What Do Pipelines and Airplanes Have in Common?

Author(s):  
Sergio Limon ◽  
David W. Hoeppner ◽  
Paul N. Clark ◽  
Jerzy Komorowski

In 1958, General Curtis E. LeMay established the structural integrity program for the United States Air Force (USAF). Since then, the USAF has been honing the requirements for extending the service life, durability, and safety of aircraft. These requirements have evolved to include Damage Tolerance principles that encompass the design and the management of aircraft with the objective of reducing maintenance burdens and ensure structural integrity for airworthiness, safety, and mission capability. Recently, requirements of some agencies and companies include Holistic Life Structural Integrity Process (HOLSIP) and concepts aimed at improving the early prediction and detection of structural discontinuities that can pose a safety concern. HOLSIP is intended to reduce the inspection & maintenance cycle while identifying prevention and mitigative measures to be employed. This holistic methodology addresses the total life of components and related issues. It is a physics based approach that incorporates the interaction of known possible degradation mechanisms and their potential failure modes. It provides the basis for analytical, experimental and procedural methods to make structural integrity predictions of components from the design, manufacturing, commissioning, maintenance and inspection intervals that would meet the desired level of safety and reliability. Non-destructive evaluation methods are incorporated in this approach as well. As part of continuing to ensure the safety and reliability of pipelines systems, the energy pipeline industry performs periodic risk assessments and maintenance activities and can enhance current integrity management programs by adopting HOLSIP principles and framework. In the early 2000s, pipeline industry associations and government regulators published a risk assessment based process for prioritizing pipeline segments for inspection and remediation. These processes have been formally integrated into an Integrity Management Program (IMP). By incorporating risk assessments and periodic inspections as part of the IMP, energy pipeline operators have achieved great success in removing damage that can pose an immediate or short-term safety concern to the public, environment and piping facilities. However, in-service pipeline failures continue to occur suggesting that the treatment of integrity threats, degradation mechanisms and failure modes is still fragmented. There needs to be a strong sense of wholeness in the approach to managing pipeline integrity. The absence of this can lead to unnecessary inspections and assessments, early pipeline retirements, over conservative assumptions or worse, further in-service accidents. As energy pipelines around the world continue to age and their safe performance is expected to increase, the need for HOLSIP becomes more apparent. This paper provides an overview of the fundamental principles and concepts of a holistic approach developed for maintaining aircraft fleets and how they apply to structural integrity engineering assessments for pipelines. A comparison with the current pipeline integrity management practices and regulations is highlighted.

2021 ◽  
pp. 531-556
Author(s):  
A. Hudgins ◽  
C. Roepke ◽  
B. James ◽  
B. Kondori ◽  
B. Whitley

Abstract This article discusses the failure analysis of several steel transmission pipeline failures, describes the causes and characteristics of specific pipeline failure modes, and introduces pipeline failure prevention and integrity management practices and methodologies. In addition, it covers the use of transmission pipeline in North America, discusses the procedures in pipeline failure analysis investigation, and provides a brief background on the most commonly observed pipeline flaws and degradation mechanisms. A case study related to hydrogen cracking and a hard spot is also presented.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 665-668
Author(s):  
Lily A. Brown

Suicide rates among youths in foster care are among the highest in the United States. Despite this fact, many foster-care agencies do not perform universal suicide-risk assessments as part of routine care. This commentary includes an argument for the importance of implementing universal suicide-risk assessments for youths in foster care. Important contextual information that prevents behavioral-health clinicians from implementing universal suicide screenings of youths in foster care is discussed. Several possible strategies for implementing universal suicide-risk assessments are offered; the pros and cons of each strategy are discussed. The perspectives of multiple stakeholders should be included in the consideration of universal suicide screening for youths in foster care, including behavioral-health providers, primary-care doctors, supervisors, directors of agencies, foster parents, and case managers. Although each of these stakeholders can improve suicide prevention, youths in foster care may not have regular access to each stakeholder. Case managers may be the optimal stakeholders for implementing universal suicide screening because of their frequent access to youths in foster care; therefore, case managers should receive training in suicide-risk assessment and prevention strategies.


