Michael Trahan - Chevron
Dr. Mahmod Samman - Houston Engineering Solutions, LLC
Industry fitness-for-service standards cannot be reliably utilized for assessment of in-service damage in the shells of coke drums. The reason is that thermomechanical loads to which shell walls are exposed are too random and too complex to be meaningfully defined for such assessments. Based on decades of experience with coke drum assessments, failure analyses, and examinations of post-repair performance, a comprehensive engineered solution for integrity management and life extension of coke drums was developed. The methodology consists of bulging assessment, cracking assessment, acoustic emission testing, and designing optimized data-driven weld overlay repairs. In this presentation, the elements of this approach are explained and experience with its implementation is discussed.