ASM Failure Analysis Case Histories: Oil and Gas Production Equipment
Application of Fracture Mechanics to Pipeline Failure Analysis
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Published:2019
Abstract
A natural gas pipeline explosion and subsequent fire significantly altered the pipeline steel microstructure, obscuring in part the primary cause of failure, namely, coating breakdown at a local hard spot in the steel. Chemical analysis was made on pieces cut from the portion of the pipe that did not fracture during the explosion and from piece 5-1 which contained the fracture origin site. Both pieces were found to have 0.30% carbon and 1.2% Mn with sulfur and phosphorus impurities acceptably low. Fracture mechanics analysis used in conjunction with fractographic results confirmed the existence of a very hard spot in...
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Member Sign InWalter L. Bradley, Application of Fracture Mechanics to Pipeline Failure Analysis, ASM Failure Analysis Case Histories: Oil and Gas Production Equipment, ASM International, 2019, https://doi.org/10.31399/asm.fach.petrol.c9001148
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