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AIM 103

Pressure Systems and Mechanical Integrity

COURSE SCHEDULE

Code Date Location price (€)*
AIM 103 6-8 April 2026 Online 2000
AIM 103 21-23 Dec 2026 Algiers 2700

* Prices are subject to VAT and local terms. Ph.D. students, groups (≥ 3 persons) and early bird registrants (8 weeks in advance) are entitled to a DISCOUNT!

COURSE OVERVIEW

Every pressure system in a process plant was designed to operate safely within defined limits. Over time, those limits are tested by corrosion, erosion, fatigue, thermal cycling, and the accumulation of small defects that individually are manageable but collectively represent a trajectory toward failure. The discipline of mechanical integrity exists to understand that trajectory, measure it, and intervene before it becomes a safety or operational event.
This course uses pressure systems as the context , how they are designed to work and what their boundaries are , and mechanical integrity as the focus: the degradation mechanisms that challenge those boundaries, the inspection methods that detect degradation, the risk based frameworks that prioritize where to look first, and the fitness for service tools that answer the most operationally critical question: can this equipment keep running safely until the next planned maintenance opportunity?
By the end of the course, participants will be able to read an integrity management plan not as an administrative document but as a technical argument, one that connects what is known about a piece of equipment’s condition to a defensible decision about its continued operation.

COURSE OUTLINE

5 days
Day 1: Pressure Systems as Context

o How They Age and Why They Fail.
o Pressure Systems: Design Intent, MAWP and the Mechanical Integrity Framework.
o Pressure Relief Systems as the Last Line of Defense.
o Corrosion Mechanisms: General, Pitting, SCC and Hydrogen Damage.
o Mechanical Degradation: Erosion, Fatigue, Creep and Process Specific Threats.
o Exercises:
• Exercise 01: Determine whether a pressure vessel operating beyond its design life is still fit to run and establish the next decision point before the next inspection cycle closes.

• Exercise 02: Identify the specific damage mechanism behind multiple blisters on an amine absorber shell and determine the urgency of the response.

Plant Sierra Anchor Scenario: All case studies and exercises draw from an integrated process plant with a mixed equipment inventory showing various stages of degradation, used progressively across all three days.

 

Day 2: Mechanical Integrity Management

o Inspection, RBI and Fitness for Service
o NDT Methods: Choosing the Right Tool for Each Damage Mechanism.
o Risk Based Inspection: Probability of Failure, Consequence of Failure and Risk Ranking.
o Building an RBI Assessment: Data Requirements, Risk Matrix and Inspection Planning.
o Fitness for Service and Remaining Life Assessment.
o Exercises:
• Exercise 03: Match five equipment items with known damage mechanisms to their correct NDT method and justify each selection before the turnaround scope is locked.

• Exercise 04: Screen 12 pressure vessels for active damage mechanisms, rank them by risk, and develop a defensible inspection strategy.

• Exercise 05: Determine whether a heat exchanger shell with localized wall thinning of nominal can run additional months to the next turnaround and set the monitoring protocol if it can.

Day 3: Practical Workshop

Morning Session: Apply three core integrity skills in isolation, remaining life calculation, RBI risk prioritization, and FFS screening each with a different Plant Sierra equipment problem and realistic data.

Afternoon Session: Build the integrity management plan for Plant Sierra's most critical pressure systems under a fixed budget constraint and defend every prioritization decision to the Plant Manager.

Individual Quiz Assessment: 20 questions. Minimum passing score: 60%.

INSTRUCTOR

Petro Teach Instructor

The Instructor is a Petroleum Engineer, holds M.Sc in Mechanical Engineering, and is Specialist Natural Gas Engineering. He has over 20 years of hands-on oil and gas industry experience spanning gas processing, crude treatment, production operations, and technical training across onshore and offshore environments in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.

His operational background includes five years as a job training (OJT) Instructor at production facilities in the Middle East, AGRU Package Leader roles, and extensive experience as Process Engineer across upstream and downstream oil and gas facilities.

He is international instructor roster, delivering advanced gas processing, thermodynamics, field processing, and operations training to engineers and operators across three continents.

FAQ

DESIGNED FOR

Engineering and operations professionals who make or influence decisions about the continued safe operation of pressure containing equipment:
o Inspection Engineers and Integrity Engineers
o Process Engineers and Mechanical Engineers working in refining or process plant environments
o Reliability and Maintenance Engineers
o Operations Team Leaders and Technical Supervisors
o HSE Engineers with responsibility for pressure system safety
o Engineers transitioning into asset integrity roles

COURSE LEVEL

Intermediate 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:
o Explain the concept of mechanical integrity and describe how pressure system design parameters define the boundaries within which safe operation is maintained
o Identify the principal degradation mechanisms affecting pressure systems in OandG and refining environments and explain the conditions that accelerate each
o Select appropriate nondestructive testing (NDT) methods for specific degradation mechanisms and equipment types
o Apply the core logic of Risk Based Inspection (RBI) to prioritize inspection resources based on probability of failure and consequence of failure
o Describe the principles of Fitness for Service (FFS) assessment and explain when and why a formal FFS evaluation is required
o Develop a prioritized integrity management plan for a set of pressure containing equipment items with known degradation history
o Communicate integrity risk and inspection findings in terms that support operational and investment decisions

REGISTER

Registration is now OPEN!

* Prices are subject to VAT and local terms. Ph.D. students, groups (≥ 3 persons) and early bird registrants (8 weeks in advance) are entitled to a DISCOUNT!

For more details and registration please send email to: register@petro-teach.com

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