Author(s):  
Bruce A. Young ◽  
Steve Nanney ◽  
Brian Leis ◽  
Jennifer M. Smith

In response to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Recommendation P-09-1, the Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) initiated a comprehensive study to identify actions that could be implemented by pipeline operators to eliminate longitudinal seam failures in electric resistance weld (ERW) pipe. This study was contracted with Battelle, working with Kiefner and Associates (KAI) and Det Norske Veritas (DNV) as subcontractors. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the project with focus on the study objectives, results, and on-going work. Phase I of the project consisted of four major tasks aimed at understanding the current state of the issues. Task 1 analyzed the databases gathered and qualified in five interim reports that dealt with 1) the failure history of vintage ERW seams, including flash-weld (FW) pipe and selective seam-weld corrosion (SSWC); documented in two subtask 1.4 reports, 2) the effectiveness of in-line inspection (ILI) and hydrotesting, and experience with predictive modeling, documented in subtask reports 1.2 and 1.3 and 3) literature concerning SSWC documented in subtask 1.5 report. Task 2 addressed experimental studies designed to better characterize the failure of ERW/FW seams and quantify the resistance of such seams (Subtask 2.1–2.3 and 2.6 reports) and their response to pressure (Subtask 2.4 and 2.5 reports). Task 3 considered aspects related to SSWC with four separate reports from subtask 3.1–3.4. Task 4 focused on integration of the other tasks, trending, and analysis. Phase II has been initiated and consists of five tasks with the following objectives relevant to the ERW and FW process: 1) develop and optimize viable hydrotest protocols for ERW/FW seam defects 2) improve the sensors, interpretive algorithms, and tool platforms in regard to ILI and In-the-Ditch-Methods (ITDM) to better ensure structural integrity with optimized detection and sizing, 3) bridge gaps in defect characterization in regard to types, sizes, shapes, and idealizations. The goal of this subtask is to increase pipeline safety through improvements in the tools needed to implement both ILI and hydrotesting, 4) validate existing models and, where gaps preclude validation, refine or develop models needed to assess and quantify defect severity for cold welds, hook cracks, and selective seam weld corrosion (SSWC) (the primary threats) for failure subject to loadings that develop both during hydrotests and in service, and 5) develop a digitally based framework to support integrity management of seam welds with enough flexibility to benefit from the experience embedded in the stopgap protocol. To date, this study has led to seventeen (17) reports. These publically available reports are located on the PHMSA website: http://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/matrix/PrjHome.rdm?prj=390. Based on the work completed during Phase I, gaps identified in the context of the NTSB Recommendation P-09-1 were supported by the historic records. Additionally, recent improvements in related technologies and integrity management practices point to the practical utility and viability of PHMSA’s current approach to manage the integrity of the U.S. pipeline.


Shore & Beach ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 83-91
Author(s):  
Tim Carruthers ◽  
Richard Raynie ◽  
Alyssa Dausman ◽  
Syed Khalil

Natural resources of coastal Louisiana support the economies of Louisiana and the whole of the United States. However, future conditions of coastal Louisiana are highly uncertain due to the dynamic processes of the Mississippi River delta, unpredictable storm events, subsidence, sea level rise, increasing temperatures, and extensive historic management actions that have altered natural coastal processes. To address these concerns, a centralized state agency was formed to coordinate coastal protection and restoration effort, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA). This promoted knowledge centralization and supported informal adaptive management for restoration efforts, at that time mostly funded through the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA). Since the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill in 2010 and the subsequent settlement, the majority of restoration funding for the next 15 years will come through one of the DWH mechanisms; Natural Resource and Damage Assessment (NRDA), the RESTORE Council, or National Fish and Wildlife Foundation –Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund (NFWF-GEBF). This has greatly increased restoration effort and increased governance complexity associated with project funding, implementation, and reporting. As a result, there is enhanced impetus to formalize and unify adaptive management processes for coastal restoration in Louisiana. Through synthesis of input from local coastal managers, historical and current processes for project and programmatic implementation and adaptive management were summarized. Key gaps and needs to specifically increase implementation of adaptive management within the Louisiana coastal restoration community were identified and developed into eight tangible and specific recommendations. These were to streamline governance through increased coordination amongst implementing entities, develop a discoverable and practical lessons learned and decision database, coordinate ecosystem reporting, identify commonality of restoration goals, develop a common cross-agency adaptive management handbook for all personnel, improve communication (both in-reach and outreach), have a common repository and clearing house for numerical models used for restoration planning and assessment, and expand approaches for two-way stakeholder engagement throughout the restoration process. A common vision and maximizing synergies between entities can improve adaptive management implementation to maximize ecosystem and community benefits of restoration effort in coastal Louisiana. This work adds to current knowledge by providing specific strategies and recommendations, based upon extensive engagement with restoration practitioners from multiple state and federal agencies. Addressing these practitioner-identified gaps and needs will improve engagement in adaptive management in coastal Louisiana, a large geographic area with high restoration implementation within a complex governance framework.


