Structural Integrity

Mitigate business interruptions and safety risks caused by unstable infrastructure, foundation failures, and aging assets. Equity Engineering provides specialized structural engineering, vibration surveys, and seismic capacity evaluations for pipe racks, stacks, and process towers. Our structural condition assessments and risk-based analyses optimize repair-replace decisions to ensure long-term mechanical integrity.

Download the Mechanical & Structural Engineering Overview here.

Understand How Structural Systems Behave & Interact

Did you know poor infrastructure conditions and failures cost U.S. businesses more than $130 billion per year? This economic hit includes more than just repair and replacement costs; business delays and interruptions make up more than one-third of those costs. The repercussions of poor infrastructure or unstable structures are both massive and expensive.

Equity understands how structural systems behave and interact and can provide practical recommendations to improve business continuity, prevent loss of containment, and increase operational reliability at oil and gas, chemical, petrochemical, and other industrial processing facilities.

Equity’s structural integrity services can support:

  • Large-scale projects
  • Code compliance checks
  • Turnaround (TAR) planning and support
  • Review of third-party designs

“Maintaining the integrity of structures and foundations supporting equipment and piping in your facility may be critical for the safe & continued operation of your equipment.”

Typical Structural Integrity Challenges

Structure and foundation problems are a result of design deficiencies, construction defects, deteriorating conditions, extreme environmental events, and changes to loads. Equity engineers have years of experience in evaluating a wide variety of damage to plant structures, including:

  • Corrosion issues
  • Structural member collapse
  • Wind and seismic effects
  • Fire damage
  • Global and localized buckling

Equity’s Structural Integrity Assessment Services

Equity’s innovative structural design and integrity assessments help optimize equipment availability, make repair-replace decisions that ensure stability and continued safety, improve performance, and avoid unnecessary repairs or replacements.

Equity’s assessment services include:

  • Evaluation of steel or concrete support structures and foundations with local or widespread damage
  • Stability evaluations to determine risk of collapse
  • Fire damage assessment 
  • Wind and seismic capacity evaluation
  • Increased load evaluation, including unanticipated hydrostatic load
  • Evaluation of wind-induced and mechanical vibration in stacks, heaters, and process towers
  • Modification design to mitigate vibration
  • Design structural modifications for recommended pipe support changes, support elements, and attached structures (brace pipe racks, new frames, other modifications)

A sound structural integrity program will improve safety, facility reliability, and environmental performance.

Piping & Structural Vibration

Conduct on-site piping and structural vibration surveys and testing to evaluate the equipment, assess the risk of vibration, and provide recommendations to mitigate vibration fatigue failures.

  • Reactive – if you notice a pipe or supporting structure moving under normal operating conditions, we will diagnose, evaluate, and mitigate any failure risks.
  • Proactive – if your facility is changing processing fluid or lengthening pipes, we will conduct a piping or vibration survey to help you understand how those changes will affect the fluid flow and frequencies in the piping.

Asset Integrity Management Programs

Structural integrity should address all aspects of the lifecycle of a structure from design to retirement. A rigorous asset integrity management program that includes structural integrity will ensure equipment is designed, constructed, installed, operated, and maintained properly to prevent the loss of containment and improve operational safety and reliability.

Structural Integrity Risk Assessments

Assessing the inspection and maintenance program for the foundations and frame structures supporting vessels and heat exchangers, tower and drum pedestals, pipe racks, and rotating equipment support structures at your facility will reduce risk and improve operational safety. Equity will rank your critical structures with our risk assessment process and help focus resources to the structures with the greatest risk.

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  • “I have been working with Equity Engineering since 2012 and they have always delivered a quality product on time.”

    – Fitness-for-Service Assessment, North American Refinery

  • “The work that the team did was very valuable. Whole team demonstrated great knowledge and professionalism.”

    – Wind-Induced Vibration Analysis, European Refinery

  • “The team is very responsive and brought a depth of technical expertise combined with an understanding of how to approach the problem in a practical manner.”

    – Stress Analysis, North American Refinery

  • “We recently had an outstanding project with Equity Engineering. They asked the right questions to deliver the correct answer and explained to our whole team in a way that everyone could understand. Highly recommend!”

    – Mechanical & Structural Engineering, Gulf Coast Region

  • “Equity Engineering personnel were professional and knowledgeable. Pleasure to work with.”

    – Fire Damage Assessment, North American Utility Provider

  • “I have been collaborating with Equity Engineering for many years and every time I have been extremely happy with their knowledge, professionalism, and dedication.”

    – Fitness-for-Service Assessment, North American Refinery

  • “This is not the first time I have worked with Equity, engineering level and professionalism is simply really good. One of the main reasons we like Equity is the experience in the oil and gas field.”

    – Fitness-for-Service Assessment, North American Refinery

  • “Good industry knowledge with guidance on our problem and the path forwards. Project deadlines are respected and communication is good.”

    – Fitness-for-Service Assessment, North American Refinery

  • Equity Engineering personnel provided a high quality report which helped us better understand the issues affecting our piping system. Based on this, we were able to reduce the potential for a repeated failure.”

    – Stress Analysis, Latin American Petrochemical Facility

  • “Equity has always been very knowledgeable in their respected fields. The engineering calcs and assessments were clear and well represented.”

    – Rerate Assessment, Renewable Fuel Producer