Pressure Vessel Testing - NDT Inspections Role Within Vessel Testing in Industry

Pressure Vessels and systems are prevalent throughout industry, from chemical, petroleum, to petrochemical, to a whole host of other industries. Pressure vessels are generally considered to be vessels which contain a maximum pressure of greater than 0.5 bar above atmospheric pressure. They come in a whole host of varieties and use is just as varied. In this article we're going to look at the safety of pressure vessels, the different types available and the role NDT (Non Destructive Testing) has to play to ensure the safety of such systems.

Regulations across the world govern the use and manufacture of such vessels and systems, this is important because the failure of such systems could have wide spread implications. Release of high energy causing injury to nearby personal, to emission of radiation, to loss of life, the effects can be severe. It's for this reason high pressure systems require careful production, and maintenance.

There are many types of pressure vessels in industry, some of the most common ones include, storage tanks, boilers, stack columns or fractional distillation towers as they're sometimes known, deaerator tanks, mixing/agitation vessels and reactors. These are the main one's to be concerned with for the purposes of looking at safety and NDT in industry. There are many more, but it we could go on forever, and this list is suitable for a general overview and day-to-day knowledge.

Ensuring the safety of these systems is obviously paramount, and to that end regulations in many countries have been put in place. Within the UK there is the PSSR (Pressure System Safety Regulations 2000) that govern the operation of equipment, and the risks associated with the release stored energy may have, with no regard for the contents released, except for steam and the scalding effect it may have. In accordance with regulations such as these, NDT can help ensure the safe operation of equipment, by inclusion within a WSE (Written Scheme of Examination). Regular testing via NDT at appropriate intervals can not only prevent injury, but also save time and money through prevention of downtime, loss of revenue/capacity, and expense in fixing major failures, so it's liberal usage is in fact positive economy.

Storage tanks can be inspected via NDT through several methods, such as LFET (Low Frequency Electromagnetic Testing, Dye Penetrant, Magnetic Particle and Ultrasonic Methods.

A complete inspection can be done via these technologies by inspecting wall plates and welds together, and inspection can be performed internally or externally depending on circumstance and the wall plates in question. The vessels can be inspected for such faults as cracks and corrosion/erosion. Typically faults occur via third party damage, or corrosion/erosion related to the natural operation of the vessels and processes involved.

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