Abstract
Fires in refineries and petroleum plants have catastrophic consequences, both in terms of human and material damage. After a fire, it is crucial to assess the extent of the damage to determine the necessary repairs and develop a timeline for restarting operations. The API 579 Part 11 [1] provides a pragmatic and efficient approach for assessing the damage to pressure vessels and piping. TotalEnergies has successfully used this document for more than 20 years. The purpose of this paper is to present the practices for investigating incidents and assessing the associated damage, including its limitations, implementation for different fire types, and necessary organization.
API 579 Part 11 recommends establishing six heat exposure zones. For metallic pressure vessels and piping, only the hot exposure zones (zones 4 to 6) are likely to result in damage, and these zones are the focus of this paper. After heat exposure zones are established, an exhaustive list of affected equipment is necessary to define dedicated inspection plans and associated assessment levels. The results of the inspection plan are then used to determine equipment acceptance, repair requirements, or replacements.
