Development of an ontology supporting failure analysis of surface safety valves used in Oil & Gas applications

Treball desenvolupat dins el marc del programa 'European Project Semester'.The project describes how to apply Root Cause Analysis (RCA) in the form of a Failure Mode Effect and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) on hydraulically actuated Surface Safety Valves (SSVs) of Xmas trees in oil and gas applications, in order to be able to predict the occurrence of failures and implement preventive measures such as Condition and Performance Monitoring (CPM) to improve the life-span of a valve and decrease maintenance downtime. In the oil and gas industry, valves account for 52% of failures in the system. If these failures happen unexpectedly it can cause a lot of problems. Downtime of the oil well quickly becomes an expensive problem, unscheduled maintenance takes a lot of extra time and the lead-time for replacement parts can be up to 6 months. This is why being able to predict these failures beforehand is something that can bring a lot of benefits to a company. To determine the best course of action to take in order to be able to predict failures, a FMECA report is created. This is an analysis where all possible failures of all components are catalogued and given a Risk Priority Number (RPN), which has three variables: severity, detectability and occurrence. Each of these is given a rating between 0 and 10 and then the variables are multiplied with each other, resulting in the RPN. The components with an RPN above an acceptable risk level are then further investigated to see how to be able to detect them beforehand and how to mitigate the risk that they pose. Applying FMECA to the SSV mean breaking the system down into its components and determining the function, dependency and possible failures. To this end, the SSV is broken up into three sub-systems: the valve, the actuator and the hydraulic system. The hydraulic system is the sub-system of the SSV responsible for containing, transporting and pressurizing of the hydraulic fluid and in turn, the actuator. It also contains all the safety features, such as pressure pilots, and a trip system in case a problem is detected in the oil line. The actuator is, as the name implies, the sub-system which opens and closes the valve. It is made up of a number of parts such as a cylinder, a piston and a spring. These parts are interconnected in a number of ways to allow the actuator to successfully perform its function. The valve is the actual part of the system which interacts with the oil line by opening and closing. Like the actuator, this sub-system is broken down into a number of parts which work together to perform its function. After breaking down and defining each subsystem on a functional level, a model was created using a functional block diagram. Each component also allows for the defining of dependencies and interactions between the different components and a failure diagram for each component. This model integrates the three sub-systems back into one, creating a complete picture of the entire system which can then be used to determine the effects of different failures in components to the rest of the system. With this model completed we created a comprehensive FMECA report and test the different possible CPM solutions to mitigate the largest risks

Local Economic Development Program Planning: An Evaluation Toolkit for the South Valley Economic Development Center

Entering its sixth year of operation, the South Valley Economic Development Center (SVEDC) has served over 900 entrepreneurs in various capacities, such as environmental health trainings, providing low-cost rental space, and offering guidance on business development. Established to meet the economic needs of the South Valley of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, the SVEDC originated out of community organizing efforts around economic development, land use, and infrastructure planning. Through these original efforts, the Rio Grande Community Development Corporation (RGCDC), with the help of other local groups, assessed the local economic needs and determined that business incubation program was the appropriate response to those needs. In addition to coming up with the idea, the RGCDC and other groups successfully lobbied for local government support for the program and raised significant funds to finance the construction of a building to house the program. After these first five years, it seems an appropriate time to evaluate the programs progress so far in accomplishing its goals. Therefore, the principal contribution of this project was to create an evaluation framework for RGCDC for use in ongoing program evaluation. More specifically, to contribute to internal evaluation and planning, the defining purposes of this project were to: (1) Develop an incubator-wide evaluation framework to be used by the RGCDC to assess the SVEDC\u27s development. (2) Implement early stages of the evaluation framework to lay the groundwork for future ongoing data collection and evaluation. (3) Provide process recommendations based on the findings of the initial evaluation. (4) Present next steps for how to use this document for future program evaluations. In order to develop and implement the evaluation framework, the evaluator consulted with different SVEDC stakeholders, including original founding members of the center, current staff and administration, current program participants, and former program participants

En búsqueda de datos: Proceso de creación de un corpus oral especializado de hablantes no nativos

The availability of specialized oral material in the field of recreational flying in general and, specifically in the sub-field of hang gliding, is scarce. Therefore, in order to conduct a study of spoken English produced by non-native speakers within the international hang gliding community, it became necessary for the author to collect her own data and compile the specialized corpus she would then analyze. The process involved several phases, which began with the definition of the universal and sample populations, then the design and implementation of an interview, followed by the transcription of the recordings leading to the creation of the finalized files. This article presents a detailed description of the compilation process of this corpus-based research and covers some material which could be helpful to others pursuing or considering to embark in similar projects. It also includes some examples of preliminary findings, since it is still an ongoing project.La disponibilidad de material oral especializado en el campo del vuelo recreativo en general y, específicamente, en el subcampo del ala delta, es escasa. Por lo tanto, para realizar un estudio del inglés hablado por los hablantes no nativos al interior de la comunidad internacional del ala delta, fue necesario que la autora recopilase sus propios datos y compilase el corpus especializado que procedería a analizar. El proceso, que involucró varias fases, comienza con la definición de la población universal y la muestra, continúa con el diseño e implementación de una entrevista y es seguido por la transcripción de las grabaciones, que condujo a la creación de los archivos finalizados. Este artículo presenta una descripción detallada del proceso de compilación de este estudio basado en corpus y abarca material que podría ser útil para otros investigadores que estén llevando adelante o estén considerando embarcarse en proyectos similares. Incluye además algunos ejemplos de resultados preliminares, dado que se trata de un proyecto en curso

Alkali-activated materials – cementing a sustainable future

This paper presents an overview examining the microstructural and macrostructural properties of alkali-activated binders based on granulated blast furnace slags, metakaolin and their blends, developed by the Composite Materials Group of Universidad del Valle over the past decade. Durability results of activated binders when exposed to aggressive agents such as chlorides, and carbon dioxide are reported. The results of this research have elucidated the great feasibility of adopting alkali-activation technology in Colombia for producing high strength concretes based on industrial by-products, with a wide range of properties that can be suitable for different civil infrastructure applications, and contribute to the valorization of low-cost industrial by products through production of more environmentally friendly building materials. Our research highlights the fact that a deep understanding of the chemistry of these systems allows the manipulation of the microstructure and therefore the performance of the final products, toward the production of sustainable and versatile materials

Ciclo político presupuestal y gobiernos con y sin mayoría en México, 1994 y 2006

En este documento se analiza el gasto público federal ejercido antes y después de las elecciones presidenciales de 1994 y 2006 en México, para identificar la existencia de un ciclo político presupuestal (cpp). Se extienden los estudios previos al incorporar los efectos de la existencia o no de mayoría del partido del presidente en la Cámara de Diputados en la determinación del presupuesto de egresos. Específicamente, se examinan las reasignaciones que la Cámara de Diputados ha realizado al proyecto de presupuesto enviado por el Ejecutivo federal, así como la presencia de ciclos presupuestales en el gasto propuesto y ejercido por el Ejecutivo y aprobado por la misma Cámara. Se encontró que en un gobierno con mayoría, la composición de la Cámara de Diputados facilita la configuración de un cpp, en tanto que uno sin mayoría no puede evitarlo plenamente