In-Service Inspection and Integrity

Assessment of Above-Ground
Storage Tanks
Dr. Athanasios Anastasopoulos
Presentation for
Tank Storage Conference
ISTANBUL 3 & 4 November 2010
www.envirocoustics.gr, info@envirocoustics.gr, Tel.: (+30) 210-2846801, Fax: (+30) 210-2846805
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OVERVIEW
FAILURE OF TIME-BASED MAINTENANCE & NEEDS FOR ON
STREAM INSPECTION
TANKPAC
TM
: IN SERVICE CONDITION MONITORING FOR TANK
FLOORS:
Acoustic Emission Tank Floor Testing Overview
Case Studies
Validation and Verification
TALRUT
TM
: IN-SERVICE CRITICAL ZONE EXAMINATION
LSI TANK SHELL CORROSION AND WEAR MAPPING
PCMS: PLANT CONDITION MONITORING & RISK BASED
INSPECTION SOFTWARE
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
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Failure of time-based maintenance
Hot oil tank, 140C: Internally
inspected 12 months prior to
failure, including UT+MFL. This
collapse was due to a narrow
band of annular ring corrosion.
When the ring split the very
rapid loss of hot liquid pulled a
vacuum collapsing the tank
shell.
Naphtha Tank: Leaking 100 cubic meters
per day through a 1cm hole. Operations
noticed losses after a week, but no visible
product, which was disappearing into
ground. When the plates were cut the
cavity under the floor was several cubic
metres in size.
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Envirocoustics S.A.
Failures of time-based maintenance
Many more examples.
Tanks removed from service, cleaned,
sludge dumped, tank inspected...and no
repairs required..
Tanks inspected though leaks not always
prevented
If time based internal inspection
worked. this would not be
happening....
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Copyright 2007
Envirocoustics S.A.
Tank Floors are the only structural part of a tank
with no access for inspection during operation
Access to tank floors for inspection is difficult and costly.
Leakage is no longer environmentally acceptable.
Risk of catastrophic failure with severe annular ring damage.
Cleaning costs can be >$200,000, + environmental waste
problem. If no repairs are required these costs are wasted.
Requirements:
To identify tanks which do NOT yet require internal inspection
and repair, this prevents the waste of maintenance resources
and protects the environment.
To determine the relative condition of damaged floors so that a
correct priority for internal maintenance may be set.
To do the above with as little disruption to operations as
possible.
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TANKPAC: IN SERVICE CONDITION
MONITORING FOR TANK FLOORS
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AE sensor
Tank
AE
Instrument
AE Van
Acoustic Emission Tank Floor Testing Overview
AE Sensors (in the Low Ultrasonic Range to
avoid Interference) mounted on tank wall 1-
2m above knuckle
3-30 sensors per row used depending upon
size / 1 or 2 rows
Cables go to test instrumentation
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Acoustic Sources detected
Corrosion of steel causes
Acoustic Emission (Yuyama,
Condello etc).
Sources detected by sensors on
the outside of the tank.
Spalling of corrosion products.
Leak noise: (flow interruption, or
turbulence).
External Interference - noise to be
filtered:
Roof movement noise, Structural
movement, External and pipe-borne
noise, Condensation, Particle
impacts, Valve leakage.
Signal amplitude >>
^ Number of emissions
time
Shown above: one hour of emission from a
tank with very severe corrosion, characteristics
of emission change with scaling.
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Time (s)

