A decision support system to assess the operational safety and economic benefits of risk-based inspection implementation strategies

The modern industrial landscape is defined by increased competition, shorter response times, lower costs, and more reliable processing to meet customer demands. As a result, it has gained traction worldwide, and the necessity to undergo radical digital transformations in how they deal with processes. Specifically, it is receiving great relevance to the construction of specific decision support systems (DSSs) to help monitor industrial systems with a data-driven analytic approach, aiming to maximise reliability and efficiency. Maintenance is one of the most investigated processes based on risk-driven inspection. The Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) procedure, widely consolidated in the scientific field thanks to the publication of the API RP 581 manual of the American Petroleum Institute, is one of the most used procedures in the oil and gas sector to carry out risk assessments of the integrity of industrial components. It forms the basis for developing inspection plans within which the components to be inspected are prioritised based on the associated risk of failure. The use of non-intrusive inspection methodologies, based on non-destructive testing techniques, is incorporated into the assessment as an alternative to other traditional inspection strategies based on direct inspection. These techniques may help to reduce the number of scheduled plant shutdowns and the associated cost due to production loss. This research aims to develop a decision support system (DSS) based on the guidelines of the RBI procedure that is easy to use and open to access to support decisions in a cost-benefit analysis of the maintenance process. The system was developed focusing on a real plant, assessing the operational and financial risk of the shell and tube heat exchanger. The data used to implement the procedure in the system were provided by the company SGS specialised in industrial components’ certification and inspection. The current assessment has been performed for the damage mechanisms that affect the considered equipment: thinning, external corrosion, and CUI. All of the referred damage mechanisms are corrosion-based. None of the other multiple damage mechanisms that could affect the industrial equipment has been considered in this work.