Development of a techno-economic framework for life extension decision making of safety critical installations

Abstract

One of the major decisions in management of the industrial assets is to ensure the feasibility of life extension process for safety critical components when they reach end-of-life. Most of the existing life extension decision-making models are restricted solely to either "technical" or "economic" feasibility analyses that may lead to inaccurate results or incorrect conclusions. In this paper, a comprehensive life extension feasibility assessment framewok by taking into account both the technical and economic considerations is developed. The proposed technoeconomic model for life extension of safety critical elements consists of three phases: preparation, assessment, and implementation. The technical assessment part of the framework incorporates all aspects of data collection and review, screening and prioritization of safety critical elements, condition assessment, estimation of remaining useful life, and risk analysis, while the economic assessment part deals with cost-benefit analysis. The decision to qualify a safety critical element for continuous operation beyond its service life is made based on a "life extension measure (LEM)" which is calculated by combining two indexes of "equipment health condition" and "economic added-value" obtained respectively from the technical and economic assessments. The model is applied to support the life extension decision-making procedure for water deluge systems in offshore oil installations. The results of the study show that the model is highly capable of assisting asset owners to evaluate the technical and economic benefits of extending the service life of components.

An overview of maintenance management strategies for corroded steel structures in extreme marine environments

“…The RUL estimation models are either deterministic or probabilistic, but they generally incorporate degradation factors, material properties, and environmental conditions [53]. The RUL estimation models can be classified into four categories: analytical (physics-based), modelbased (data-driven), knowledge-based, and hybrid (fusion) (see Figure 2) [54][55][56][57]. The RUL methods can be further refined into a more accurate maintenance model by the use of statistical and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques [58].…”

Condition assessment, remaining useful life prediction and life extension decision making for offshore oil and gas assets

“…3) What type of integrity management programme needs to be put into place to support asset operations over the life extension period? In order to provide appropriate answers to above questions, Vaidya and Rausand (2011), Animah et al (2016) and Shafiee et al (2016) suggested, in their respective studies, that it is vital for LE decision makers to estimate the remaining useful life (RUL) of their candidate equipment, as it will enable stakeholders to achieve accurate conclusions during the LE decision-making process. Also, Liao et al (2006) suggested that when ageing degradation is detected, it is important to re-estimate the RUL in order to expedite urgent maintenance decisions and avert possible failures.…”

Economic justification of costs at inspection of industrial safety of high-rise marine structures

“…In work [6] authors consider economic and technical solutions for a possibility of prolongation of service life of safety of crucial components when they reach the termination of life term. The qualified decision about continuous work outside the service life is offered to be carried out based on estimates on two indexes: instrument assessment of technical condition and economic assessment of benefit.…”