Process equipment and piping systems constitute the major portion of plant assets and their integrity and reliability are essential for plant availability and performance. Many process equipment and piping systems are subjected to hazardous service conditions and damage mechanisms which, if not adequately monitored and assessed, could result in major failures with consequential significant injuries and business losses.
It is essential to inspect the process equipment and piping system to detect any damage, characterize it, and assess its impact on the equipment integrity. With so many pieces of equipment and extensive piping systems and networks, it is obviously impossible to inspect totally every piece of equipment or piping in a plant. Therefore, an approach based on criticality, i.e. risk-based, taking into consideration the damage mechanisms and failure risk must be taken.