1992 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Tyson

Several authors have suggested that a particular managerial component was needed before cost accounting could be fully used for accountability and disciplinary purposes. They argue that the marriage of managerialism and accounting first occurred in the United States at the Springfield Armory after 1840. They generally downplay the quality and usefulness of cost accounting at the New England textile mills before that time and call for a re-examination of original mill records from a disciplinary perspective. This paper reports the results of such a re-examination. It initially describes the social and economic environment of U.S. textile manufacturing in New England in the early nineteenth century. Selected cost memos and reports are described and analyzed to indicate the nature and scope of costing undertaken at the mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the late 1820s and early 1830s. The paper discusses how particular cost information was used and speculates why certain more modern procedures were not adopted. Its major finding is that cost management practices fully measured up to the business complexities, economic pressures, and social forces of the day.


Plant Disease ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 96 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. H. McKay ◽  
H. Förster ◽  
J. E. Adaskaveg

Few postharvest treatments are available for managing sour rot of citrus caused by Galactomyces citri-aurantii and they are generally not very effective. The demethylation-inhibiting (DMI) triazole fungicides propiconazole and cyproconazole were found to be highly effective and more efficacious than other DMIs evaluated, such as metconazole and tebuconazole, in reducing postharvest sour rot of citrus. Additional studies were conducted with propiconazole as a postharvest treatment because it has favorable toxicological characteristics for food crop registration in the United States and the registrant supports a worldwide registration. Regression and covariance analyses were performed to determine optimal time of application after inoculation and fungicide rate. In laboratory studies, decay incidence increased when propiconazole applications were delayed from 8 to 24 h (lemon) or 18 to 42 h (grapefruit) after inoculation. Effective rates of the fungicide were 64 to 512 μg/ml and were dependent on inoculum concentration of the sour rot pathogen and on the type of citrus fruit. Propiconazole was found to be compatible with sodium hypochlorite at 100 μg/ml and 1 to 3% sodium bicarbonate without loss of efficacy for decay control on lemon. The addition of hydrogen peroxide/peroxyacetic acid at 80 μg/ml slightly decreased the effectiveness of propiconazole. Heated (48°C) solutions of propiconazole did not significantly improve the efficacy compared with solutions at 22°C. In experimental packing-line studies, aqueous in-line drenches applied alone or followed by applications of the fungicide in storage or packing fruit coatings were highly effective, reducing sour rot to between 0 and 1.2% compared with 83.8% decay incidence in the control when treatments were made up to 16 h after inoculation. When the fungicide was applied in either fruit coating, decay was only reduced to 49.1 to 57.1% incidence. Tank mixtures of propiconazole with the citrus postharvest fungicides fludioxonil and azoxystrobin were highly effective in reducing green mold caused by isolates of Penicillium digitatum sensitive or moderately resistant to imazalil and sour rot. Propiconazole will be an important postharvest fungicide for managing sour rot of citrus and potentially can be integrated into current management practices to reduce postharvest crop losses caused by DMI-sensitive isolates of P. digitatum.


