Risks management of Tube Bundle heat exchanger in the petrochemical industries using the Risk-Based Inspection approach

Identification of hazards and taking constructive measures for their management are a cause for concern in the fields of oil, gas and petrochemical industries. Tube bundle is one of the most important sub-equipments in heat exchangers, where any damage to it could lead to a disturbance in the performance of the heat exchanger stopping the process. The purpose of this study is to identify and manage the failure risks of tubular bundle EA-1101 by using Risk-Based Inspection (RBI). Semi- quantitative analysis of risk - based inspection method was used to manage the risk of failure and optimize the inspection of tube bundle (TB) of heat exchange. Necessary information of EA-1101 was collected to carry out the RBI and finally the inspection program was determined using RBI software. All stages of this research were conducted ethically. The results of the RBI analysis showed that the tube bundle failure was occurred in the form of local thickness or uniform reduction. Also, general thinning (uniform) and cooling water corrosion were considered as failure mechanism. The risk level of this sub-equipment was medium (3C) and the effectiveness of inspection method was classified as Highly Effective (A) and Usually Effective (B), according to the API-581 standard. The results showed that suggested method can identify failure mechanisms of these types of equipment with high reliability and high effectiveness inspection program with corrective action plans to manage the risks.