no support and drilled-hole supports of different hole sizes, and these results were compared with previously published work. Subsequent tests were performed to measure damping of tube vibration parallel to flat-bar supports. Most of the tests were performed with the tube fully submerged in still water. The tests examined the effects of fluid (water or air), natural frequency, gap width, preload, and vibration normal to the bars. This paper describes the test apparatus, methods, and analysis techniques. A summary of the results is presented. The initial baseline results showed that the damping ratios measured without any supports and with a drilled-hole support were consistent with previously published data. However, the subsequent measurements showed that, contrary to a published design guideline, the anti-vibration bars resulted in no significant additional viscous or squeeze-film damping when the vibration was parallel to the bars. On the other hand, the results did show that anti-vibration bars could introduce significant in-plane Coulomb-type damping if there was sufficient tube-to-support preload or impacting.

Primary, non-rechargeable lithium-ion button cells are used in many applications including back-up processor clock circuits to minimize risk of fire/explosion. This paper provides an overview of critically needed “Conditions of Acceptability” including fire enclosure and limiting energy protective measures typically required for recognized coin cells, which will feature one of the most commonly use, reliable and inherently safe batteries, the CR 2032 battery.

The paper will provide practical tools for effectively managing the certification process during the design phase. Often, companies scramble to redesign products at the end of the design cycle to meet regulatory requirements. By implementing a few strategic tools, first-time certification success can be achieved while decreasing peripheral costs.

Electronic products are manufactured using safety critical components requiring compliance with product safety compliance standards. Realities of supply chain disruptions and component availability impact a manufacturer's ability to maintain market demand and production levels. This paper addresses safety critical component interchangeability practices to maintain certification compliance often realized during supply chain shortages.

Abstract Corrosion is one of the major problems in offshore infrastructure due its exposure to the harsh marine environment characterized for high salinity water, non-stable weather conditions, long exposure to ultraviolet sunlight, presence of bacteria, dissolved oxygen, and carbon dioxide in seawater, etc., that is why the oil and gas industry is constantly looking for preventive and corrective solutions to extend the service life of the facilities and improve safety operation. Most common approaches to prevent corrosion in offshore infrastructure include the use of highly corrosion resistant material and the use of anticorrosive coatings. Inhibitors are also widely used as part of the injection fluids to eliminate the corrosion of infrastructure induced by its interactions with reservoir fluids and chemicals commonly appeared in offshore production. Two of the most critical types of corrosion in oil and gas upstream are sweet corrosion that is caused by CO2 and sour corrosion that is induced by H2S. For both, most of the research is focused on their corrosion mechanisms, corrosion products, corrosion behavior modeling, and inhibitor performance. A great research effort has been directed toward CO2 corrosion, yet H2S related study is on the rise. In this study we put together a laboratory workflow to evaluate the potential of corrosion in offshore infrastructure to reduce the risks associated to the presence of corrosion. The proposed workflow is focused on the evaluation and optimization of the selection of the inhibitors for H2S related environments. The study started with an in-depth literature review to know the state of the art in the topic. An analysis of the finding indicates that most of the inhibitor studies reported are associated to CO2 environment, so we focused the study on inhibitors for H2S systems including types of inhibitors, their pros vs cons, and testing methods to evaluate their performance. Finally, based on our experience a laboratory workflow is proposed to mitigate corrosion in the early stage of production. This work demonstrates the importance of selecting the right laboratory protocol according to the corrosion type to save time and resources making the laboratory evaluation more useful and reliable.

Journal Article Examination of Dealloying in a Domestic Water Fitting Using Light Optical/Scanning Electron Microscopy and Raman Spectroscopy Get access Stephen M French, Stephen M French Intertek, Metallurgy/Microscopy, Allentown, PA, USA Corresponding author: Stephen.French@Intertek.com Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Gary Johnson, Gary Johnson Intertek (ret.), Vibrational Spectroscopy, Allentown, PA, USA Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Heather May Heather May Intertek, Vibrational Spectroscopy, Allentown, PA, USA Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Microscopy and Microanalysis, Volume 29, Issue Supplement_1, 1 August 2023, Page 152, https://doi.org/10.1093/micmic/ozad067.069 Published: 22 July 2023