Unique Methods for Analyzing Failures and Catastrophic Events A Practical Guide for Engineers

A practical and accessible approach to machinery troubleshooting

Unique Methods for Analyzing Failures and Catastrophic Events is designed to assist practicing engineers address design and fabrication problems in manufacturing equipment to support safe process operation. Throughout the book, a wealth of real-world case studies and easy-to-understand illustrated examples demonstrate how to use simplified failure analysis methods to produce insights for a wide range of engineering problems.

Dr. Anthony Sofronas draws from his five decades of industry experience to help engineers better understand the science behind a particular problem, evaluate the failure analysis of an outside consultant, and recommend the best path forward to management. The author distills sophisticated engineering analysis approaches into compact, user-friendly methodologies that can be easily applied to the readers’ own situations to avoid costly failures. Each chapter includes a thorough summary of the topic, relatable technical examples, and a concluding section with key takeaways and expert tips and advice. This invaluable guide:

• Helps readers make better decisions while solving complex engineering problems
• Provides numerous illustrated examples from engineering and science that can be used to develop real-world solutions
• Features detailed descriptions of both basic and advanced engineering analysis techniques
• Covers essential technical subjects that facilitate safe facility design and effective troubleshooting

Unique Methods for Analyzing Failures and Catastrophic Events: An Illustrated Guide for Engineers is a must-have for chemical, petroleum, and mechanical engineers, reliability managers and technicians, design contractors, and maintenance workers working in process industries.

Anthony Sofronas, DEng, PE, is the former Worldwide Lead Mechanical Engineer for ExxonMobil. He was involved with machinery troubleshooting for 50 years with more than 130 publications and numerous presentations at industry seminars worldwide. Dr. Sofronas is a contributing editor for Hydrocarbon Processing and the author of Analytical Troubleshooting of Process Machinery and Pressure Vessels, Case Histories in Vibration Analysis and Metal Fatigue, and Survival Techniques for the Practicing Engineer.

