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The asset integrity glossary.

Inspection codes, NDE methods, and the math behind run, repair, or replace.

Defined against:API 510API 570API 653API 579API 580/581ASMENACE/AMPPOSHA PSM

Built in, not bolted on

The vocabulary, area by area. Plain, to the clause.

Programs, methods, and the math behind run, repair, or replace: each term defined the way a practitioner says it.

01 · 11 terms

Integrity programs

The decision frameworks that turn inspection data into a plan: what to inspect, when, and whether the equipment can keep running.

Risk-Based Inspection

RBI

What is Risk-Based Inspection (RBI)?

Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) is a method for planning equipment inspection by ranking each item on its risk, the likelihood of failure multiplied by the consequence. High-risk equipment earns more frequent, more thorough inspection, and low-risk equipment earns less, so inspection effort follows the risk instead of a fixed calendar. The methodology is set out in API RP 580 (the practice) and API RP 581 (the quantitative model).

Fitness-for-Service

FFS

What is Fitness-for-Service (FFS)?

Fitness-for-Service (FFS) is a quantitative engineering assessment of whether in-service equipment with a known flaw, such as wall loss, cracking, or a dent, is safe to keep operating. It answers run, repair, or replace using the actual measured condition rather than the original design assumptions. The standard reference is API 579-1 / ASME FFS-1, which provides leveled assessment procedures for each damage type.

Condition Monitoring Location

CML

What is a Condition Monitoring Location (CML)?

A Condition Monitoring Location (CML), sometimes called a thickness monitoring location (TML), is a designated spot on a piece of equipment where the same measurement, usually wall thickness, is taken on every inspection. Measuring the identical location over time is what makes a corrosion rate trustworthy: it tracks real metal loss instead of comparing two different points. CMLs are the data backbone of a mechanical integrity program.

Turnaround

TA / TAR

What is a turnaround in asset integrity?

A turnaround is a planned, scheduled shutdown of a process unit so equipment can be opened, inspected, repaired, and re-certified. None of that work can be done while the unit is running. It is the most expensive and highest-risk event in a plant's calendar, often running tens of millions of dollars over a few weeks, so scope, schedule, and cost are managed tightly from readiness through close-out. Inspection findings drive a large share of turnaround scope.

Digital Twin

What is a digital twin for industrial assets?

A digital twin is a living digital model of a physical asset, its hierarchy, geometry, and condition, kept in sync with the real equipment as inspections and readings land. For asset integrity it is the single record every discipline reads from, so a corrosion reading, a 3D model, and a fitness-for-service verdict all point at the same circuit. It turns scattered files into one source of truth for the equipment.

Mechanical Integrity Program

MI

What is a mechanical integrity program?

A mechanical integrity (MI) program is the written system a facility uses to keep process equipment fit for service across its life: pressure vessels, piping, relief devices, tanks, rotating equipment and controls. It defines which equipment is covered, the inspection and test procedures and their frequency, the acceptance criteria, how deficiencies are corrected, and the training and records that support each step. It is a required element of OSHA PSM and the umbrella under which RBI, CML programs and fitness-for-service all sit.

Circuitization

What is circuitization in piping inspection?

Circuitization is the practice of dividing a plant's piping into corrosion circuits, each a run of piping that shares the same material, process fluid, operating conditions and expected damage mechanisms. Grouping this way lets an inspector plan one circuit at a time, compare readings across it, and apply one corrosion rate and one interval instead of treating every line in isolation. Good circuits are the foundation of both API 570 inspection planning and RBI.

Inspection and Test Plan

ITP

What is an inspection and test plan (ITP)?

An inspection and test plan (ITP) is the document that lists every inspection or test a job requires, in sequence, with the procedure, the acceptance criteria, who performs it and who must witness or approve it. It marks the steps where work must stop for a check, the hold points, and it becomes the record that each step was carried out and signed. Fabrication, repair and turnaround work are all run against an ITP.

Deadleg

What is a deadleg in piping?

A deadleg is a section of piping with little or no flow: a blanked branch, a bypass that stays closed, a spare pump line, a drain or a level bridle. Because the fluid inside sits still, water and solids settle, temperatures drift, and corrosion often runs faster than in the flowing line it connects to. API 570 and API 574 single out deadlegs for their own inspection attention, and a stable inventory of them is part of a sound piping program.

