Technical Integrity Engineering is a term applied to the engineering disciplines associated with the design, assurance and verification functions that ensure a product, process, or system meets its appropriate and intended requirements under stated operating conditions. Application of these disciplines should not adversely impact a program, but should in fact minimize cost, schedule, technical and legal risks and improve the overall life cycle cost.
It is also considered as the discipline and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, legal and practical knowledge to the assurance, and verification functions that ensure a product, process, or system meets (and is meeting) its appropriate and intended safety, legal and business requirement(s).
In a post-Macondo Prospect world, see (Deepwater Horizon explosion), the role of integrity engineering has been placed under increased scrutiny. Not only can a well-managed integrity engineering programme help operators identify and reduce safety risks before they escalate, but focusing on asset integrity can also play a major role in both achieving operational excellence and extending the life of ageing assets.
Typical responsibilities for an Integrity Engineer would be, to coordinate efficient and cost effective implementation of inspections and integrity management programs and to ensure integrity of plant facilities including all onshore and offshore structures, pipelines, stationary equipment, piping systems, etc.
Integrity Engineers may be required to manage, develop, or conduct the following:
Integrity Engineering encompasses the concept of:
This may be applied to management, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of assets.
The Integrity Engineer (IE) may also be involved with other asset life-cycle issues such as basis of design (Process design basis) through to recycle. During the Front End Engineering Design stage i.e. (FEED) aids in the selection of vessels, piping, pipelines and other equipment. At this FEED stage, the optimum material requirements, mitigation and maintenance requirements for the intended period of operation become the basis for the detailed engineering. It is the role of the IE to develop/validate the integrity management plan and implement the monitoring and management procedure for the intended period of operation. It may also be the responsibility of the integrity engineer to incorporate and manage any variation identified (metal loss, material degradation, cracking mechanisms, mitigation issues i.e. CP potentials, coating failures etc.) during the monitoring regime.
It may be generalist in nature and or applied with specific prior knowledge denoted using a pre-nominal of Mechanical, Inspection, Asset, Well or Well head, Technical, Pipeline, Signal, Fabrication or Commissioning depending upon the equipment or system under scrutiny.
Integrity Engineers construct and implement Integrity Management plans which detail the requirements of the item or asset under scrutiny and study any adverse effects from internal and or external sources which damage / impair that item or system. These are used to build suitable inspection and condition monitoring forward strategies. The monitoring may include both physical (pipes / vessels) and nonphysical systems (Management legal obligations). This diversity will depend upon the requirements of the task at hand.
Integrity Engineers also oversee or carry out Integrity Engineering Audit(s) to ensure legal compliance with company, National and International standards and ensure that there is a level of quality assurance within the process that meets good engineering standards.