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 “Vibration induced fatigue of process piping systems is an important
and fundamental failure mechanism. Data published by the UK’s Health
& Safety Executive (HSE) for the offshore industry has shown that in
the UK Sector of the North Sea, fatigue/vibration failures account
for 21 % of all hydrocarbon releases. Although overall statistics
are not available for onshore facilities, available data for
individual plants indicates that in Western Europe, between 10 % and
15 % of pipe work failures are caused by vibration induced fatigue.”
Guidelines were published by the Energy Institute in 2008 aimed at
minimising the risk of incurring loss of containment from vibration
induced fatigue failures of process plant pipe-work.
Benefits of following the good practice detailed in these guidelines include:
· Compliance with statutory duty
· Improved Health, safety and reliability
· Reduced risk of product leakage
· Minimised plant down time
The
Energy Institute guidelines provide a very detailed method of data
collection. Vibration levels are recorded using a single axis
accelerometer connected to a portable data collector, with a
required frequency range of 1 Hz to 300 Hz. The results are
presented as a vibration spectra showing amplitude in units mm/sec
of RMS velocity against frequency.
By comparing
these measurements against the vibration
assessment criteria detailed in the
guidelines, the vibration is classified into
one of three categories: Acceptable, Concern or Problem.
Efftek
Engineers are available to carry out 'Proactive Assessments', which
can be used to routinely assess all existing pipework on a site to
ensure that good practice has been adopted and to identify possible
areas of concern
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