When engineering plant, equipment or components fail in service the consequence can have the potential to be catastrophic for human safety and well-being, the environment and / or continuity of operations. On a lower level, the effect of such occurrences can include the requirement to reschedule production, execution of emergency repairs and missed customer deliveries. The impact of a plant failure is undoubtedly negative for plant operators, however, determining the root cause of such failures presents an opportunity to learn from the experience. Adopting such a philosophy is critical to the continual improvement of plant safety, performance, availability and reliability, whilst reducing maintenance costs.

Root Cause Analysis of Plant Failure:

Conducting an effective Root Cause Analysis (RCA) investigation provides the opportunity to understand and critically analyse all of the factors that have contributed towards a plant failure. Failure analysis is an essential tool that can be used within an RCA investigation to characterise defects that have caused or contributed to a plant failure event. Determining and understanding the failure mode is critical to being able to deduce the root cause of the failure.

The particular methodology employed in conducting a failure analysis is based upon the initial assessment by the investigator. This will typically focus on the features that can be observed visually and the sophisticated techniques that can then be used to closely resolve them. The collated evidence, along with any operational information that is available, is used to relate the evidence to the application.

Figure 1 –  Failure of a furnace baffle tube

An effective failure analysis exercise will define the failure mode and give a clear description of factors that have contributed to it. This will help the operator understand whether the mechanism is localised, or whether it could affect a wider area. Understanding the nature of the defect can help define the locations that may be susceptible to the same mechanism, enabling a suitable programme of inspection to be defined relative to the perceived risk. Additionally, it will support in the definition of the most appropriate methods of inspection.  Where applicable, it may be possible to specify preventative measures.

The consequence of not following through a thorough investigation of such failures could be costly in more than financial terms.

R-TECH Materials have a depth of experience in the execution of failure investigations for a wide variety of industries and applications. For more information about our Failure Analysis and Plant Integrity services, please contact us at info@r-techmaterials.com