A Case Study for NDT

A process plant contained two stainless

steel vessels which had been operating for

21 years.
The
contents of the vessels were
flammable, mildly toxic and contained 500
ppm of chlorides.
The vessels were operated from full
vacuum up to 15 psi for 20 cycles per day.
They contained an agitator which was used
in part of the process.
Both vessels had been hydraulically tested
to 70 psi when new but had not been

Company thought that stainless steel would

not break. Hence, no leak detection

equipment had been installed and reliance
was placed on plant operators noticing the
smell or observing drips.
A competent Person from a large insurance

company
prescribed
external
visual
examination supplemented by a hammer
test every 2 years.
Was this suitable?

The

combination of stainless steel and

chlorides
immediately
raises
concerns
regarding the possibility of stress corrosion
cracking.
While the cracks were likely to initiate on the
inner surface, an external examination could
detect the presence of through wall cracks
only.
However, stress corrosion cracks can be very
tight and difficult to see with the naked eye.
The hammer test offers no benefit - who
knows what a good vessel should sound like!

During a thorough examination, it was

found that vessel developed leaks at 40

psi.
Further investigation of the vessel found
thousands of through wall cracks. The
vessel had not leaked in service because
the contents were too viscous to pass
through the tight stress corrosion cracks.
Finally it was decided to go for NDT with
Dye
Penetrant
Inspection
using
fluorescent dyes, which give a higher
sensitivity and much better results in the
confined, dark space of the vessel.

Conclusion

NDT techniques provide cost-effective and

reliable analysis under realistic conditions.

Each NDT technique has certain capabilities

and limitations and often more than one

technique is used to cover various parts.
Increasing availability of robotic scanners

improve the speed of testing large surfaces,

hence minimizing the testing time.