Injection Point

What is an injection point and why is it inspected separately?

An injection point is the location where a chemical, water or a second process stream is introduced into a pipe: a corrosion inhibitor quill, a wash-water nozzle, a caustic or amine injection. The mixing zone downstream sees local turbulence, concentration and temperature effects that can drive rapid, localized metal loss. API 570 treats injection points as circuits of their own with closer thickness monitoring, typically over a defined length upstream and downstream of the nozzle.

Post-Turnaround Baseline

What is a post-turnaround baseline?

A post-turnaround baseline is the set of readings, photographs and records captured after turnaround work is complete, so that every repaired, replaced or recoated item starts its next run with a known condition. Without it, the next thickness reading is compared against a pre-repair value and the corrosion rate comes out wrong, often in the unsafe direction. The baseline closes the turnaround record and opens the next inspection cycle.

02 · 14 terms

Codes and standards

The published rules an inspection program is measured against. The numbers an auditor expects to see cited.

API 510

What is API 510?

API 510 is the inspection code for pressure vessels in service. It covers in-service inspection, rating, repair, and alteration of vessels after they have been placed in operation, including inspection intervals, thickness measurement, and the qualifications an inspector must hold. It is published by the American Petroleum Institute and is widely adopted across refining and chemicals.

API 570

What is API 570?

API 570 is the inspection code for in-service piping systems. It governs inspection, repair, alteration, and rerating of metallic piping that has been in operation, and it sets inspection intervals based on piping classification and corrosion rate. Like its sister codes, it defines the certification an authorized piping inspector must carry.

API 653

What is API 653?

API 653 is the standard for inspection, repair, alteration, and reconstruction of aboveground storage tanks. It applies after a tank is in service, covering the shell, bottom, and roof, and it sets inspection intervals and out-of-service inspection requirements. It is the tank counterpart to API 510 for vessels and API 570 for piping.

API 579-1 / ASME FFS-1

What is API 579?

API 579-1 / ASME FFS-1 is the joint standard for Fitness-for-Service assessment of in-service equipment. It provides tiered procedures, organized by damage mechanism such as general metal loss, local thin areas, pitting, and crack-like flaws, for deciding whether flawed equipment is safe to keep running. The leveled structure lets engineers start with a conservative screening assessment and escalate to detailed analysis only when needed.

API 580 / 581

What is the difference between API 580 and API 581?

API RP 580 and API RP 581 are the paired recommended practices for Risk-Based Inspection. API 580 describes the principles and the program: how to set up RBI, what data it needs, and how to manage it. API 581 supplies the quantitative methodology, the equations and tables that turn that program into a calculated probability and consequence of failure.

ASME BPVC

What is the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code?

The ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC) is the body of construction rules for boilers, pressure vessels, and related components, published by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Its sections cover design, materials, fabrication, and examination, and it sets the original requirements equipment is built to before the in-service inspection codes take over. ASME also co-publishes the Fitness-for-Service standard as FFS-1.

API 574

What is API 574?

API RP 574 is the recommended practice for inspecting piping system components: pipe, tubing, valves, fittings, flanges and the supports that hold them. It describes where piping tends to degrade, how to select inspection locations, and which examination methods suit each component, so it reads as the field companion to the API 570 code. Inspectors use it to decide where to put condition monitoring locations and what to look at when they get there.

API 583

What is API 583?

API RP 583 is the recommended practice on corrosion under insulation and fireproofing (CUI and CUF). It explains how moisture trapped against a metal surface drives the damage, which temperature ranges, materials and insulation systems are most susceptible, and how to build an inspection and mitigation program for it. Because the corrosion is hidden by the insulation, the practice gives weight to susceptibility screening and to methods that can see through or under the jacket.

API 576

What is API 576?

API RP 576 is the recommended practice for inspecting and testing pressure-relieving devices: safety valves, relief valves, pilot-operated valves and rupture disks. It covers the causes of relief device failure, the pre-test and as-received inspection, shop testing, and the records that show a device was set and sealed correctly. It supports the relief device program that API 510 and OSHA PSM both expect a facility to maintain.

API 620 and API 625

What are API 620 and API 625?

API 620 is the design and construction standard for large, welded, low-pressure storage tanks, the class that operates above atmospheric pressure but below the range of a pressure vessel. API 625 covers tank systems for refrigerated liquefied gas storage, treating the tank, its insulation and its foundation as one system. Both are construction standards, so once a tank is in service the inspection questions move to API 653.

