Control of vibrations on industrial installations

The issue

The reliability of industrial installations is an important issue for our customers. This reliability issue requires, in particular, a control of the vibrations of the components and systems as parts of the installations. Reliability must be maintained throughout the life of the installation, including when the process evolves by adding new functionalities or new operating conditions.

The challenge

From the design stage, this control must lead to the most accurate sizing, i.e. sufficiently robust with respect to vibration fatigue but limiting oversizing, which would directly impact the cost of the installation.
In the case of an installation modification, the impact on the components vibration behavior must be limited while ensuring availability and cost control, but also anticipated to compensate for failures during commissioning and the resulting additional costs.
Finally, during operation, vibration phenomena that could lead to the unavailability of the function or to more serious consequences must be characterized, identified and remedial solutions proposed to regain the expected level of reliability.

The solution

For many years, Metravib has been accompanying the major contractors as well as the engineering companies in the control of vibrations of industrial installations, through its expertise in the field of rotating machines but also applied to static systems: piping, valves, tanks, structures. This support is available at all stages of the installations’ life through an adapted and relevant service and/or monitoring offer:

• during the design stage, with the consideration of dynamical behavior of critical components using numerical simulation in order to avoid all sensitivities to vibratory fatigue, and offering our support until the commissioning of the installation.
• In operation, for the verification of the conformity of the installations “as built” or applying experimental characterization to diagnose a situation generating vibration or leading to ruin.
• Finally, during the redesign stage, coupling experimental and numerical approaches to define vibration reduction or reinforcement solutions that can go up to providing such solutions to guarantee the durability of the installation.