Overview:

This course is designed specifically to address pressure boundary bolted joint design, operation, maintenance and assembly in order to achieve leak-free joint operation. The course is aimed at individuals with existing field experience with bolted joints. It is not a regurgitation of the code design requirements, but rather a higher level of learning applied to code requirements and understanding of what additional requirements there are in order to ensure joint integrity at both the design and maintenance stages. The focus of the course will primarily be on additional requirements for joint integrity (over-and-above current industry norms) and tactics for addressing joint integrity using the full joint life cycle approach.

The full two day course is aimed at engineers involved in bolted joint specification, design, assembly and/or maintenance in a plant environment. The course will include ~24 hours of online learning (self-paced) with topics covering the requirements for achieving leak free joint design and operation (see online module outline at http://www.integrityes.com/content/engineering-toolbox-training). The two day instructor led session includes a recap of the most important items from the online modules and then details regarding the specifics of pressure boundary bolted joint design and assembly to ensure long-term joint integrity. The course examples and worked examples are based on real-life situations and are selected to highlight specific aspects of the subject being addressed. Attendees are also encouraged to provide real examples of joint leakage or design from their own personal experience for incorporation into the course. Attendees will be expected to have completed the online modules prior to attending the in-person session.

The below items outline the learning points covered during the course:

a. Overview of the Joint Life Cycle Approach to Joint Integrity

b. Review of joint integrity requirements versus design codes

   i. Understand the design methods and requirements for optimization of joint integrity

   ii. Critical review of current ASME and CEN joint design codes and analysis methods

c. Understanding how to optimize pressure boundary bolted joint design

   i. Concepts of Conservatism in Joint Design

   ii. Basic code compliance and stress locations

   iii. Gasket to Bolt Area Ratios

   iv. Flange strength per WRC 538

   v. Effects of Temperature per WRC 510

   vi. Gasket Selection and Specification

d. Understanding the basics of pressure boundary bolt joint loading

   i. Mechanical Interaction

   ii. Effect of Pressure

   iii. Effect of Temperature

   iv. Effect of Bending Moments

   v. Heat Exchanger Specific Considerations (e.g.: process flow, multi-pass designs, tubesheet loading and inter-connecting nozzles)

e. Joint Component Selection

   i. Gasket selection considerations

   ii. Bolt selection considerations

   iii. Other components

f. Joint Assembly

   i. Basic joint assembly considerations and requirements

   ii. Requirements of ASME PCC-1 Appendix A - Assembler Qualification

   iii. Requirements of ASME PCC-1 Appendix O - Assembly Bolt Load Selection

   iv. Requirements of ASME PCC-1 Appendix D - Flange Defects and Flatness

   v. Torque - Variables and Considerations

   vi. Tension - Variables and Considerations

   vii. Other methods of controlling assembly bolt load

g. Joint Maintenance

   i. Methods for addressing joint leakage

   ii. Methods for addressing joint component corrosion

h. Other Topics

   i. Other topics as raised by the attendees

Instructor:

Dr Warren Brown received a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Western Australia and a Ph.D. from École Polytechnique de Montréal(University of Montreal, Canada) in the field of pressure boundary bolted joints. He is a registered professional engineer in both Australia and Canada and has obtained the grade of Fellow with ASME. He is a member of both the design and post-construction committees for the ASME and AS1210 pressure vessel codes. He holds the position of Chair of ASME SWG-BFJ (BFJ design) and is the immediate past chair of ASME SC-FJA (BFJ Assembly). He has published over 70 peer-reviewed papers on bolted joints, fitness-for-service and fixed equipment operation and maintenance. He has over 30 years experience in the Oil & Gas/Refining sectors over the full equipment life cycle, including design, fabrication, commissioning and decommissioning of equipment. His experience includes maintenance engineering and both upstream and downstream integrity and maintenance roles.

Dr Brown is the author of more than 50 publications in the field of bolted joints, including several WRC Bulletins (WRC 538 and WRC 510 in particular). He was the principal author of many of the recent ASME PCC-1 revisions, including Appendices A, D, F and O. He has been invited to present special technical tutorials on bolted joints at ASME PVP, PVRC and ICPVT conferences. His wealth of knowledge and ability to draw on practical examples from actual real-life equipment bolted joint leakage mitigation and joint re-design ensures that the course content and discussion will focus on practical use of the methods, rather than simply teaching code content. This course includes significant content that goes beyond current industry and code guidance in order to enable mitigation of joint leakage and to ensure that joint integrity can be successfully achieved.