ASME B31.3

What is ASME B31.3?

ASME B31.3 is the Process Piping code, the design and construction rules for piping in refineries, chemical plants and similar facilities. It sets requirements for materials, design pressure and temperature, fabrication, welding, examination and pressure testing, and it is the code most process piping is built to. Once that piping is in service, inspection and repair questions pass to API 570, which relies on B31.3 for the original design basis.

ASME PCC-2

What is ASME PCC-2?

ASME PCC-2, Repair of Pressure Equipment and Piping, is the standard that describes accepted methods for repairing in-service equipment and how to qualify them. Its articles cover welded repairs, mechanical repairs such as clamps and sleeves, nonmetallic composite wraps, and the examination and testing that follow. A fitness-for-service assessment decides whether a repair is needed; PCC-2 describes how to carry one out.

NFPA 25

What is NFPA 25?

NFPA 25 is the standard for inspection, testing and maintenance of water-based fire protection systems: sprinklers, standpipes, fire pumps, water storage tanks and the valves and piping between them. It sets the frequency and the acceptance criteria for each activity and requires that the results be recorded and kept. It is the reference an authority having jurisdiction or an insurer will ask a facility to show compliance against.

OSHA PSM (29 CFR 1910.119)

PSM

What is OSHA Process Safety Management, 29 CFR 1910.119?

OSHA Process Safety Management, codified at 29 CFR 1910.119, is the United States regulation for facilities that handle highly hazardous chemicals above threshold quantities. It requires a set of program elements, including process safety information, process hazard analysis, operating procedures, training, management of change, incident investigation and mechanical integrity. The mechanical integrity element is where inspection and testing of pressure vessels, piping, relief devices and other covered equipment must be done to recognized practices and documented.

03 · 13 terms

NDE methods

Nondestructive examination: how condition gets measured in the field without cutting the asset open.

Nondestructive Examination

NDE / NDT

What is Nondestructive Examination (NDE)?

Nondestructive Examination (NDE), also called Nondestructive Testing (NDT), is the set of methods for inspecting a material or weld without damaging it or taking it out of service. The methods reveal surface and internal flaws, thickness, and material condition so equipment can be evaluated and put back to work. Common methods include ultrasonic, radiographic, magnetic particle, liquid penetrant, eddy current, and phased array.

Ultrasonic Testing

UT

What is Ultrasonic Testing (UT)?

Ultrasonic Testing (UT) uses high-frequency sound pulses sent into a material to measure thickness or detect internal flaws. The time it takes the echo to return reveals how much metal is left or where a discontinuity sits below the surface. It is the workhorse method for tracking wall loss at condition monitoring locations.

Radiographic Testing

RT

What is Radiographic Testing (RT)?

Radiographic Testing (RT) passes X-rays or gamma rays through a part to produce an image of its interior, much like a medical X-ray. Internal flaws such as porosity, slag, or incomplete fusion in a weld show up as density changes on the radiograph. It gives a permanent image of internal condition that can be archived and reviewed.

Magnetic Particle Testing

MT

What is Magnetic Particle Testing (MT)?

Magnetic Particle Testing (MT) finds surface and near-surface flaws in ferromagnetic materials by magnetizing the part and applying fine iron particles. A crack distorts the magnetic field and the particles gather at the flaw, making it visible. It is fast and sensitive for detecting cracks in steel welds and components.

Liquid Penetrant Testing

PT

What is Liquid Penetrant Testing (PT)?

Liquid Penetrant Testing (PT) reveals surface-breaking flaws by coating a part with a dye that seeps into any opening, then drawing the dye back out with a developer. The flaw shows as a bright or colored indication against the developer. It works on most nonporous materials, including the nonmagnetic ones that magnetic particle cannot inspect.

Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing

PAUT

What is Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing (PAUT)?

Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing (PAUT) is an advanced form of UT that uses a probe with many small elements fired in timed sequence to steer and focus the sound beam electronically. That produces a detailed cross-sectional image of a weld or component and inspects a volume from a single position. It is widely used for weld inspection and corrosion mapping where standard UT would be slower or less complete.

Eddy Current Testing

ECT

What is Eddy Current Testing (ECT)?

