William G Beazley has announced his retirement as SPED Executive Director and Treasurer, effective no later than October 30, 2013. Dr. Beazley, who has served 11 years in those positions and as Director for another 19, is retiring to focus more on Mechanical Engineering practice and training. He is the longest serving Executive Director and Treasurer in SPED's history.
What’s in an EPC piper credentialing program? Most owner/operators employing engineering/procurement/construction (EPC) firms for design ask for documentation on key personnel put forth for their jobs. The standard practice is to supply résumés of key personnel to comply. Better EPCs have credentialing programs that track the type of experience, knowledge and competence of their staff.
EPC firms, their clients and technology vendors need to act now to blunt the coming skills crisis in piping design, advises Bill Beazley, SPED Executive Director. Dr. Beazley made his comments in a keynot address, "The Skills Crisis in Piping Design" at Valve World 2013, June 25th in Houston, TX. Dr. Beazley's full comments are listed below:
This column as a call to all employers to add a “twelfth man “to every 11 workers, drawn from the soon-to-be or newly trained workforce. It draws from the Texas A&M tradition of E. King Gill who during a game where the team only had limited reserves, was called from the stands, suited up, and stood ready throughout the rest of the game. Lack of job experience is a barrier to both employment and further training. We need an “on-ramp” from training to employment. This idea was suggested by Ken Harbord, President of the SPED Houston Chapter.
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Portable UT Units Set to Transform Welding Workflow
Newly developed portable Ultrasonic Testing (UT) units could drastically alter welding workflow by allowing weld inspection as often as after each pass. Normal weld inspection at depth, called “Volumetric Testing,” normally requires X-ray or ultrasonic test setups. Both normally require specialized equipment be brought to the site and the area be cleared and/or the weld be cooled before inspection can begin. With today’s sensor technology, the weld need not be as cool and lowered energy levels make the UT technology portable. The result is almost immediate testing of weld passes before a defect is covered and repairs are expensive.
“Even good welders introduce defects,” says Scott Witkowski, President, Maverick Testing Labs in Houston, TX (http://www.mavlabs.co/). “Normal defect rates can be as high as 5% but with training and experience, it can drop to less than 2%.” Maverick specializes in qualifying welders for specific weld processes and working environments by asking them to weld under simulated task conditions and extensively testing the welds.
After welder qualification, the only way to monitor welder performance is inspect the weld made in the shop or field. A variety of techniques are available for such “non-destructive testing” or NDT but most can check for defects at or close to the surface. Despite their relative lower cost, surface or near surface techniques lack the in-depth results that volumetric testing can give. Except for visual inspection, most techniques require specialized training for good results.
Enter shearwave UT with the new Electro Magnetic Acoustic Transducer (EMAT). Ulrasonic Testing transmits a sound into the weld which is disrupted or reflected by the defect. Piezoelectric UT uses a couplant liquid or get help transmit the sound into the part. EMAT, in contrast, generates the sound in the part inspected instead of the transducer. It is a dry technology that can operate at high temperatures, 200°C or up to 650°C with cooling.
Figure 1 EMAT Eliminates couplant by inducing wave in material.
Because the technology can tolerate higher temperatures, is handheld and needs no special setup, it can be used by trained welders to inspect welds as soon after a layer is added to the weld. Innerspec Technologies Inc. demonstrated the new technology at the API Inspection Summit 2013.
Figure 2 EMAT UT sensor shows Standard Signal.
Figure 3EMAT UT sensor shows Attenuated Signal
Using this technology, welders and their helpers can quickly determine if their welds contain defects and correct them before adding to the weld. This could make 100% volumetric testing of welds economically feasible on many project with higher reliability and increasing welder skill through immediate feedback. For more information, consult http://www.innerspec.com/ |
PIP Chairman Says Piping Best Practices Lie in Codes, Standards, Author/Collaborator Networks
The new repositories of “Best Practices,” are in the professional codes, standards and the networks of authors that write them according to industry expert, Wayne Dolbec. Mr. Dolbec is a former SPED President and currently is Middough Manager of Engineering and 2012 Process Industry Practices (PIP) Chairman. He made his comments at SPED 2012 in October.
PIP is well known as a consortium of member companies harmonizing their internal standards for design, procurement, construction, and maintenance. PIP publishes these harmonized documents as “Practices” in multiple disciplines with many of them related to the piping, valves, fittings and equipment. (see chart below)
