Project · Water and wastewater
Failure investigation at a seawater desalination plant, Queensland
Operator of a large seawater desalination plant, Queensland
Water and wastewater
Maintenance and Reliability, Process Safety and Risk, Engineering Design
2024
The challenge
A crack was found in a DN1000 fibre-reinforced plastic pipe on the suction of a reverse osmosis high-pressure pump. The operator needed the cause established, the risk to the other trains understood and the repair engineered, without guesswork.
What we did
ICAM investigation covering evidence collection, failure analysis and contributing factors; super duplex flanged joint calculations for the repair; and, as a related assignment, a control system standards and cybersecurity gap analysis for the plant.
The outcome
A root cause report with corrective actions the operator could implement, an engineered repair design, and a gap analysis that gave the plant a prioritised list of control system improvements.