Eddy Current Testing (ECT) induces small circulating electrical currents in a conductive part with a coil, then reads how flaws disturb those currents. It is well suited to finding surface cracks and to inspecting heat-exchanger and condenser tubing at speed. Because it needs no couplant and no contact, it works quickly over large numbers of tubes.

Time-of-Flight Diffraction

TOFD

What is Time-of-Flight Diffraction (TOFD)?

Time-of-Flight Diffraction (TOFD) is an ultrasonic method that uses a pair of probes, one transmitting and one receiving, and times the weak waves that diffract from the tips of a flaw rather than the strong echo that reflects off its face. Because it reads the tips directly, it sizes crack height with high accuracy and is largely independent of flaw orientation. It is commonly paired with phased array for weld inspection, TOFD for sizing and PAUT for detection and imaging.

DICONDE

What is DICONDE?

DICONDE, Digital Imaging and Communication in Nondestructive Evaluation, is the ASTM standard file format for storing and exchanging NDE images and the data that describes them. It adapts the medical DICOM standard so that a radiograph, an ultrasonic scan or a computed tomography slice carries its own metadata: the component, the technique, the equipment and the calibration. Storing results in DICONDE keeps them readable across vendors and years, which matters when a weld image has to be compared to one taken a decade earlier.

Digital and Computed Radiography

DR / CR

What is digital radiography (DR) and computed radiography (CR)?

Digital radiography (DR) and computed radiography (CR) are the filmless forms of radiographic testing. CR exposes a reusable phosphor plate that is scanned to produce the image; DR uses a flat-panel detector that reads the image directly, with no plate to process. Both give faster results than film, need lower exposure, and produce a file that can be enhanced, measured on screen and archived, which is why they have largely replaced film for weld and corrosion radiography.

Visual Testing

VT

What is Visual Testing (VT) in NDE?

Visual Testing (VT) is the direct or aided visual examination of a surface for corrosion, cracking, deformation, leaks, coating breakdown or poor workmanship, and it is the first method applied in almost every inspection. Aided VT uses mirrors, borescopes, cameras and remote tools to reach inside vessels, tubes and confined spaces. It is a formal NDE method with its own procedures and personnel qualification, not simply looking; the value lies in what is recorded and how it is graded.

Pulsed Eddy Current

PEC

What is Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC)?

Pulsed Eddy Current (PEC) is an electromagnetic method that measures the average wall thickness of a carbon steel component through insulation, fireproofing, coatings or marine growth without removing them. A magnetic pulse is induced in the steel and the decay of the resulting eddy currents is timed; thinner walls decay faster. It is a screening tool for corrosion under insulation, pointing out where to strip and confirm with ultrasonic thickness rather than replacing that reading.

Positive Material Identification

PMI

What is Positive Material Identification (PMI)?

Positive Material Identification (PMI) is a test that confirms the alloy composition of a component in the field, usually with a handheld X-ray fluorescence analyzer or an optical emission spectrometer. It catches the wrong material installed in an alloy service, a chrome-moly elbow replaced with carbon steel for example, before it fails in service. PMI programs are commonly required during fabrication, on receipt of materials, and during turnaround repairs.

04 · 13 terms

Reliability and analysis

The engineering math behind the verdict: corrosion rate, remaining life, criticality, and the methods that rank risk.

Corrosion Rate

What is corrosion rate and how is it calculated?

Corrosion rate is the speed at which a material is losing thickness, usually stated in mils (thousandths of an inch) or millimeters per year. It is calculated from the change in measured wall thickness at a location divided by the time between the two readings, which is why repeatable condition monitoring locations matter so much. The rate feeds directly into remaining-life and next-inspection-date calculations.

Remaining Life

What is remaining life in a mechanical integrity program?

Remaining life is the estimated time a piece of equipment can stay in service before its wall thickness reaches the minimum required for safe operation. It is computed by taking the metal available above that minimum and dividing by the corrosion rate. It sets the maximum inspection interval and signals when to plan repair or replacement, often during the next turnaround.

Reliability-Centered Maintenance

RCM

What is Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM)?

Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a structured method for deciding the right maintenance strategy for each asset based on how it can fail and what those failures would cost. It asks what functions the equipment performs, how it fails to deliver them, and which maintenance task, if any, best manages each failure mode. The aim is to spend maintenance effort where it actually reduces risk, rather than servicing everything on the same schedule.

