2009 NJ BusiNess of the Year1

Becht Engineering www.Becht.comSpring 2012Newsletter

Arcot ‘rAdhA’ rAdhAkriShnAn & EilEEn chAnt Phd

Becht Engineering has a team of Reliability Specialists who have provided assistance in reviewing Turnaround Work Scopes and for Routine Maintenance Planning at several refineries for a major Refining Company.

Becht’s methodology utilizes Risk Based Work Selection (RBWS), which is an industry Best Practice. The RBWS methodology utilizes Becht’s proprietary STRAITS© tool to enable risk-based decision making in equipment operations, inspection and maintenance.

Turnaround Work Scope OptimizationExpert Facilitators work with Refinery Operations/

Maintenance/Technical Supervisors engaged in TA Work Scope development. A comprehensive assessment of the Work List is done to assess the drivers (Process or Equipment Integrity) for TA work. A structured risk-based process utilizes Becht’s software to challenge the work list items and determine whether the TA work is justifiable, or whether deferments are permissible. For TAs which require 200,000 to 1,000,000 mhrs the Becht process has identified potential savings of 15-30% on estimated Direct Costs for the planned work scope.

Becht’s Proprietary Risk-Based Work Selection Package offers Significant Savings Opportunity for Refinery Turnarounds and Routine Maintenance

Continued on Page 3 Continued on Page 4

Becht Engineering specialists teach a variety of technical courses around the world. Becht’s instructors

are industry experts, who have spent their careers in pace setting owner-operator organizations. Arrangements can be made for any of the courses listed to be taught at or near your site and can be modified to custom suit your training needs. Current courses that are open to the public are listed in Becht’s 2012 Training Schedule at www.becht.com/training/courses. Courses are considered introductory, unless the title is preceded by an asterisk. *Indicates advanced courses. For courses designated as advanced, it is recommended the participants have a working knowledge (but not required) of the subject matter presented.

BEcht EnGinEErinG – techtraining courses 2012

1. *Application of Risk Based Inspection (RBI) to Reduce Maintenance Cost, Reduce Risk and Improve Reliability

2. Application of Codes and Standards in Pressure Vessels and Piping for Nuclear Power Plants

3. ASME B31.3 Piping Flexibility Analysis

4. ASME B31.3 Process Piping - Design, Construction, and Mechanical Integrity

5. ASME B31.4 Liquid Pipelines and ASME B31.8 Gas Pipelines

6. ASME Section VIII, Pressure Vessels; Design Fabrication, Inspection, Flaw Detection and

Repair

7. *API 579 / ASME FFS-1 Fitness- for-Service

8. *Elements of Applied Process Engineering

9. *Engineering Problem Solving for the Process Industry (Process Plant Troubleshooting)

10. *Failure Prevention, Repair & Life Extension of Piping, Vessels and

Tanks

11. Fundamentals of Process Engineering

12. Introduction to Welded Steel Storage Tank Design, Fabrication, Installation and Inspection using API 620, API 650, and API 653

13. Operation, Maintenance and Repair of Plant Piping Systems

14. Piping Vibration Analysis & Practical Engineering Solutions in Process Plants

15. *Process Hazard Analysis Methods and Leadership

16. Refining 101 - The Primer on Refinery and Petrochemical Industry Equipment

17. Refinery and Petrochemical Industry Material Selection and Corrosion

18. *Seismic Design and Retrofit of Equipment and Piping

19. *Thermal-Hydraulic Transients in Piping Systems

20. Welding Engineering, Fabrication, and Inspection - AWS, ASME and API Codes

The operators at a Client’s refinery in Texas started up the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) after an extensive reconfiguration of the unit. Executing a turnaround in a remote location is a challenge, at best, even though this

area is experiencing a revival akin to the oil boom of the 1970’s.This particular plant had not had a major turnaround since 2005.

The management that provided leadership during that event have since departed and much of the intimate knowledge of the refinery’s proclivities went with them.

