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FAIZURE ANAZYSIS CASE SZZLDIESII Edited by D.R.H. Jones Pergamon Failure Analysis Case Studies I1 FAILURE ANALYSIS CASE STUDIES I1 A sourcebook of case studies selected from the pages of Engineering Failure Analysis 1997- 1999 Edited by D.R.H. JONES Department of Engineering University of Cambridge, UK 2001 PERGAMON An imprint of Elsevier Science AMSTERDAM - LONDON - NEW YORK - OXFORD - PARIS - SHANNON - TOKYO ELSEVIER SCIENCE Ltd The Boulevard, Langford Lane Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1G B, UK 0 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. This work is protected under copyright by Elsevier Science, and the following terms and conditions apply to its use: Photocopying Single photocopies of single chapters may be made for personal use as allowed by national copyright laws. 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First edition 2001 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record from the Library of Congress has been applied for British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record from the British Library has been applied for. ISBN: 0 08 043959 4 @ The paper used in this publication meets the requirements ofANSI/NISO 239.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). Printed in The Netherlands. PREFACE It is now three years since Elsevier Science published the first book of Failure Analysis Case Studies selected fiom volumes 1,2 and 3 of the journal Engineering Failure Analysis. The book has proved to be a sought-after and widely used source of reference material to help people avoid or analyse engineering failures, design and manufacture for greater safety and economy, and assess operating, maintenance and fitness-for-purpose procedures. In the last three years, Engineering Failure Analysis has continued to build on its early success as an essential medium for the publication of failure analysis cases studies and papers on the structure, properties and behaviour of engineering materials as applied to real problems in structures, components and design. Failure Analysis Case Studies I1 comprises 40 case studies describing the analysis of real engineering failures which have been selected from volumes 4, 5 and 6 of Engineering Failure Analysis. The case studies have been arranged in sections according to the specific type of failure mechanism involved. The failure mechanisms covered are overload, creep, brittle fracture, fatigue, environmental attack, environmentally assisted cracking and bearing failures. The book constitutes a reference set of real failure investigations which should be useful to professionals and students in most branches of engineering. My sincere thanks go to the authors of the case studies for finding the time to communicate their experiences to the wider world for the benefit of us all. D.R.H. Jones May 2001 vii CONTENTS Preface ......................................................................................................................................................... v Overload failures Bursting of a silo R. Kieselbach .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Shear failure of a road-vehicle steering shaft J.H. Cleland and D.R.H.Jo nes .................................................................................................................. 1 1 Breakup of the firewall between the B and C modules of the Piper Alpha platform - I. Analysis by hand calculation A.C. Palmer ............................................................................................................................................... 19 Failure of a flexible pipe with a concrete liner M. Talesnick and R. Baker ........................................................................................................................ 3 1 Torsional failure of a wire rope mooring line during installation in deep water .............................................................................................................................................. C.R. Chaplin 45 Creep failures Type I11 creep cracking at main steam line welds K.G. Sedman, J.C.T hornley and R.M. Griffin ......................................................................................... 63 Creep failure of a spray drier P. Carter .................................................................................................................................................... 73 Catastrophic failure of a polypropylene tank Part I: primary investigation P.R.L ewis and G.W Weidmann ............................................................................................................... 79 Catastrophic failure of a polypropylene tank Part 11: comparison of the DVS 2205 code of practice and the design of the failed tank G.W. Weidmann and P.R.L ewis .............................................................................................................. 97 Brittle fracture Investigation of the MV Kurdistan casualty S.J. Garwood ........................................................................................................................................... 117 Investigation of failed actuator piston rods T.F. Riitti and E.J. Wentzel ..................................................................................................................... 139 Premature failure of prestressed steel bars A. Valiente and M. Elices ....................................................................................................................... 147 Premature fracture of a composite nylon radiator P.R. Lewis ............................................................................................................................................... 