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis

FMEA

What is Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)?

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a step-by-step technique for listing the ways a component or system can fail, the effect of each failure, and how serious and likely it is. Each failure mode is scored so the highest-priority risks can be addressed first, often with a risk priority number. It is a building block of reliability programs and feeds the strategy choices made in RCM.

Criticality

What is equipment criticality?

Criticality is a ranking of how important a piece of equipment is, based on the consequence if it fails, covering safety, environmental, and production impact. It lets a plant sort thousands of assets so inspection, maintenance, and spares attention goes to the equipment that matters most. Criticality is a core input to both Risk-Based Inspection and Reliability-Centered Maintenance.

Minimum Required Thickness

tmin

What is minimum required thickness (tmin)?

Minimum required thickness, written tmin, is the thinnest wall a component can have and still carry its design pressure, temperature and loads with the safety margin the construction code requires. It is calculated from the code formula for the component, so a pipe, a vessel shell and a head each have their own value, and it sometimes includes a structural minimum for handling and support. Every thickness reading is judged against tmin: the metal above it is the corrosion allowance that remaining life is calculated from.

Maximum Allowable Working Pressure

MAWP

What is Maximum Allowable Working Pressure (MAWP)?

Maximum Allowable Working Pressure (MAWP) is the highest pressure a vessel or piping system is permitted to operate at, at its design temperature, as stamped on the nameplate and set by the weakest component. It is the pressure the relief device must be set to protect. As metal loss reduces wall thickness, the MAWP the equipment can still support falls, and a rerate calculation or a fitness-for-service assessment is how an inspector decides whether the stamped value still holds.

Remaining Strength Factor

RSF

What is the Remaining Strength Factor (RSF)?

The Remaining Strength Factor (RSF) is the ratio of the load a damaged component can carry to the load the same component could carry undamaged, a number between 0 and 1 used in API 579 fitness-for-service assessment. A component passes when its calculated RSF is at or above the allowable RSF chosen for the assessment; if it falls short, the equipment is rerated to the pressure the reduced strength supports, repaired, or replaced. It is the common currency for comparing local thin areas, pitting and other metal loss.

Estimated Repair Factor

ERF

What is the Estimated Repair Factor (ERF)?

The Estimated Repair Factor (ERF) is the ratio of a pipeline's maximum allowable operating pressure to the safe operating pressure calculated for a corroded region, most often using the ASME B31G method. An ERF below 1.0 means the corroded pipe still supports the operating pressure; a value at or above 1.0 means the defect has grown to the point where repair, derating or replacement is required. Pipeline operators sort in-line inspection anomalies by ERF to decide which digs to schedule first.

ASME B31G

What is ASME B31G?

ASME B31G is the manual for determining the remaining strength of corroded pipelines. It gives a set of calculation methods, from a simple conservative screen to more refined effective-area approaches, that take the length and depth of a metal loss area and return the safe pressure the pipe can still carry. It is the everyday tool for evaluating corrosion found by in-line inspection or direct examination on transmission and gathering pipelines.

Short-Term vs Long-Term Corrosion Rate

ST / LT

What is the difference between short-term and long-term corrosion rate?

The long-term corrosion rate is calculated from the original or earliest reliable thickness reading to the most recent one, while the short-term rate uses only the two most recent readings. The long-term value smooths out measurement noise and the short-term value catches a change in process conditions, so API 510 and API 570 have the inspector compute both and use the one that gives the shorter remaining life. Which rate governs is itself a finding: a short-term rate that suddenly exceeds the long-term rate is a signal that something in the process has changed.

Half-Life Interval Rule

What is the half-life rule for inspection intervals?

The half-life rule sets the next thickness inspection no later than half of the calculated remaining life of the equipment, subject to the maximum interval the applicable code allows. The logic is a margin for error: if the corrosion rate turns out to be twice what the last two readings suggested, the equipment is still inspected before it reaches minimum thickness. It is the basic interval rule in API 510 and API 570 for equipment not covered by a risk-based inspection plan.

Damage Mechanism

What is a damage mechanism?

