Technical Library
Technical guides written by ATS engineers on damage mechanisms, inspection and fitness-for-service. Anyone can read the opening pages of each guide. The full guides are available to licensed clients.
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TG-01 Corrosion and Equipment Integrity
Why each internal and external corrosion factor matters, from first principles and governing equations, and how it changes a fitness-for-service assessment to API 579-1. Rev 0, October 2026.
Further reading
Public pages from other organisations that we have found useful. They open on the publisher's own site; ATS does not host copies. Links checked 23 October 2026.
Case histories
- Factors Affecting Inservice Cracking of Weld Zone in Corrosive Service H. L. Schmeilski, National Board Bulletin, January 1986 The 1984 MEA absorber rupture: hydrogen blisters and HAZ cracking at a field repair weld.
- Romeoville incident summary, 23 July 1984 IChemE Safety Centre Short incident summary of the same absorber failure.
- CSB technical report on the Chevron 2012 pipe rupture and fire US Chemical Safety Board, February 2013 Richmond refinery: an 8-inch line thinned by sulfidation corrosion ruptured; links to general metal loss (Part 4).
- CSB: 2010 Tesoro refinery explosion resulted from high temperature hydrogen attack US Chemical Safety Board, January 2014 Anacortes refinery: a heat exchanger cracked by hydrogen attack ruptured; seven workers died. Hydrogen damage, the family of Part 7.
- CSB final report into the 2019 PES fire and explosion in Philadelphia US Chemical Safety Board, October 2022 A corroded pipe elbow in the hydrofluoric acid unit ruptured; local thinning of the kind assessed under Part 5.
- Flixborough (Nypro UK) explosion, 1 June 1974 UK Health and Safety Executive, COMAH case history A 20-inch bypass fitted in place of a cracked reactor ruptured; 28 died. Limited integrity calculations and no pressure test.
Corrosion and fitness-for-service
- Pressure vessel corrosion damage assessment I. Partridge, J. Wintle, J. Speck (TWI), Inspectioneering Journal, Nov/Dec 2005 How general, local and pitting corrosion are assessed, and why cracks at welds change the approach.
- How should I assess the structural integrity of corroded regions? TWI, frequently asked questions Overview of BS 7910, API 579 and ASME B31G methods for corroded pipes and vessels.
- Fitness-For-Service: API 579/ASME FFS-1-2021 ANSI Blog Plain-language introduction to fitness-for-service and the 2021 edition.
Ageing plant and supporting structures
- RR509 - Plant ageing: Management of equipment containing hazardous fluids or pressure UK Health and Safety Executive, research report Managing degradation of ageing pressure equipment: assessment, decisions and records.
- Design codes - buildings / structures UK Health and Safety Executive, COMAH technical guidance Wind loading and atmospheric corrosion of structures at major-hazard sites.
Standards used by OpenFFS
- Specification for Structural Steel Buildings, ANSI/AISC 360-22 American Institute of Steel Construction The steel specification behind the OpenFFS member checks; free PDF from AISC.
- API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 2021, table of contents ASME (front matter published by ASME) Scope of the fitness-for-service standard. The standard itself is sold by API and ASME.
Why the Bhopal gas tragedy (1984) is not in this list
Bhopal is one of the worst industrial disasters on record, but it was not a failure of corroded, cracked or thinned equipment, which is what a fitness-for-service assessment covers. Water entered a methyl isocyanate storage tank and started a runaway reaction, while the refrigeration system, vent gas scrubber and flare were out of service. Its lessons are about process chemistry, safeguards and emergency planning, so it belongs with process-safety reading rather than here.
Source: Methyl isocyanate storage tank runaway reaction, IChemE Safety Centre incident summary
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