Value of RAM Studies at Various FEL Stages of Capital Projects

Most Capital Projects in the Petrochemical, Utilities and Oil & Gas industries are conducted in phases - Conceptual, Front-End Engineering, Detailed Engineering, Procurement, Construction & Commissioning. The typical Front End Loading (FEL) phase is when the basic design parameters, including the material and energy balances, are established.

Studies show that the maintainability, reliability and availability aspects of the equipment and process are seldom analyzed in the FEL stage. Usually, very little attention is paid to the maintainability and reliability aspects until the construction and commissioning phases of the project have commenced. Usually, it is too late then to make major changes to the design that impact reliability.

Reliability Availability & Maintainability (RAM) studies performed in the early Front-End Engineering phase can be of immense value to the project and can result in high reliability designs. RAM studies can identify bottlenecks from a reliability standpoint and provides the project team with an estimate of what the projected onstream availability of the unit will be based on equipment failure histories. It also prepares the team to build appropriate maintenance strategies for the operational phase. In this presentation, we will cover the various aspects of RAM studies (using the BlockSim 6 software) and how "Reliability Based Design" principles can be incorporated within a corporation's Capital Project Execution Manuals. The long-term benefits are tremendous and a systematic reliability analysis is slowly being recognized as a Value Improvement Practice by many corporations worldwide.