Costs associated with structural age-related degradation are estimated to be billions of dollars per year. Age-related degradation leads to reduced equipment availability, high inspection costs, unscheduled downtime, reduced service lifetime and potentially unsafe conditions. SRI's LifeX Aging Systems Management program is an integrated technology, economic and business analysis program designed to extend service life while minimizing risks and expenses.

"The LifeX program, a revolution in predictive capability, was developed to help industries worldwide deal more effectively with the effects of structural degradation caused by corrosion, fatigue cracking and general aging of structures. Virtually every industry could benefit from these services, which help ensure continued profitable operation and maximum return on investment," said Kathleen Ramp, director of LifeX program development at SRI.

SRI's LifeX program is based on four essential elements: diagnosis, prevention, inspection and monitoring, and strategic decision analysis. The program uses off-the-shelf technologies as well as customized solutions.

The first phase, diagnosis, helps clients understand the likelihood and timing of degradation to reduce the risk of unscheduled downtime. During this phase, SRI evaluates system characteristics and existing conditions, assesses the risk of future degradation and projects service life.

Preventive actions help minimize age-related degradation, enhance reliability, reduce the risk of unscheduled downtime and extend service life. SRI develops improved operating protocols, mitigation techniques and remedial actions, and applies predictive models to quantify expected improvements.

Through inspection and monitoring, SRI confirms actual system conditions and provides input for predictive model calculations. Activities include degradation surveillance, measurement of environmental conditions, experience tracking and artificial neural network development.

SRI's strategic decision analysis provides structure to the decision-making process and ensures that the most appropriate solutions are implemented. SRI performs technical, business, economic and regulatory analyses to assess the strategic value of alternatives and to select optimal, cost-effective solutions to age-related problems.

The LifeX program is founded on the extensive theoretical and experimental work of Digby Macdonald, vice president of SRI's Pure and Applied Physical Sciences Division. Dr. Macdonald has spent nearly twenty years developing deterministic models for the prediction of damage in complex industrial systems such as thermal power plants (nuclear and fossil). On October 16, Dr. Macdonald will describe one application of the LifeX Aging Systems Management program at the International Conference on Water Chemistry in Nuclear Power Plants. The conference, sponsored by the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum, will address technical innovations for improvement of plant reliability and safety.

SRI's LifeX team, drawn from SRI International and SRI Consulting (SRI's strategic business and technology consulting subsidiary), comprises scientists, engineers, and business analysts from the energy, advanced materials and chemical industries.

Silicon Valley-based SRI International is one of the world's largest independent research, technology development and consulting organizations. Founded in 1946 as the Stanford Research Institute, SRI has been meeting the needs of strategic, global markets for more than 50 years. SRI provides corporations, governments and other organizations worldwide with the innovative solutions needed to compete effectively in today's changing global environment.

LifeX is a trademark of SRI International.