OptimalIntegrity Studio™ Wiki / Glossary and FAQ
Reference
Glossary and FAQ
The asset-integrity terms used across this wiki, and the questions that come up most.
Glossary
| RBI / RBM | Risk-based inspection and risk-based management: targeting inspection and maintenance by risk. |
|---|---|
| PoF / CoF | Probability and consequence of failure. Their product is risk. |
| Damage factor | The API 581 multiplier on failure frequency from the active damage mechanism, its rate and inspection effectiveness. |
| Damage mechanism | A specific way a material degrades in service, catalogued in API 571. |
| API 580 / 581 | The recommended practice for RBI, and its quantitative methodology. |
| API 571 | The reference catalogue of damage mechanisms for refining and petrochemicals. |
| API 579 | Fitness-for-service: assessing equipment with known damage for continued use. |
| RSF | Remaining strength factor in FFS; the allowable is 0.90. |
| CML / TML | Condition and thickness monitoring locations: fixed points for repeated measurement. |
| Corrosion rate | Metal loss per year, long-term and short-term, from thickness history. |
| Remaining life | Time until a component reaches its minimum required thickness at the current rate. |
| IOW | Integrity operating window (API 584): the process limits that keep degradation within design. |
| Inspection effectiveness | How well an inspection finds the expected damage, graded A (highly) to E (ineffective). |
| SCC / HIC / SOHIC | Stress corrosion cracking, and hydrogen-induced and stress-oriented hydrogen-induced cracking. |
| HTHA | High-temperature hydrogen attack, bounded by the Nelson curves of API 941. |
| Loss of containment | Release of the contained fluid: the failure mode integrity management exists to prevent. |
| MAWP | Maximum allowable working pressure of the equipment. |
| API 510 / 570 / 653 | The in-service inspection codes for vessels, piping and storage tanks. |
| GARPI™ | Global Asset Reliability and Performance Index: the independent, ISO 55001 and GFMAM-aligned Optimal benchmark of asset-management maturity, a 0 to 100 composite score across eight weighted dimensions and five maturity tiers. |
FAQ
| Does RBI mean less inspection? | Not exactly. It means inspection aimed by risk: more and better on the items that carry it, less on those that do not. The high-risk items often get more attention, not less. |
|---|---|
| Qualitative or quantitative RBI? | Qualitative to screen a whole site quickly, quantitative to API 581 where the risk is real and a defensible interval and target are needed. Semi-quantitative sits between. |
| What makes an inspection effective? | That it can actually detect the expected damage. An inspection graded A finds it reliably; one graded E does not, and does not lower the risk however often it runs. |
| RBI or fitness-for-service? | RBI decides what and when to inspect; fitness-for-service decides whether an item with damage already found is fit to keep running. They work together. |
| How does it relate to OptimalAvailability Studio™? | Availability Studio manages the reliability and maintenance strategy; Integrity Studio manages the pressure envelope and loss of containment. They share the asset register and consequence data. |
| Do I need online sensors? | No. RBI runs on inspection and thickness data. Where OptimalTREND™ online monitoring covers a mechanism, it feeds in and sharpens the damage factor. |