Expert system for integrity assessment of piping containing defects

The mechanical integrity of in-service pressure piping is a matter of great importance for both economical and safety reasons. Considering the uncertainties in various internal operating loadings and external forces, flaw sizes, material properties, this paper presents a probabilistic assessment methodology for in-service pressure piping containing defects, which is especially designed for programming. A general sampling computation method of the stress intensity factor (SIF), in the form of the relationship between SIF and axial force, bending moment and torsion, is adopted in the probabilistic analysis methodology. Based on the European flaw assessment procedure, SINTAP, Integrity Assessment Expert System of In-service Pressure Piping Containing Flaws (IAESPP-SINTAP) is developed using the presented probabilistic methodology. A numerical example is given to show the application of IAESPP-SINTAP software. The failure probabilities of every defect and the whole piping can be obtained by using this software.