About The Author

Preface

Acknowledgement

Chapter 1 Engineering Suggestions Based On Experience

1.1 What Should We Learn From This Book?

1.2 We All Contribute To Each Other’s Success

1.3 Why Performing Calculations Is Important To An Engineer’s Career

1.4 How An Engineering Consultant Can Help Your Company

1.5 The Benefit Of Keeping Complex Problems Simple

1.6 Taking Risks And Making High Level Presentations

1.7 Seaching The Literature For Data

1.8 Cautions To New To Industry Technical Personnel

Chapter 2 Evaluating Failures And Designs

2.1 Twenty Rules To Remember

2.2 How to Avoid Being Overwhelmed in a Failure Situation

2.3 Catastrophic Failures And The Human Factor

2.4 The Importance Of Alliances And Networking

2.5 Personal Checklists Are Important

2.6 Checklist For Vibration Analysis

2.7 Checklist For New Piping Installations

2.8 Checklist For Pumps And Compressors

2.9 Understanding What The Failure Data Is Telling You

2.10 Phantom Failures And Their Dilemma

2.11 Various Types Of Equipment And Their Failure Loads

Chapter 3 Mechanical Failures

3.1 Preventing Crankshaft Failures In Large Reciprocating Engines

3.2 Structural Collapse Of A Reinforced Concrete Bridge

3.3 Failure Analysis Computations Differ From Design

3.4 Crack Growth And The Bending Failure Of A Hollow Shaft

3.5 Why Did A Small Piece Of Foam Cause The Shuttle Columbia To Crash?

3.6 Can The Aircraft Cowling Contain A Broken Turbine Blade?

3.7 Why Did My Windshied Break From A Very Small Stone?

3.8 Momentum Or Why A Car Is Harder To Push And Then Easier When Rolling

3.9 Bearing Failure Due To Design Error

3.10 What Is The Shortest Stopping Distance For My Car?

3.11 How Hot Do Brake Disks Get In A Panic Stop?

3.12 Will The Turbocharger Disk Go Through Its Housing?

3.13 Failure Of An Agitator Gear Box

3.14 Failure Of An Extruder Screw

3.15 Failure Of A Steam Turbine Blade

3.16 How Long Will It Last?

3.17 Gear Life With A Load

3.18 Analyzing The Life Of A Gear

Chapter 4 Fluid Flow And Heat Transfer Examples

4.1 Addressing Heat Exchanger Tube Leaks 

4.2 Explaining Flow Through Piping Using Poiseuille's Equation

4.3 A Local Flooding Event At A Plant Site

4.4 Examining Fan System Pulsations

4.5 The Dynamics Of How An Aircraft Flies

4.6 How Much Wind Does It Take To Blow Over A Motor Coach?

4.7 How Much Wind Force To Buckle An Aircraft Hanger Door?

4.8 How Much Water On A Road To Float A Car?

4.9 How Fast Will An Object Hit The Ground?

4.10 Collapse Of A Bubble And The Excitation Force On A Structure

4.11 Failure Of A Cooling Tower Pump Due To Water Hammer

4.12 Braking Resistor Burn-Out On A Locomotive

4.13 Will A Small Ice Air Conditioner Work?

4.14 Prototype Of Smallest Air Ice Cooler

Chapter 5 Sports Examples

5.1 Why Does A Baseball Curve?

5.2 How Far Does A Baseball Go When Hit With Drag?

5.3 What Is The Force Of A Batted Baseball?

5.4 Why Doesn’t A Baseball Catcher’s Arm Break With A 100 mph Fastball?

5.5 Dynamics Of A Billiard Ball

5.6 How Far Can A Golf Ball Go?

5.7 What Causes An Ice Skater To Spin So Fast?

5.8 Why Don’t High Divers Get Injured?

5.9 How Hard Is A Boxers Punch?

Chapter 6 Gas Explosion Events

6.1 Energy In Steam Boiler Explosions
6.2 Delayed Fireball Type Explosions

6.3 A Method For Investigating Hydrocarbon Explosions

6.4 Pipeline Explosion Critical Zone

6.5 Pneumatic Explosion Debris Range

6.6 How Are The Effect Of Massive Energy Releases Compared?

6.7 Engine Air Intake Manifold Explosion

Chapter 7 Vibration And Impact The Cause Of Failures

7.1 Investigating A Possible Cause For A Coupling Failure In A Centrifugal Compressor

7.2 Sudden Power Interruption To A System

7.3 Effect Of Liquid Slug In A Centrifugal Compressor

7.4 Weld Failures In Vibrating Equipment

7.5 Effect Of Gear Chatter On Pinion Teeth Impact

7.6 Holzer Method For Calculating Torsional Multi-Mass Systems

7.7 What To Do When The Vibration Levels Increase On Large Gearboxes

7.8 How Vibratory Torque Relates To Bearing Cap Vibration In A Gearbox

7.9 Vibration Of A Polymer Extruder Gearbox

7.10 Processing And Wear Load Increase In A Polymer Extruder

7.11 Vibration Charts Can Give Faulty Information

7.12 Have Torsional Vibrations Caused The Gearbox Pinion To Fail?

Chapter 8 Examining The Human Body

8.1 What Causes Football Brain Injuries?

8.2 Life Assessment Diagrams

8.3 Assessing The Cumulative Damage Done By Head Impacts

8.4 What Happens When I Hit My Head And See Stars?

8.5 How Does The Body Keep Cool?

8.6 How Do Our Muscles Work?

8.7 Why Do People Die From Heat Stroke In A 75 °F Car?

8.8 What Damage Can An Air Bag Due To A Human?

8.9 How Is Blood Pressure Measured?

8.10 How Does The Heart Work?

8.11 Restricting The Spread Of A Virus

8.12 Why Do Some Survive A Freefall Out Of An Aircraft?

Chapter 9 Other Curious Catastrophic Failures Related To Earth

9.1 Can An Asteroid Be Deflected From Hitting Earth?

9.2 What Size Crater Does A Large Asteroid Make When It Hits Earth?

9.3 What Is An Earthquake?

9.4 Earthquakes Are So Strong Why Don’t They Do More Damage?

9.5 Concerns On The Super-Volcano Under Yellowstone National Park

9.6 What Is A Tsunami And How Do They Form?

9.7 What Is A Tornado?

9.8 Can A Tornado Really Lift A House?

9.9 Can Straw Penetrate A Tree In A Tornado?

9.10 What Is A Hurricane?

Chapter 10 Strange Occurances And Other Interesting Items

10.1 What Is The Force Of A Ship Hitting A Whale?

10.2 How Much Wind To Blow Over A Tree?

10.3 Why Do Objects Appear Smaller Than They Are?

10.4 Do We Feel A Force When Near Large Objects?

10.5 Why Does The Moon Sometimes Appear So Big On The Horizon?

10.6 How Does An Air Conditioner Operate?

10.7 How Fast To Heat Up A Room?

10.8 How Do I Size An Air Conditioner For A Garage?

10.9 At What Speed Does A Locomotive Become De-Railed?

10.10 Are Those Huge Cruise Ships Stable?

10.11 Why Are Arches Used?

10.12 Why Don’t Big Horn Sheep Die When Banging Their Heads?

10.13 Why Can’t We Walk On Water?

10.14 How To Predict The Outcome Of The Stock Market

10.15 Things Aren’t As Random As They May Appear

10.16 Why Do Certain Events Seem To Happen Quite Often?

10.17 Occurrences On Machines And Structures

10.18 How Long Does It Take To Thaw A Frozen Turkey And To Cook It?

Chapter 11 Magic Tricks Using Engineering Principles

11.1 Surface Tension And Floating Metal

11.2 Acceleration of Gravity And The Money Challenge

11.3 The Jumping Coin

11.4 The Belt Balancing Act

11.5 How Can It Be Held Up By Threads?

11.6 Pulling The Table Cloth

Chapter 12 Useful Forms Of The Equations Used In This Book

12.1 Equations Of Motion

12.2 Newton’s First Law of Force

12.3 Newton’s Second Law of Force

12.4 Newton’s Third Law of Force

12.5 Newton’s Gravitational Theory

12.6 Static Equilibrium

12.7 Momentum and Impulse  

12.8 Kinetic Energy

12.9 Potential Energy

12.10 Conservation of Energy

12.11 Bernoulli’s Equation

12.12 Specific Heat Equation

12.13 Conduction Equation

12.14 Convection Equation

12.15 Radiation Equation

12.16 Theories Of Materials Failure

12.17 Archimedes Principle

12.18 Centrifugal Force

12.19 What Is Enthalpy?

Chapter 13 A Little About Some Famous Scientists Mentioned In This Book

13.1 Isaac Newton

13.2 Daniel Bernoulli

13.3 Archimedes of Syracuse

13.4 William Rankine

13.5 Leonardo da Vinci

13.6 Heinrich Holzer

13.7 Stephan Timoshenko

13.8 Jacob P. Den Hartog

13.9 W. Ker Wilson

Chapter 14 Index

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