A
m
p
l
i
t
u
d
e

A
E

H
i
t

r
a
t
e
AE data analysis
Bottom
plate
AE sensor
Liquid-born
wave
AE
source
Acoustic Emission Tank Floor Testing Overview
The tank is monitored in service, following conditioning (Valves closed, heaters
off, agitators off), for a pre-determined time (6-24 hours in advance of test)
The data is processed to eliminate unwanted sources of noise,
Location of 3+hit sources by triangulation.
The data is evaluated against TANKPAC Technology (database, special
algorithms for location, Correlations, etc.)
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Envirocoustics S.A.
TANKPAC
TM
: CONDITION MONITORING FOR TANK FLOORS
Tank floor top view with
locations of corrosion and/or
leak sources
3D plots of located
corrosion and leak
sources
Separate analysis and
grading of the most
severe corrosion sites
100% FLOOR INSPECTION & ANNULAR RING
Overall Tank Grading, from A (no damage) to E (severe damage), indicate the general
condition of the Floor.
Potential Leak Sites Identified & Graded indicating concentrated sources of severe
corrosion or leak.
Combination of Overall Grading with Potential Leak Result in Composite RBI compatible
Matrix .
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Recommendations Matrix
Overall Grade A B C D E
PLD Grade I I II (n/a) (n/a) (n/a-doesnt occur)
1 I I II (n/a) (n/a) I > ~4-5 years
2 I I II II (n/a) II > ~2 years
3 II II III III III III ~ 1 year*
4 II III III IV IV IV ~ 0.5 years*
5 III III IV IV IV *or schedule for internal inspection
Clearly leaking tanks often unable to grade, (should be opened anyway).
Active concentrated sources in all data will also increase severity of grading.
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Corrosion of Internal Zinc Anodes
Emission reaching three sensors
is located.
Internal sacrificial anodes corrode
in place of tank floor.
Zinc blocks can be large.
Oilfield production tanks use
sacrificial anodes-very active when
has coating failed, until zinc used,
then floor corrodes.
Special procedures used to
separate anode corrosion from
floor corrosion.
Emission from active anodes in a 55
metre tank, 2m x1m in size, (30 in
tank, 4/10/16)
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150 Diameter, Gasoline
ALL DATA
TANK -PAC
GRADE
A
B
C
D
E
North
Channel 1
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TANKPAC: In-Service Floor Plate
Corrosion Assessment
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3-D view of an E grade crude tank
and damage found
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Leaking Tanks Cases
Gasoline Tank
Very concentrated source:
scale usually 50!
Doesnt show on tank plot, one
pixel. On product tanks small
leaks are not easily identified,
except by high concentration.
~1mm hole found when
opened.
Naphtha Tank
100 cu.m/day loss
No visible indication of a leak
Faint smell only
TANKPAC
TM
test at 2% sensitivity
due to noise - 2 minutes
acquisition only:
1cm hole found at location shown
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Copyright 2007
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NEW TANK LEAKING
DEFECTS IN THE
WELDS.......LEAK
TANKPAC
TM
: / LEAK DETECTION
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Limitations
(see method statement)
Detects and grades active corrosion only.
Not suitable for assessing the internal condition of tanks which are
cleaned mechanically or chemically as this resets the condition,
(underside OK). Use history!!
Small leaks may be masked by active floor corrosion.
Large leaks will mask overall floor condition.
Activity from active corrosion under insulation may mask floor
condition.
Location may degrade on very active D/E tanks due to
simultaneous sources, (the tank needs opening anyway!).
Not all tanks can be tested, due to noise/condensation etc.
Complex procedure requires extensive training + control.
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Copyright 2007
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TANKPAC
TM
: VERIFIED RELIABILITY
1. TANPAC Tests All around the word (Europe, Middle East, Africa, South
America, Asia and Far East, North America)
2. PAC TANKPAC Procedure adopted by SAUDI
ARAMCO.
3. PAC TANKPAC Procedure adopted by DOW
CHEMICALS
4. PAC TANKPAC Procedure verified by Shell Global
Solutions (results presented in ECNDT 98)
5. 1999 EEMUA recommendations to members (1996 User
group became part of EEMUA, ~30 Cos -Engineering Equipment Material Users Association- experience now
>600 tank floor tests, feedback on internal inspection of >150 tanks, procedure at rev.4.)
6. French Petroleum Institute: UNION FRANCAISE DES INDUSTRIES
PETROLIERS ( API), Guide Pour Linspection Et La Maintenance Des Reservoirs Mettaliques Aeriens
Cylindriques Verticaux D Hydrocarbures Liquides En Raffinerie, ANNEXE: Recommandations pour lutilization de
lemission acoustique a la verification de l etancheite et a levaluation de l activite des corrosion des reservoirs
verticaux aeriens, Edition Aug. 2000, Paris
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Comparison with
Subsequent Inspection
From correlation of TANKPAC
TM
results with
internal inspection and repairs carried out:
100% of A-grade tanks - no repairs or
damage to floor
56% of C-grade tanks - patch repairs
52% of E-grade tanks - floor replaced
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Reliability: TANKPAC
TM
overall grading vs. repairs required*
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
A B C D E
FU 1/2 Minimal damage: no repairs
FU 3 Damage: some repairs
FU 4 Significant damage: major repair/new floor
R
e
l
a
t
i
v
e

