FRALEX System // GLSC and LP

Live Interventions

Interventions on equipment that is under pressure and stays in operation. Six methods, as different as welding and freezing, share the same grey zone and the same decisive question: repair or time bridge. This page is the overview of it.

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Overview

The methods at a glance

MethodWhat it doesClassificationCore condition
Hot TappingCreate a connection under pressureusually permanentWeldability, remaining wall, flowDetails
Pipe FreezingValveless isolation via ice plugtemporaryFreezable medium, cold toughnessDetails
Composite RepairReinforce or restore the wallrepair or time bridgeDefect type, substrate, ISO 24817Details
Online Leak SealingContain an existing leaktime bridgeSealant, enclosure, honest end dateDetails
Pipe CrushingPinch ductile pipe flattemporaryDuctile material, residual integrityDetails
Leak PreventionKeep the leak from arisingupstreamDecision architectureDetails
Core

The shared grey zone

However different the methods are technically, their core problem is the same. Construction codes such as ASME B31.3 or EN 13480 describe how a plant is built. Procedure standards describe how an intervention on a suitable component is executed cleanly. None of them answers whether this specific aged component carries a live intervention in its actual condition.

This gap between manufacturing code and operational responsibility is the liability vacuum. It is the same for each of the six methods, only with different technique in front of it. FRALEX closes it not with a new material but with a traceable decision.

Axis

Repair or time bridge

The second shared axis is the classification. An intervention either restores integrity, then it is a repair, or it bridges to the actual solution, then it is a time bridge. Both are legitimate. It becomes dangerous when a time bridge is sold and booked as a repair.

Online leak sealing is always a time bridge. Composite can be both. Hot tapping usually creates a permanent connection. Pipe freezing and pipe crushing are temporary isolations. Leak prevention sits before all of them and makes many interventions unnecessary. Whoever makes and documents this classification honestly owns it correctly.

FRALEX

The decision layer

Above all six methods lies the same layer: the decision whether, how and with what classification to intervene. That is FRALEX. GLSC codifies the procedure logic, LP moves the decision forward into prevention.

The sentence that carries the whole system holds equally for each of these methods: integrity is a decision, not a material property.

FAQ

Common questions

Cross cutting answers on live interventions. The method specific logic is on the individual pages and in the Veritas Library.

Interventions on piping, valves or vessels that are under operating pressure and stay in operation. They include hot tapping, pipe freezing, composite repair, online leak sealing and pipe crushing. Leak prevention is the upstream layer.
A repair restores integrity. A time bridge bridges to the actual solution without removing the root problem. Online leak sealing is always a time bridge, composite can be both, depending on the defect.
It depends on material, medium, condition and objective. A connection under pressure leads to hot tapping, valveless isolation to pipe freezing or pipe crushing, wall reinforcement to composite, leak containment to online leak sealing. The selection itself is already a decision.
Depending on the method, API 2201, ASME PCC-2, ISO 24817 and the construction codes ASME B31.3 and EN 13480. None of them decides conclusively whether the specific aged component qualifies.
The gap between manufacturing code and operational responsibility. Standards say how to build and execute, not whether this intervention on this component is justifiable here and now. FRALEX structures exactly that decision.
FRALEX supplies neither material nor service, but the vendor independent decision layer above them. GLSC for the procedure logic, LP for prevention. Integrity is treated as a decision, not a material property.
Next step

Have an intervention assessed?

Whether hot tapping, freezing, composite or the question of whether an intervention is needed at all: FRALEX structures the decision. Directly with Frank Havemann.

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