Equipment failures are caused by a complex combination of factors including design, operation and environment. C-FER can help identify the root cause of the failure through a staged approach that includes:
- In-depth inspection and analysis of the failed component to determine the mechanism of failure;
- Comparison to similar failure reports to identify trends in equipment performance;
- Field monitoring to identify equipment and operating conditions that might contribute to the failure;
- Modeling of the equipment in the operating environment to identify limitations in the equipment design for a specific application; and
- Full-scale testing of the equipment in simulated operating conditions to determine the functional limits.
Once the root cause of the failure is determined, C-FER undertakes further analysis and testing to help the operator select and qualify equipment that is suitable for the specific operating environment. Alternatively, C-FER helps the Operator investigate ways to modify the operating environment to fall within the safe operating envelope of the equipment.