Becht Engineering Advisors stepped in to support the core team by leading the Risk Based Work Selection (RBWS) process, and filling roles in project scheduling, instrument and electrical planning, mechanical engineering support, and field construction management:

From the Lone Star State to the Golden State:

Becht Engineering Offers a Wide Range of Turnaround ServicesBy FrAnk MArkinS, BEcht EnGinEErinG AdviSor

For more information about Becht’s training courses please contact Betsy Jorgensen at 949.208.6883 or email her at bjorgensen@becht.com

2009 NJ BusiNess of the Year2

MAchinEry chAt

The Potential Pitfalls of Fabricated Machinery FoundationsBy rAndy PASSMAn And StAnlEy FuSSEll

A new process unit was designed and built by a petrochemical manufacturer. As part of the project, two 50 horespower blowers were installed. Rotating equipment of this type is

traditionally installed at grade on an engineered monolithic concrete foundation with rebar and anchor bolts. A suitable soleplate or baseplate is then grouted to the foundation to rigidly support the motor / blower unit. This insures that alignment between the motor and blower is maintained. Also, since the mass of the foundation is usually designed to be five to seven times the mass of the mounted equipment, residual vibration is reduced as well. During the design phase of the project the piping connection of the vertical vessel from which the blower took suction was located on the fourth floor of the unit. Instead of locating the blower at grade on a foundation as described above and running process piping to the blower and then back to the process, a decision was made to minimize the piping cost by locating the blowers and 50 horsepower motors on a fabricated steel foundation near the drum on the fourth floor. The fabricated steel foundation was constructed by welding a two inch thick flat plate to the tops of four vertical H-beams which were about four feet tall. The bottoms of the four H-beams were then welded to large horizontal structural steel members.

All motors bought for the project were ordered with very stringent vibration limits. Those specifications required that during a four hour solo run (motor and driven equipment on foundation and aligned but not coupled) the motor overall vibration amplitude could be no more than 0.08 inches per second (ips) and no one spectral component could be larger than 0.04 ips. At least 96% of all motors tested during this project met this specification.

The blowers and 50 horsepower motors described above were placed on the elevated, fabricated foundation and aligned. When the motor was solo run for acceptance testing, the measured vibration in the horizontal direction was measured at 0.5 ips. This was six times the maximum allowed! A Frequency Response Function (FFT) test revealed that all of the vibration occurred at 1800 cpm (running speed of the motor). The results also showed that a system resonance existed at 1800 cpm. The small vibratory energy being supplied by the motor (later determined to be 0.04 ips) was being amplified due to resonance by a factor of 12. The unit could not be reliably operated under these conditions. If placed in service the unit would have most

likely experienced vibrations as high as 2 ips to 3 ips. The resonance at 1800 cpm had to be shifted away from the 1800 rpm operating speed.

A resonance can easily be shifted upward by increasing the stiffness of the system. Easy, right? Just add some bracing! Maybe, but maybe not. In order to add bracing to successfully raise a natural frequency, it is necessary to know the mode shape of the system; or in other words, exactly how much and where the system is moving. Are points in phase or out of phase with each other and how much? If a brace is added at a point that is not moving (a nodal point) the stiffness of the total system will be unaffected and the natural frequency may not change as expected. So the key to getting a “fix” right the first time is to see how the motor, blower, baseplate and H-beam legs are moving in relation to each other. If we could only see all the parts in operation, slow them down and exaggerate their movements by a common factor, we could “see” how they are moving and where to place a brace for greatest effect. Well, it can be done! It’s called an “Operating Deflection Shape”. A model of the item can be viewed in slow motion from any side or view to see just how the system is behaving. There are several manufacturers of software and vibration analyzers that supply a means of doing just that. A simple system model is generated using a computer. Then measurement locations are selected on the model and labeled. The locations are downloaded to an analyzer telling it where and what type measurement to collect. The structure and rotating equipment is instrumented and the rotating equipment is then placed into operation long enough to collect vibration amplitude and phase measurements at each of the selected points. Data from the analyzer is transferred to the computer model. Finally, with the combined aid of our vibration monitoring and computer tools, we can put our model into motion. We can reduce the speed of movement, and scale the amplitudes up until they are exaggerated and easy to follow. To view the computer generated animation of the motor/blower system being discussed, CLICK HERE or go to http://youtu.be/m0LnjcdjcxM.

The model shows that the two H-beam legs on each end are moving in phase with each other. It also shows that the two legs on one end are moving 180 degrees out of phase with the two legs on the other end. When each of the legs is viewed by itself it’s apparent that the motion is all in phase and that the movement is greater the higher up the leg we measure. The most significant observations are that the

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2009 NJ BusiNess of the Year3

Proprietary Risk-Based Work Selection Package (Continued from Page 1)

Routine Maintenance Planning & SchedulingIn addition to TA Work Scope development, the

Becht RBWS Process can also be used to plan, schedule, and prioritize inspection and maintenance work requests from Operations and Technical Departments at refineries. These activities, which provide the basis for bi-weekly forecasts for maintenance planning, are inevitably dependent upon limited contractor resources which require optimization. The Becht STRAITS© tool, which uses a risk-based methodology, provides a structured and well documented tool to establish work planning and scheduling priorities and forecasts.