A damage mechanism is the specific physical or chemical process by which equipment degrades in a given service: sulfidation, corrosion under insulation, hydrogen-induced cracking, chloride stress corrosion cracking, erosion, creep and so on. Each mechanism has its own susceptible materials, operating window, appearance and preferred detection method, so naming the mechanism is what lets an inspector choose the right location and the right NDE technique. API RP 571 is the standard catalogue of mechanisms for fixed equipment in refining, and it is the starting point for both circuitization and RBI.

05 · 7 terms

Field capture and data

How a reading, a photo or a form becomes a record: the locations, gauges, checkpoints and reconciliation steps that make field data defensible.

Thickness Measurement Location

TML

What is a thickness measurement location (TML)?

A thickness measurement location (TML) is a marked, numbered point on a component where an ultrasonic thickness reading is taken and repeated on every inspection. A condition monitoring location can hold several TMLs, for example the four quadrants of an elbow, and each TML keeps its own history so a reading is always compared to the same spot. The TML number, the reading, the instrument and the date together make the reading a record rather than a number.

Dry Film Thickness

DFT

What is dry film thickness (DFT)?

Dry film thickness (DFT) is the thickness of a coating after it has cured, measured in mils or micrometers with a magnetic or eddy current gauge held against the surface. A coating specification states a DFT range for each coat, and readings below it mean early breakdown while readings above it can mean cracking or poor adhesion, so the numbers are taken in a defined pattern and compared against the acceptance criteria in the specification. DFT records are the evidence that a coating job was done to spec and the baseline for judging the coating later in its life.

Hold Point

What is a hold point in an inspection and test plan?

A hold point is a step in an inspection and test plan where work must stop and cannot resume until a designated inspector or the owner has examined the work and signed it off. It differs from a witness point, where the inspector is notified and may attend but work continues if they do not. Hold points sit at the stages that cannot be inspected later, such as before a weld is covered by insulation or before a vessel is closed.

Witness Point

What is a witness point, and how does it differ from a hold point?

A witness point is a step in an inspection and test plan at which the inspector or owner is notified in advance and given the chance to observe the work, but the work may proceed if they choose not to attend. It is the lighter control beside the hold point, which stops work until the check is signed. Notification, attendance and the outcome are recorded so the plan shows who saw what and when.

Conflict Record

What is a conflict record in field data capture?

A conflict record is the entry created when a value captured in the field disagrees with the value already held on the server for the same field, which happens when two people edit the same record or when a device syncs after working out of coverage. In intelliSPEC the conflict record holds the local value, the remote value, who resolved the conflict and when, so the resolution is a reviewable decision rather than a silent overwrite. An auditor can trace which value won and on whose authority.

Field Configuration Pin

What is a field configuration pin on a completed record?

A field configuration pin is the practice of freezing, on a completed record, the exact form configuration it was captured with, so a later change to the form cannot alter how an old record reads. In intelliSPEC a completed record pins the field configuration, the locale and the reference options it was executed with; if a dropdown gains a new choice or a unit label changes next year, the record still shows what the inspector saw and chose that day. This is what lets a record stand on its own years later without reconstructing the form that produced it.

Instrument Profile

What is an instrument profile for gauge readings?

An instrument profile is the configuration that tells a field application how to read a specific make and model of gauge so its measurements land in the record directly instead of being typed in by hand. In intelliSPEC, instrument profiles bring DeFelsko, Elcometer and Evident gauge readings in over Bluetooth or through a keyboard wedge, which removes transcription errors and ties each reading to the instrument that produced it. The profile is part of what makes a thickness or coating reading defensible.

06 · 6 terms

Platform and controls

The record, access and audit concepts a security or compliance reviewer asks about before an inspection system goes live.

Asset Hierarchy Node

What is an asset hierarchy node?

An asset hierarchy node is one position in the tree that organizes a facility's equipment, from site to unit to system to equipment item and down to the component and its monitoring locations. Every inspection, reading, drawing and finding attaches to a node, so the hierarchy is what lets a reviewer roll condition up to a unit or drill down to a single nozzle. A stable, agreed hierarchy is the precondition for a digital twin and for any cross-system reporting.

Workspace

What is a workspace in intelliSPEC?

A workspace is a configured screen: the set of views and tools a particular role sees for a particular job, such as a piping inspector's circuit view or a coordinator's turnaround board. In intelliSPEC a workspace is a metadata document that defines a screen's gadgets, and it is the unit of access control, so granting or removing access is done at the workspace rather than gadget by gadget. That keeps what a person can see and do tied to a reviewable definition.

