Recertification of Aging Pressure Vessels / Systems at NASA Facility

Recertification of Aging Pressure Vessels and Systems was Performed for the NASA-Glenn Research Center.

Some of the vessels and systems were over forty years old, and were part of the original NACA installation. Some were layered vessels for 6000 psi service, some were monobloc high pressure vessels, and others were for mundane service. In addition to the determination of lifetime/ intervals between NDT examination, we were also asked to evaluate the vessels to conformity to ASME Code – despite some of the vessels not designed to the Code.

This 7 year Program Covered Vessels and Piping Systems, Including:

1. Performing stress, fatigue and fracture analyses to establish regions to be subjected to nondestructive examination.
2. Performing nondestructive examination of selected regions and features.
3. Performing repairs or analysis to determine the permanent or temporary acceptability of defects.
4. Defining the conditions and lifetime for which the system has been recertified, and the calendar or cyclic interval at which inspections are necessary.
5. Establishing a Fitness for Service program – identifying locations requiring repair and recommending repair and/or replacement based on cost effectiveness. In addition, vessels were evaluated in conformance to ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. Pumps and valves were also analyzed to various conditions, and cost-effective solutions were made for malfunctions.

We Perform Engineering Design and Analysis – including Pressure Vessel Recertification – to Codes including AWS, API and ASME.