Becht STRAITS© ToolThe user-friendly Becht tool, Strategy Tool for Risk

Assessment for Improved Turnaround Scope (STRAITS©), integrates the RBWS process, and provides supporting ‘how-to’ documentation for plant personnel record-keeping and review of data. This document covers topics such as:

• Initiating a TA work request• RBWS session planning• Detailed description of what information the work list item

should contain• The composition of the cross-functional team for an effective

RBWS session• Task acceptance criteria that should be developed prior to the

RBWS session (e.g. task cost threshold, benefit to cost ratio, etc.)

The STRAITS© graphical user interface was optimized to be used in a group setting to facilitate RBWS decision making. The

software’s simple risk calculator is shown, with the appropriate corporate risk matrix definitions embedded. In calculating risk, the probability and consequence categories are combined to determine the location on the risk matrix. Both S/H/E and economic risks are plotted. The benefit to cost ratio of the proposed task is also calculated and displayed.

The cross-functional team uses the risk calculator along with other considerations (unmitigated S/H/E risk, cost of action item, bad actor resolution, etc.) to make the determination whether the task is in-scope based on previously determined task acceptance criteria. The group is required to determine a justification for the decision. The STRAITS© reports, designed in consultation with the client’s corporate management, highlight the justification, risk reduction achieved and economic benefits of the worklist items.

Application of the RBWS process, incorporated in the STRAITS© tool, ensures uniform and rigorous methodology and allows managers to easily review the justifications for TA work scope decisions at refineries and chemical plants.

Proprietary Risk-Based Work Selection Package

Machinery Chat (Continued from Page 2)

connection between the two inch thick baseplate and the tops of each H-beam are weak, and the H- beams are bending side-to-side stressing the connections at the bottom. Now that we can see what is actually occurring, it’s clear that if we place a ½ inch plate onto each end and bolt it to the vertical legs every six inches as well as the two inch top plate, we will greatly increase the stiffness in the horizontal direction. The H-beam joints will be stiffened at the top and bottom connections. After a ½ inch plate was bolted at each end, solo vibration data was again taken and all readings were reduced to 0.04 ips. The 1800 cpm resonance was shifted upward away from operating speed of 1800 rpm.

Resonance is a common occurrence when mounting rotating

equipment on fabricated steel foundations. If not identified and corrected in the early stages of acceptance testing, this resonance and accompanying vibration can become a chronic maintenance problem resulting in very high maintenance cost and high frequency of failures. Should a facility design dictate that rotating equipment be installed on a fabricated steel foundation rather than a conventional concrete and grouted baseplate design, extra attention and vibration monitoring should be planned into the equipment acceptance testing.

Becht Engineering Advisers have helped industry solve some of the most challenging and complex vibration issues.

2009 NJ BusiNess of the Year4

Becht Engineering Services (Continued from Page 1)

• Frank Markins and Sonny Purvis focused on adherence to the Client’s turnaround processes, as well as turnaround methods and best practices.

• Ray Martini’s many years of electrical project experience assisted in field construction management.

• Michael Fontenot integrated the Electrical Upgrade Project into the turnaround schedule.

• Ed Rich provided instrument field planning experience.• Joe Prawdzik developed and tracked repairs on heat

exchangers during execution.

Arcot (Radha) Radhakrishnan, Becht Engineering’s Director of Reliability, and Phong Diep, Becht Mechanical Engineering Advisor, came to the site to conduct the RBWS workshop with Client staff and members of the onsite Becht team. The workshop asked key turnaround resources to sharpen their focus on risk-based inspections, and resulted in a reduction in the fixed equipment scope for the turnaround.

The Texas refinery called for a plant-wide shutdown of all operating units, and turnarounds in the Crude, Vacuum, Rose and FCC units. Two critical paths were defined, and the complex was bisected by the processes. The crude unit was the critical path of the west plant, with a planned duration of 24 days oil-to-oil. The internal repairs to the reactor and regenerator on the FCC structure were critical path in the east plant, with a planned duration of 36 days oil-to-oil.

The planned RBI inspections were completed concurrently with the successful execution of several major projects including a scrubber system and tie-ins for a flare gas recovery system. A major electrical upgrade project consisted of a new main feeder station, two new substations and thousands of feet of conduit, trays and cabling—all the while maintaining power to all critical systems. Finally, the addition of more than 70 tie-ins for piping provided the refinery more flexibility in accommodating alternate sources of crude oil supply.

