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But as economic pressure ratchets up and the energy transition comes to bear, how to manage that lifecycle safely and cost-effectively has become an even more important question for engineers.
That’s the challenge that Paul Smith, chair of the Pressure Systems Group (PSG) at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, has spent years trying to address. And it’s the reason that, for the third time, the PSG is convening its Lifecycle of Pressure Systems conference – an event designed to bring together the full spectrum of disciplines that touch pressure systems, from designers and manufacturers to operators, regulators and inspection specialists.
“The reason for doing the event is to take a step back and take a bigger-picture look at the lifecycle,” says Smith. “If a designer is making design decisions, it can have unintended consequences downstream, including in manufacturing and operation.”
The event is well-timed. Britain’s industrial and energy infrastructure is ageing and, while the government wants economic competitiveness for the country, safety imperatives are pulling in the opposite direction. Nuclear plants like Hinkley Point C, the UK’s first new nuclear plant in a generation, represent the new wave of energy infrastructure being built, but until then existing facilities have to keep running, and running safely.
“There is a big pressure to get as much out of existing plant as possible,” says Smith. That makes people like him ever more important in organisations. “There’s a big piece about life extension – running it economically for as long as possible, but feeling safe at the same time.”
It’s about more than economics, too – it’s about Britain’s place on the world stage. The country’s industrial operators are facing competition from international peers who can manufacture pressure systems faster and more cheaply. Staying competitive while maintaining world-leading safety standards requires the kind of whole-system thinking the PSG conference is designed to foster.
Among the new innovations in the field that will be discussed are the role of non-destructive testing (NDT), which encompasses techniques such as ultrasonics and radiography to verify the integrity of newly manufactured components and to monitor equipment in service. “When you finish manufacturing, you do NDT to make sure that the plant enters service without any defects or cracks,” explains Smith. “And then as it goes through its life, you use NDT to monitor the state of the plant. It enables you to do an assessment of older plant about whether you can safely continue operating it or not.”
What’s changed in recent years are both the sophistication of the techniques and the volume and quality of the data NDT examinations generate. Phased array ultrasonics – in which multiple probes collect data simultaneously, producing rich digital datasets rather than a single reading – is one major innovation. Another is AI, which Smith reckons could be the next frontier. “Instead of having one ultrasonic probe, you can have multiple probes that collect back huge amounts of data,” says Smith. Those could then be parsed at a scale and volume that humans would struggle to match. “That’s going to be the next big thing,” he says.
The upcoming conference programme reflects how much the lifecycle of pressure systems is changing. Delegates will hear presentations spanning the full lifecycle: new developments in design codes and analysis techniques; advances in additive manufacturing and electron beam welding; approaches to in-service modifications; and case studies from Sellafield, the nuclear processing site in Cumbria, on the practical realities of life extension and advanced repair assessment.
The PSG’s broader mission is to act as a convening force across what Smith describes as a “quite fragmented” industry. And at the upcoming conference trade bodies, standards organisations including the British Standards Institution and regulators who might ordinarily operate in silos are brought together in a shared space, with the aim of building a genuine sense of community.
“What we do well is bring all these different bodies together as a kind of community,” says Smith. “Rather than offering one focused, specialised topic for the conference, it’s about fostering a sense of community in the pressure systems industry.”
Because for all its specialisms and skills, it’s often a siloed sector. Yet it’s at the vanguard of rapid technological change, economic headwinds and the long transition to a lower-carbon energy mix.
“Understanding the full lifecycle,” says Smith, “will help people to see where we can do that together.”
Lifecycle of Pressure Systems takes place in London on 28-29 October. Find out more and register at imeche.org/events
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.