(
%
)
AE-grade
Follow-up results versus AE-grades, normalised per AE-grade
population of 157 tanks (Shell, Dow-Stade, DSM, PKE, Total and PAL database)
* P.van de Loo/Shell, B.Hermann/Dow, ECNDT 1998
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Overall AE Grade vs. % of Tanks for crude
and product tanks from Major Sites
0
10
20
30
40
50
A B C D E
%CRUDE
%PROD.
%ALL
ALL SITES IN SURVEY
% of tanks
TANKPAC
GRADE
sample size 598 tanks 6/96
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Copyright 2007
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TANKPAC is a maintenance planning tool
Significant money savings: No money
wasted for opening of good tanks.
Maintenance prioritisation: The most
severely damaged tanks are programmed
for internal inspection first.
Prevention of environmental losses:Early
identification of potential leaks.
Very fast, low-cost inspection with
minimal interruption of operations
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TALRUT
In-Service Floor Plate
(Critical Zone)
Assessment
Inspects critical area,
~30cm in.
Automated UT, Plan image.
40 m/day.
Indicative, not
quantitative.
Detects first edge of
corrosion.
Detects at 30-50%.
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TALRUT Annular Ring Test
Left - Example of Indications from a calibration plate (top
of plate is the wall tank shell), Right area without
indications and close up of the respective A-Scan at
cursor position
SHELL:
PLAN VIEW IMAGE SHOWING
SEVERE UNDERSIDE CORROSION:
Summary
Reporting
Example
Shell Corrosion
Surveys Utilizing LSI
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LSI Tank Shell Corrosion
And Wear Mapping
18 meter x 500 mm strip:
10 x2 mm resolution 45 minutes
scan time (5 min/2m).
450,000 readings.
Typically: North, South, East, West
(drive around above rings).
Larger tanks add NE, SE, SW, NW
Preferential HAZ corrosion and
local thinning by wear
Limitations:
Poor surfaces may loose some
data ( but still huge
statistical sample )
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C-SCAN of TANK SHELL & PROCESSING OF UT DATA
FFS throughout Composite C-Scan image
reconstruction in Nominal-Caution-Reject coloring
mode
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PCMS & RBI TANKREPORTER S/W
Mistras TANKREPORTER and PCMS S/W is used
to enhance reporting and assist asset
integrity management. Capabilities includes
3D model of the tank with detail weld seam
locations, nozzle locations, TML locations,
repair locations, hyperlinks to
recommendations and photos of the defect
areas, corrosion rate calculations and RBI.
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In-Service Inspection, using Modern State of the art techniques,
Integrated within Plant Condition Monitoring Software (PCMS) and
Risk Based Inspection lead to reliable Integrity Assessment
offering:
Determine the condition of damaged floors so that a correct
priority for internal maintenance may be set, thus:
Increased Safety, Availability, Reliability
Reduce rate and impact of unexpected failures
Identify tanks which do not require internal inspection and
repair, thus:
Reduce the number and duration of tank shutdown
Reduce scope of routine activities
Resources prioritized for greatest effect
Reduce costs
CONCLUSIONS
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