Flow Accelerated Corrosion Assessment (FAC)

Identify and prevent tube and pipe thinning caused by flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) to avoid ruptures and leaks.

As part of its Plant Life Management services, Tetra Engineering draws on its unique skill set, including extensive field experience and engineering analysis, to assess boiler & HRSG component susceptibility to the various possible damage mechanisms. One of these is flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC).

Tube thinning caused by flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) is one of the most frequent causes of failure in the heat exchanger tubes of heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs). It is also encountered in the tubing of conventional boilers as well as in external power plant piping and components such as air-cooling condensers (ACCs). FAC causes localized progressive thinning of tube and pipe walls, eventually leading to rupture and leaks. Carbon steel tubes that carry water or wet steam are potentially at greatest risk.

Tetra Engineering has over two decades of experience investigating FAC and related phenomena such as fluid erosion, including publishing seven technical papers on various aspects of the topic. This analytical capability is coupled with a large experience base performing analyses and inspections on power plants of all types. The combined field and analysis experience has been applied to developing specialized tools for assessing the risk of FAC in components.

We can offer clients a full complement of services dealing with FAC and Fluid Erosion

Assessment of Risk and Development of Risk-Based Inspection Plans: these can be used by inspectors and NDT-teams during plant outages to target HRSG Inspections where damage is most likely to be found.
Field inspection on HRSG/Boiler tubes and piping: using experienced inspectors and detailed inspection plans targeting all susceptible areas, an inspection by Tetra assures that clients can have a high level of confidence in the results.
Tube and Pipe Remaining Life and Fitness For Service Assessments: FAC and fluid erosion are important factors in setting the remaining life or fitness for service of components, such as HRSG LP evaporators, economizers and feedwater pipes as well as certain lines carrying wet steam. Tetra Engineering's life and fitness for services assessments rely on detailed modeling to predict wear rates, which when correlated with inputs from inspections provides a reliable prediction of when repairs to thinning components should be envisaged.

Related Engineering & Analysis Services

Life Assessments

Knowing the remaining useful operating life of your boiler, HRSG and associated balance-of-plant is a key parameter for effective management of your thermal power plant.

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Performance & Efficiency Assessments

Services to help you evaluate how your operating performance has changed since the plant / boiler was commissioning, or to help you check the potential performance impact of planned modifications before they are implemented.

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Root Cause of Failure (RCA)

Knowing the fundamental causes leading to failure is essential to mitigate the risk of the failure repeating. Tetra Engineering calls on an interdisciplinary team to assess the failure (or degradation) and determine the root cause.

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Optimized NDE

Risk-based inspection (RBI) is an approach for ranking the priority of inspection and maintenance according to an assessed risk to the component or system integrity. One key aspect of any RBI program is to carefully select the locations for non-destructive examination (NDE) that are most susceptible to damage, according to the component's design and past and project operating mode, while considering the resources and time available during an upcoming inspection. Using multi-disciplinary experience and tools (thermal simulation, life assessment, structural calculations….) Tetra will help you get the most out of your NDE campaigns, by providing pre-outage planning, on-site supervision and post-inspection review.

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Flow Accelerated Corrosion Assessment (FAC)

Identify and prevent tube and pipe thinning caused by flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) to avoid ruptures and leaks.

learn more

Boiler Process Modelling and Simulation

Tetra Engineering provides a full-scope service for the modelling and operation analysis of all types of natural or forced circulation Power Boiler and HRSGs, including supercritical and once-through designs. This can be integrated into a full plant model to incorporate the steam turbine and steam cycle balance of plant.

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Fitness for Service

A fitness for service (FFS) evaluation is a process for assessing the structural integrity and safety of components that may have experienced damage and deterioration during their service life.

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Recent Resources

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Flow Accelerated Corrosion Assessment (FAC)

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