Kraig S. Shipley

Mr. Shipley is skilled in thermal and stresses finite element analysis (FEA) with an emphasis on non-linear behavior such as buckling, contact, creep, plasticity and large deformation behavior. He has applied his FEA skills to pressure vessel nozzle designs, expansion joint designs, remaining life of high-temperature components, hot-to-cold wall transitions, corroded equipment, hot spots, FCC equipment (orifice chamber, reactor, regenerator, expansion joints, slide valves, etc.) and specialty equipment.

Mr. Shipley has extended equipment run times through Fitness-For-Service (FFS) evaluations using the rules of API 579 and FEA. He has prevented premature replacement and justified increased operating conditions of high-temperature components (i.e., FCC orifice chamber grids, FCC reactor, FCC regenerator, heater tubes, tube hangers, etc.) through the application of high-temperature creep assessments. He has performed ASME B31.1 and B31.3 piping flexibility stress analyses evaluating piping failures, piping vibration, debottleneck design conditions, removal of expansion joints, and new piping system layouts. Mr. Shipley has performed numerous pressure vessel and heat exchanger rerates using the ASME Sec. VIII Div. 1 and 2 design rules and FEA to justify metal loss or increased operating conditions. Design and selection of expansion joints, piping components, specialty and commodity valves, and gaskets/packing are other areas of his expertise. He is the chairman of the ASME B31.3 Design Task Group (SG-B) which maintains and implements technical design issues in the ASME B31.3 Process Piping Code.

Mr. Shipley has extensive experience with refinery capital projects from both corporate and plant engineering roles. He has supported major refinery capital projects as lead technical specialist through equipment design reviews, code interpretations, vendor evaluations, development of equipment specifications, bid reviews, pre-construction meetings, shop inspections, and supervision of field installation. He was responsible for the development of over 100 Refinery Engineering Specifications for piping and piping components and the development of over 200 piping classes and 1000 valve data sheets for U.S. and international petrochemical facilities.