The units started with few issues and contractors at the site received an Acceptable safety performance rating with zero lost work days and several first aid cases.

Thanks to the Advisor Resources team for their support of the Advisors while on assignment, especially in securing adequate housing in such a challenging environment. And special thanks to Betsy Jorgensen (Becht Engineering Project Engineer & Coordinator in Irvine, California) for the care package. Not even Betty Crocker bakes chocolate chip cookies like Betsy. Send more, anytime!

A large team of Becht Engineering Advisors descended on a West Coast refinery, considered by some industry professionals

to be one of the most complex in the United States. The goal was to execute a site-wide turnaround. The event was the largest turnaround the Owner had executed to date.

Advisors traveled from across the United States to fill roles ranging from site preparation and logistics coordination to execution management, heavy lift reviews, engineering support during discovery, and field mechanical oversight.

Services and resources included:• Risk Based Work Selection session facilitated by Arcot

(Radha) Radhakrishnan, Becht Engineering’s Director of Reliability.

• Constructability Review participation by Harry Costner and Michael DeHoyos.

• Turnaround leadership support provided by Dennis McCleary.

• Site preparation and logistics coordination provided by Frank Markins and Dennis McCleary.

• Mechanical Engineering support during discovery provided by Yaofeng Chen and Abby King.

• Field execution management provided by Jerry Cartwright.

• Field mechanical coordination and oversight provided by Michael Craighead, Curtis Davis, Michael DeHoyos (who also participated in an earlier constructability review), Robert Dominguez, Wilton Donadelle, Michael Donahue, William Franklin, Anthony J. Frederic, Kenneth Garrett, Don Gordon, Raymond Herrin, Jesse Holland, Craig L’Hoste, Kevin Maguire, Sonny Purvis, Charles Ripkowski, Johnnie Summersill, Louis Tallo, and Donnie White.

• Crane and Rigging coordination and field oversight provided by Jim Worrell.

The large, complex turnaround consisted of almost all units, which are densely situated in a relatively small parcel of real estate at this Client site. The turnaround was scheduled to begin late in December, with the first day of maintenance scheduled for January 3. Then the unexpected events accelerated the turnaround schedule began work began in the FCCU before Christmas. A roll-up-your-sleeves collaboration quickly developed between the site’s employees and Becht Engineering Advisors, who worked through the holiday.

Despite unforeseen challenges with the FCCU, an expanded work scope, and resources who wished they were wearing Santa hats and Christmas sweaters instead of coveralls and hard hats, Becht Engineering team leader Jerry Cartwright guided the team through the complex project with efficiency and grace.

2009 NJ BusiNess of the Year5

Becht engineering staff is active in national codes and standards commitees

ASME COMMITTEES

Board of governors - current & former members

Board on new development - current chair

Board on hearings and appeals - former chair

Board on nuclear codes and standards - current member, former chair

Board on Pressure technology codes and standards - former chair, vP & members

Board on international standards (inactive committee) - former member

Board on council operations - former chairs

council on standards and certification - current member, former chairs & sr. vP’s

ASME POST CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS

Post construction standards committee - former chairs & vice-chairs

Post construction executive committee - current members,

former chairs & vice-chairs

subcommittee on repair and testing - founding chair, current member,

former chair & members

subcommittee on inspection Planning - current member

subcommittee on flange Joint assembly - current chair

subcommittee on flaw evaluation - former member

ASME BOILER AND PRESSURE VESSEL CODE COMMITTEES

committee on Pressure vessels (BPv viii) - current chair & members, former members

subcommittee viii, Pressure vessels (inactive committee) -

former vice-chair & members

committee on transport tanks - former member

committee on construction of nuclear facility components -

BPv iii - current vice-chair

design and analysis committee (inactive committee) - former chairs & members

subgroup on design analysis (BPv iii & viii) - former chairs & members

executive committee on strategy and Project management (BPv iii) - current chair

Project team on hydrogen tanks - current member

special committee on interpretations (BPv iii) - current chair

special interpretations committee (sc-viii) - current member

special Working group on high density Polyethylene Piping (sc iii) - current member

special Working group on high Pressure vessels, section viii, div 3

(inactive committee) - former chair

standards committee on Qualification of mechanical equipment - current member

subcommittee on accreditation - former member-alternate

subcommittee on design - (inactive committee) - former members

subgroup on general requirements (BPv iii) - current & former members

subgroup on high Pressure vessels (section viii, div 3) - current member, former chair

subgroup on design (BPv viii) - current member, former chair & members

subgroup on design sc-viii (inactive committee) - former chair & members

subgroup on on design/analysis (sc-d) (inactive committee) - former chair & members

