Fitness-For-Service

Leadership in FFS Technology

Equity pioneered the development of advanced Fitness-For-Service (FFS) technologies. Our engineers were the principal developers of the landmark standard API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 Fitness-for-Service and API 571 Damage Mechanisms Affecting Fixed Equipment in the Refining Industry. API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 has become the de facto international standard for Fitness-For-Service (FFS) assessments in the refining and petrochemical industry, and is rapidly becoming the FFS standard of choice for other industries such as pulp & paper, fossil utility, food processing, and non-commercial nuclear.

Equity's continuing involvement and leadership in developing FFS technology and participation in API/ASME standard development activities enables us to offer a superior client service. We continue to invest in development of new FFS technologies and are a member of many key Joint Industry Projects dedicated to advancement of FFS assessment methods.

Equity uses proprietary VCESage™ technology to analyze fixed equipment. Our assessments can help improve your plant's reliability and provide major savings in unnecessary repair by:

• Providing practical and cost-sensitive solutions to challenging FFS problems
• Utilizing advanced FFS techniques to extend equipment life
• Evaluating changes in service that enhance equipment performance
• Designing effective temporary or permanent repairs
• Reducing shutdown time for repairs
• Providing quick turnaround in emergency situations
• Designing new equipment in accordance with ASME Section VIII, Division 1 and ASME Section VIII, Division 2 including the 2007 Edition

In addition, Equity maintains a National Board R-Stamp to facilitate implementation of repairs and alterations that may result from a FFS Assessment.

A Full Range of FFS Experience

Equity has evaluated all types of damage that can occur in the refining and petrochemical industries on a wide variety of pressure vessels, process piping, transmission pipelines, storage tanks, heat exchangers, heaters (casing, tubes and stacks), and mechanical components of specialized equipment. Our experience includes the assessment of the following damage mechanisms:

• Brittle fracture including tank hydrotest exemption
• General and locally corroded areas, including pitting
• Laminations and blisters, HIC and SOHIC damage
• Bulges and out-of-roundness
• Crack-like flaws, including stress corrosion and fatigue crack growth
• Dents, gouges and dent-gouge combinations
• Evaluation of hot spots
• Heater tube remaining life
• Evaluation of high temperature equipment for creep and creep-fatigue damage
• Fire damage
• High Temperature Hydrogen Attack (HTHA)
• Thermal and mechanical fatigue
• Fatigue evaluation of welded joints using the Battelle Verity™ Method
• Ring joint flange cracking
• Tank shell and edge settlement
• Local PWHT of weld repairs
• Modeling of weld residual stresses and incorporation into crack-like flaw assessments
• Wind-induced vibration of towers, stacks and pipelines
• Mechanical vibration
• Blast loading and other dynamic effects
• Hot tap thermal analysis

In addition, Equity’s cutting-edge Buckeye Sampler™ enables sampling of materials from in-service components for metallurgical and mechanical testing.