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Suitability-for-Service Evaluation of Seam Welded Heating Boilers

In this project, APTECH determined the suitability-for-service of a fleet of heating boilers. This involved determining the acceptability of seam welded lap joints for ASME Section IV heating boilers. Although a butt weld design is specified by ASME Section IV, a seam welded lap joint was approved by the authorized inspector assigned to review the vendor design. As a result, a technical dispute had developed between the manufacturer and the National Board of Inspectors over the code certification of approximately 8,000 boilers currently installed. APTECH assisted the manufacturer in resolving the technical issues by verifying that the structural integrity of the lap joint design was adequate and by obtaining code approval for a code case regarding alternate rules for seam welded lap joint fabrication. Passage of the code case effectively allowed the existing 8,000 heating boilers to maintain code certification.

Satish Almaula		Plant failure and root cause analysis; process and design engineering analysis; process technology development and testing; plant engineering, operations, maintenance and safety management; plant and process control system management.

Michael Cronin, P.E.		Stress analysis, design evaluation, engineering mechanics

Geoffrey Egan, Ph.D.		Engineering mechanics, welding engineering, stress and fatigue analysis, risk analysis, nondestructive examination, project management.

Eric Sullivan, P.E.		Metallurgy, welding, failure analysis, fire and explosion investigations, equipment, piping.