Mechanical integrity of process installations
An assessment based on bow-ties
Peter Schmitz (OCI-Nitrogen)
Paul Swuste (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management)
Genserik Reniers (TU Delft - Technology, Policy and Management)
Karolien van Nunen (Universiteit Antwerpen)
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Abstract
Research was carried out in an ammonia plant of OCI Nitrogen, located at the Chemelot site in Geleen, The Netherlands. It focuses on the development of process safety accident processes in which loss of mechanical integrity is one of the root causes. A significant share of the mechanical integrity scenarios originate from corrosion mechanisms which develop over a relatively long time period, possibly taking months, years or even longer before turning into an event. Based on an example, a failure mechanism is worked out and visualized using a bow tie. Bow-ties have shown a good visual representation of the 'early warnings' and the barriers in place. The monitoring of the 'early warnings' and barriers can provide information about the current probability of the scenario in order to intervene prematurely.