157 ... Vlll Fatigue Catastrophic failure of a raise boring machine during underground reaming operations A. James .................................................................................................................................................. 175 Fatigue failure of the de Havilland Comet I P.A. Withey ............................................................................................................................................. 185 Low-cycle fatigue of titanium 6A1-4V surgical tools H. Velasquez, M. Smith, J. Foyos, F. Fisher. O.S. Es-Said and G. Sines ............................................... 193 Failure analysis and experimental stress analysis of a threaded rotating shaft R.B. Tait .................................................................................................................................................. 199 An investigation of the failure of low pressure steam turbine blades N.K. Mukhopadhyay, S. Ghosh Chowdhury, G. Das, I Chattoraj, S.K. Das and D.K. Bhattacharya ................................................................................................................................ 211 Vibration-induced fatigue failure of an impulse line K.R. Al-Asmi and A.C. Seibi. ................................................................................................................. 225 Malfunctions of a steam turbine mechanical control system ................................................................................................................ J.H. Bulloch and A.G. Callagy 235 Fatigue failure of hold-down bolts for a hydraulic cylinder gland C. Tao, N. Xi, H. Yan and Y. Zhang ....................................................................................................... 241 Analysis of a vehicle wheel shaft failure J. Vogwell ............................................................................................................................................... 247 Fatigue failure analysis of a leg press exercise machine P.J.Vernon and T.J Mackin ..................................................................................................................... 255 Failure analysis of rubber fuel pipes in aero-engines G. Fu ........................................................................................................................................................ 267 Environmental attack Failure of austenitic stainless steel components used in nitrogen oxide plant V.M.J. Sharma, A.K. Jha, P. Ramesh Narayanan, S. Arumugham and T.S. Lakshmanan ..................... 277 Corrosion of central heating systems D.R.H. Jones ........................................................................................................................................... 285 Crevice corrosion of 3 16L caused by chloride partition in water-butanone mixtures J.H. Cleland ............................................................................................................................................. 301 Type I pitting of copper tubes from a water distribution system ...................................................................................................................................... P.J.L. Fernandes 307 Corrosion of flexible waveguides D. Papatheodorou, M. Smith and O.S. Es-Said ....................................................................................... 3 13 Failure of automobile seat belts caused by polymer degradation J.M. Henshaw, V. Wood and A.C. Hall .................................................................................................. 317 Oxidation failure of radiant heater tubes K.B. Yoon and D.G. Jeong. ..................................................................................................................... 33 1 Environmentally assisted cracking Sustained load crack growth leading to failure in aluminium gas cylinders in traffic J.W.H. Price, R.N. Ibrahim and D. Ischenko .......................................................................................... 345 Hydrogen-assisted stress-corrosion of prestressing wires in a motonvay viaduct L. Vehovar, V. Kuhar and A. Vehovar ................................................................................................... 357 ix Failure analysis of camer chain pins G.A. Slabbert, J.J. McEwan and R. Paton ............................................................................................... 365 Unusual cases of weld-associated cracking experienced in a high temperature catalyst reduction reactor M.L. Holland ........................................................................................................................................... 373 Hydrogen cracking of ferritic stainless steel thermal storage tanks S. Konosu and T. Nakaniwa .................................................................................................................... 383 Hydrogen embrittlement failure of hot dip galvanised high tensile wires N.K. Mukhopadhyay, G. Sridhar, N. Parida, S. Tarafder and V.R. Ranganath ...................................... 393 Bearing failures Contact fatigue in rolling-element bearings P.J.L. Fernandes ...................................................................................................................................... 409 An air crash due to fatigue failure of a ball bearing I. Salam, A. Tauqir, A. U1 Haq and A.Q. Khan ...................................................................................... 415 Failure analysis of a condensate pump shaft A.M. Lancha, M. Serrano and D. Gdmez Briceiio .................................................................................. 425 Author Index ........................................................................................................................................... 443