Hash-Chained Audit Trail

What is a hash-chained audit trail?

A hash-chained audit trail is an event log in which each entry carries a cryptographic hash of the previous entry, so that altering, inserting or deleting any event breaks the chain and the tampering can be detected. In intelliSPEC every audit event carries a previousHash and an eventHash, forming a per-tenant SHA-256 chain, and a verify routine recomputes the chain to confirm it is intact. It gives an auditor a way to check the history mathematically instead of taking the log on trust.

Tenant Isolation

What is tenant isolation in a multi-tenant platform?

Tenant isolation is the guarantee that one customer's data cannot be read or written by another customer sharing the same software, and it is the first question a security reviewer asks of any multi-tenant system. In intelliSPEC it is enforced at the repository layer, beneath the application code, so a write carrying a mismatched tenant is rejected and logged rather than relying on each screen to filter correctly. Enforcing it in one place means a mistake in one feature cannot become a cross-tenant leak.

Segregation of Duties

SoD

What is segregation of duties in an inspection program?

Segregation of duties is the control principle that the person who performs a task should not be the person who approves it: the technician who records a thickness reading does not accept the finding, and the inspector who writes a repair recommendation does not close it. It exists so that an error or a shortcut needs two people to pass rather than one. In software it is expressed through roles and approval steps, which is why reviewers look for it in how access and workflow are configured.

Approval Gate

What is an approval gate?

An approval gate is a control that stops an automated or delegated action until a named person reviews and approves it, so responsibility for the change stays with a human. In intelliSPEC the approval gate requires a person to approve before Spectra, the platform's AI assistant, creates or updates records, and it blocks bulk delete outright. The result is that assistance speeds up the work without an assistant ever being the one who signs the record.

One record, one source

The codes, connected.

  • Each definition is written to match its governing code, not a textbook.
  • Run, repair, or replace traces back to the clause that set the verdict.
  • The platform runs the same rule on your own vessels, tanks, and lines.

Why the grouping matters

Four areas, one shared language.

01 / 04

Inspection codes and programs

API 510, 570, and 653 set how vessels, piping, and tanks are inspected, rated, and repaired in service.

02 / 04

NDE examination methods

UT, RT, PAUT, and the rest measure wall loss and find flaws without cutting the asset open.

03 / 04

Fitness-for-service math

API 579 weighs the measured flaw against the design minimum to answer run, repair, or replace.

04 / 04

Reliability and risk ranking

Corrosion rate, remaining life, and criticality rank assets so attention follows risk, not the calendar.

04 AREAS
“A fitness-for-service assessment determines whether equipment containing a flaw is safe to keep running, at what pressure, and for how long.”
API 579-1 / ASME FFS-1, Part 1 · #INS-2841

Answers

How this glossary works.

How are the terms chosen?

These are the words that decide work in the field: the inspection codes, the NDE methods, and the math behind run, repair, or replace. We define the terms operators ask about during a turnaround or an audit, not every entry in a textbook. If a term sets a verdict on a vessel, a tank, or a line, it belongs here.

Which codes and standards do the definitions cover?

The programs and methods that govern fixed equipment: API 510 for pressure vessels, API 570 for piping, API 653 for storage tanks, API 579 for fitness-for-service, and API 580/581 for risk-based inspection. Where a term comes from materials or process safety, we tie it to ASME, NACE/AMPP, or OSHA PSM.

Are these definitions authoritative?

They are plain-language explanations, written to match how each term is used under its governing code. They are not a substitute for the published standard. When a number or a method drives a decision, read the clause itself: the code is the authority, and we point you to it.

Why tie each definition to a clause?

Because a definition without a source is an opinion. Every term here traces to the standard that governs it, so a reviewer can check the basis instead of taking it on trust. That is the same rule the platform runs on: a verdict you can read back to the clause that set it.

How does this map to the platform?

Most terms link to the module that puts them to work on a real asset. RBI, fitness-for-service, CMLs, and corrosion rate live on one record, each calculation cited to the standard behind it. The glossary explains the term; the platform runs it on your own equipment.

These terms, running on your own assets.

RBI, Fitness-for-Service, CMLs and corrosion rate, on one record, cited to the standard. See it on your asset class in twenty minutes.

64terms, one record
8platform modules