March 2010 Meeting
March 2, 2010
Student Chapter Night
Social Hour 5:30 -6:30
Dinner 6:30
Speaker: Claudio Allevato, Corp. Level III: Principal, Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
Claudio Allevato has specialized in non-destructive inspection of pressure vessel, piping systems, reactors and other equipment. He has extensive experience on detecting cracking on delayed coke drums. He is a world recognized authority in the application and analysis of Acoustic Emission Testing (AET) and its application on coke drums and other vessels and piping. He has performed a number research projects using AET. Claudio has a B.Sc. in Metallurgical Engineering from Fluminense Federal University and is a certified AET Level III per ASNT TC1A in AET.
Advanced Nondestructive Examination (ANDE) – Truth, Facts, Fiction and Myths
AET is a powerful, non-intrusive inspection technique to verify the structural integrity of pressure vessels, spheres, high-temperature reactors and piping, coke drums, above-ground storage tanks, cryogenic storage tanks, and more. Because the inspection is performed externally and avoids costly shut-downs, AET can save users millions of dollars annually. There are other cost-saving advantages of AET as well. AET can inspect an entire unit/system simultaneously, including pressure vessels, heat exchangers, several reactors and piping in a single operation. This is done through an in-service over-pressurization, or during a scheduled cool-down using thermal stresses imposed by the temperature gradients across reactor walls and piping systems. AET is based on the principle that only defects that are actually growing under a specific damage mechanism (i.e., SCC, wet H2S cracking, thermal fatigue, creep, etc.) can generate genuine AE signals. Consequently, old fabrication defects and stable cracks will not be detected because these defects are not actively growing. Repairs, if necessary, can be made only on the areas that contain defects significant to the structural integrity of the vessel. Under current engineering standards, if a vessel is inspected by AET and no significant defects are found, a plant has the option to continue operating the equipment for an extended number of years until the next inspection date.
Meeting Location
Meetings for the 2009-2010 year will be held at Brady’s Landing.