The performance of a pressure-surge relief system which acts as a safety mechanism within the export facility of an oil terminal is analysed in detail. Dynamic simulation methods are integrated with failure mode effects analysis to establish the risk of catastrophic failure of the terminal. An optimization procedure is presented which demonstrates the use of simulation to establish suitable inspection, testing and preventive maintenance schedules which maximize the effectiveness of the surge relief system over its design life. The importance of such activities is evidentleft unattended the surge-relief system will not meet minimum safety standards, whereas planned maintenance and testing is shown to improve safety standards above the minimum required.
Such classic riskassessment techniques as failure mode and effect analysis (FM EA) and fault-tree analysis (FT A) are in common use by engineers but have a number of shortcomings. Dynamic simulation, a new computer technique, counters many of these deficiencies by introducing a time element that accommodates realistic component-failure characteristics and testing and inspection activities. This paper demonstrates how FMEA and FT A have been used to help design North Sea well completions and how dynamic simulation models complex systems realistically to allow comparison of designs and to provide insight into operating availability and component-testing frequencies.
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