BS 7910:2019: Implications for TWI Stakeholders

The new revision of BS 7910 has several implications for TWI stakeholders (Industrial and Professional Members, other customers, staff, students and collaborating organisations):

1. Consultancy: TWI’s fitness-for-service consultancy (https://www.twi-global.com/what-we-do/services-and-support/asset-management/fitness-for-service) will transition to using the 2019 procedure from early 2020. In practice, most assessments carried out using the 2013 procedures will continue to be valid, since one of the aims in preparing the 2019 revision was to ensure continuity with earlier revisions.
2. Background reading: A virtual special issue of the International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping (IJPVP) was published in 2018 and early 2019 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpvp.2019.03.024), giving the evidence basis of BS 7910:2013 and indications of changes expected in the 2019 revision. The papers, written by members of the committee, also contain examples to illustrate the application of BS 7910 to real problems. Elsevier, the publishers of IJPVP, have kindly agreed to arrange for a free download period for these papers shortly after the publication of BS 7910:2019. This will be available from 13^th Jan to 13^th March 2020 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/international-journal-of-pressure-vessels-and-piping/special-issue/10MM70JN1KJ).
3. Training: TWI runs a four-day training course on the practical application of BS 7910, at our base near Cambridge, UK or elsewhere as required (http://www.twitraining.com/home/programmes-and-courses/other-specialised-engineering-courses/structural-integrity-assessment). Future courses will be based on the 2019 revision.
4. Software: TWI is in the process of updating its commercial software CrackWISE^® (http://www.twisoftware.com/software/integrity-management-software/crackwise/), which automates the fracture and fatigue calculations presented in BS 7910. A new software package, CrackWISE^® version 6 (CW6) will be released to comply with BS 7910:2019, replacing CW5 (which complies strictly with BS 7910:2013 +A1:2015). As with the consultancy service, this will be a process of transition rather than transformation, since much of the content of BS 7910:2013 +A1:2015 has been carried over to BS 7910:2019. The commercial release of CW6 is expected in the first quarter of 2020.
5. Dissemination: Whilst a significant amount of information on BS 7910 has already been published (see item 2 above and the special sessions from the OMAE 2019 conference (https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/OMAE/OMAE2019/volume/58790), these papers preceded the final publication of the 2019 revision of BS 7910, so inevitably focussed on the 2013 revision. A joint TWI/FESI seminar is planned for 2020 (https://www.fesi.org.uk/); details will be announced shortly.
6. Validation: A project run under TWI’s Core Research Programme (CRP) has focussed on the validation of the fracture assessment procedures in both BS 7910 and R6 (the UK nuclear industry’s assessment procedure), by assessing hundreds of full-scale laboratory tests. This both ensures that the assessment is safe (but not excessively conservative) and tests the user-friendliness of the procedures. One research report has been issued to date (https://www.twi-global.com/what-we-do/research-and-technology/research-reports/industrial-member-reports/validation-of-bs-7910-2013-fracture-assessment-procedures-1107-2018) and a second, cross-referencing additional work carried out by TWI in support of the R6 procedure, is imminent. Parts of the project were carried out under an NSIRC PhD project (https://www.nsirc.com/), with TWI working in collaboration with the University of Bristol.