Author(s):  
Ramesh Talreja

Structural integrity of composite materials is governed by failure mechanisms that initiate at the scale of the microstructure. The local stress fields evolve with the progression of the failure mechanisms. Within the full span from initiation to criticality of the failure mechanisms, the governing length scales in a fibre-reinforced composite change from the fibre size to the characteristic fibre-architecture sizes, and eventually to a structural size, depending on the composite configuration and structural geometry as well as the imposed loading environment. Thus, a physical modelling of failure in composites must necessarily be of multi-scale nature, although not always with the same hierarchy for each failure mode. With this background, the paper examines the currently available main composite failure theories to assess their ability to capture the essential features of failure. A case is made for an alternative in the form of physical modelling and its skeleton is constructed based on physical observations and systematic analysis of the basic failure modes and associated stress fields and energy balances. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Multiscale modelling of the structural integrity of composite materials’.


Author(s):  
Brittany Goldsmith ◽  
Elizabeth Foyt ◽  
Madhu Hariharan

As offshore field developments move into deeper water, one of the greatest challenges is in designing riser systems capable of overcoming the added risks of more severe environments, complicated well requirements and uncertainty of operating conditions. The failure of a primary riser component could lead to unacceptable consequences, including environmental damage, lost production and possible injury or loss of human life. Identification of the risks facing riser systems and management of these risks are essential to ensure that riser systems operate without failure. Operators have recognized the importance of installing instrumentation such as global positioning systems (GPS), vessel motion measurement packages, wind and wave sensors and Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) units to monitor vessel motions and environmental conditions. Additionally, high precision monitoring equipment has been developed for capturing riser response. Measured data from these instruments allow an operator to determine when the limits of acceptable response, predicted by analysis or determined by physical limitations of the riser components, have been exceeded. Regular processing of measured data through automated routines ensures that integrity can be quickly assessed. This is particularly important following extreme events, such as a hurricane or loop current. High and medium alert levels are set for each parameter, based on design analysis and operating data. Measured data is compared with these alert levels, and when an alert level is reached, further response evaluation or inspection of the components in question is recommended. This paper will describe the role of offshore monitoring in an integrity management program and discuss the development of alert levels based on potential failure modes of the riser systems. The paper will further demonstrate how this process is key for an effective integrity management program for deepwater riser systems.


Diagnosis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 211-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark L. Graber ◽  
Colene Byrne ◽  
Doug Johnston

AbstractDiagnostic error may be the largest unaddressed patient safety concern in the United States, responsible for an estimated 40,000–80,000 deaths annually. With the electronic health record (EHR) now in near universal use, the goal of this narrative review is to synthesize evidence and opinion regarding the impact of the EHR and health care information technology (health IT) on the diagnostic process and its outcomes. We consider the many ways in which the EHR and health IT facilitate diagnosis and improve the diagnostic process, and conversely the major ways in which it is problematic, including the unintended consequences that contribute to diagnostic error and sometimes patient deaths. We conclude with a summary of suggestions for improving the safety and safe use of these resources for diagnosis in the future.


Diabetology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-94
Author(s):  
Alexander Little ◽  
Kevin Murphy ◽  
Patrick Solverson

The prevalence of diet-induced obesity and type-2 diabetes remains a growing concern in the United States. As best management practices still include improved diet and physical activity, bioactive food components, contained within functional foods, show promise in curbing the cardiometabolic complications associated with excess weight and diabetes. Quinoa is an emerging candidate crop for its versatility in wide-ranging growing conditions as one approach to address food security, but it also contains several components that may serve as a dietary tool for post-industrial countries struggling with the health complications of caloric excess. Preliminary rodent feeding studies demonstrate that components within quinoa, namely, phytosteroids, phenolics, polysaccharides, and peptides, can prevent adiposity, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia. Mechanistic activity may involve reduced lipid absorption and adipogenesis, increased energy expenditure and glucose oxidation and corrected gut microbiota. Other intestinal actions may include blocked carbohydrate digestion with enhanced incretin signaling. Evidence in clinical trials is lacking and future research spanning cells to the clinic is needed to further elucidate the interesting preliminary reports reviewed here. Quinoa offers several unique attributes that could be harnessed to improve the dietary management of obesity and diabetes.


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