subgroup on general requirements (BPv viii) - current member, former chair

subgroup on heat transfer equipment (BPv viii) - current member, former chair

subgroup on toughness (BPv ii & viii) - current member

subgroup on component design - current member

subgroup on elevated temperature design - current member, former chair

task group on impulsively loaded vessels (sc viii) - current members

technical oversight committee (former main committee) - current & former members

Working group on Piping (BPv iii) - current members, former chairs & vice-chair

Working group on Piping (sg-d) (BPv iii) - current member

operation and maintenance of nuclear Power Plants - Piping group - current member

task group on Buried Pipe - current member

Working group on supports (BPv iii) - former member

Working group on design-By-analysis (BPv viii) - current member

subgroup on external Pressure (BPv ii) - current vice-chair

ASME PIPING AND COMPONENT CODES AND STANDARDS

B31, code for Pressure Piping, executive committee - current & former members

B31, code for Pressure Piping, mechanical design committee -

current vice-chair & member, former vice-chair

B31, code for Pressure Piping, standards committee - current members, former chair

B31.3, Process Piping section committee - current members, former chairs

B31.12 hydrogen Piping and Pipelines section committee - current members

B31.3 subgroup on high Pressure Piping - former chair

B31.3 subgroup on design - current & former members

B16 standards committee for national & international standardization of valves,

flanges, fittings,gaskets - current member

B16 subcommittee on steel flanges and flanged fittings - current member, former chair

B16 subcommittees on fittings, gaskets, copper components and valves - current member

ASME/API

asme/aPi Joint fitness-for-service committee (aPi 579/asme ffs-1) -

current member, former vice-chairs & members

API

committee on risk Based inspection - former member

committee on materials and corrosion - former member

committee on refining equipment - former member

subcommittee on heat transfer equipment - former chair

subcommittee on above ground storage tanks - former member

subcommittee on Piping - former vice-chair

task group on materials for heavy Wall vessels - former chair

task group on aPi 580 - former member

task group (934f) for development of a guidance document for establishing

minimum Pressurization temperatures for heavy Wall reactors in hydrogen service -

current member

task group (934g) for coking drums in delayed coking Units - current member

task group (941) for high temperature hydrogen attack - current member

task group on shell & tube heat exchangers - former member

task group on air cooled heat exchangers - former member

aPi 582 - Welding guidelines for the chemical, oil and gas industries - former chair

ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE INVOLVEMENT

mti - Knowledge management Project development committee - current chair

aWs a5 (filler metals) committee - source for asme iic - current member

astm f-17, Plastic Piping systems main committee - current member

astm standards and certification Board of directors - current member, former chair

astm committees co3, c-16, and d-20.23 - current member

isa - the international society for measurement & control, member of sP 93,

sealing technologies committee - former member

materials technology institute’s technical advisory council committee -

current member

materials technology institute, evaluation of gaskets committee - current member

Us tag for iso/tc 153/sc 1 - valve design, manufacturing, marking and testing -

current member

Us tag for iso/tc 5/sc 10 - metallic flanges and their Joints - current member

Us tag for iso tc 197 - hydrogen technologies - current member

Us tag for iso tc 11 - Boilers and Pressure vessels - current member

Joint asme - ieee seismic Qualification committee - former chair

asme - asce Joint task group on Buried Piping - founding & current chair

Process/industry Practices (PiP): coatings and insulation -

former function team leader

Process industry Practices (PiP): Piping - former member

society for Protective coatings (ssPc): standards review committee -

former member

Us doe hydrogen safety Panel - current member

the materials Properties council - former member

section iii, sg on general requirements - current member

section iii, sWg on Polyethylene Pipe (inactive committee) - former member

section iii, Working group on Piping design (inactive committee) - former member

Pvrc committee on continuing operation of equipment - former chair

asme hydrogen steering committee (inactive committee) - former chair

asme high Pressure systems committee - former vice-chair & member

asme task group on risk analysis for the critical assets Protection initiative -

former chair & member

asme BPtcs ad hoc task group on incorporation of risk Based Principles into

Pressure technology codes and standards - former chair & member

PvP design and analysis committee - current member

PvP executive committee - current member

Working group duties and responsibilities (sggr-BPviii) - current member

Qai-1 Qualification for authorized inspection - former chair

subcommittee on accreditation of authorized inspection agencies -

current member-alternate

ASCE

Working group on revision of asce standard 4 seismic analysis of safety-related

nuclear structures - voting member

asce dynamic analysis of nuclear structures (dans) committee - current member