INTRODUCTION
Quality Assurance (QA) is the primary tool in the end-user's arsenal to ensure the mechanical integrity of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) equipment such as pipe, duct and vessels. QA is a critical step that should be taken by the plant owner during the pre-commissioning phases of design, specification, and shop and field construction. QA is also critical during post-commissioning preventive maintenance, project lessons learned, and updated specifications and project procedures based on lessons learned.
This paper addresses the opportunities available to protect the plant owner's interests, why it is important to exercise these rights and responsibilities, and how the plant owner can do so effectively. The importance of QA is emphasized for the following four reasons: (1) the increasing difficulty in obtaining new construction QA due to fixed fee turnkey project procurement strategies; (2) the increasing requirements imposed by regulations such as OSHA 1910.119 for the plant owner to institute and maintain a proactive mechanical integrity program; (3) increasingly demanding FRP applications; and (4) the high total cost of preventable FRP equipment failures.
Chemical process industries are under greater pressure than ever before to increase both safety and profitability. Past experience shows that FRP process equipment fit for service (quality) will not happen for the plant owner/end-user by accident or by guesswork. It will only happen when sound engineering decisions and actions are taken directly by the plant owner's project and engineering team.
There is a vast contrast in viewpoints between end users and Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) manufacturer contractors on what constitutes quality. The end user, for example, sees quality as "fitness for use [and for continued use], not conformance to specification. "l On the other hand, manufacturers "put greater emphasis on conformance to specification," and the "field performance after the guarantee period receives little attention compared to performance during the guarantee period."2 This contrast in perspective necessitates that plant owners look atter their specific interests by effectively assuring fitness for service of the FRP equipment to ensure a safe, reliable and profitable plant.
Over 40 years of successful track records have shown that FRP is ideally suited as the construction material of choice for industrial equipment often critical in severe chemical and mechanical service. Many difficult corrosion problems have been virtually eliminated by the use of FRP in these types of environments. As a result, total risk of failure can be substantially reduced by the use of FRP. According to Veritec, "the performance of [FRP] piping systems is better than for steel systems" in seawater applications, and "corrosions problems have been eliminated by the use of [FRP]."3 FRP's ability to perform successfully when properly designed and constructed is a proven fact.
As with any construction material, however, there are cases where FRP equipment has had difficulties. Often, this equipment has been successfully hydrotested prior to startup and only to fail in later operation. Upon evaluation of these failures, it has been discovered that if the plant owner's QA program would have been effective at enforcing existing specifications, standards and current industry practices during the original design construction and installation phases, the failures would have been eliminated and defect-free performance would have resulted.
Short-term hydrotesting, then, is not a reliable method for timely discovery and resolution of most FRP equipment problems or prediction of long-term p
