Determining the cause of a carbon steel joint failure in a gas flow pipeline production facility

Abstract:

In one of the #4 gas flow pipeline "T" joints at one of the petroleum companies in Egypt, a case of carbon steel material failure occurred. The gas flow pipeline "T" joint was put in service for only 2 months. An investigation was made into the failure of "T" joint and a variety of possible failure mechanisms were considered: design of the joint, deviation from normal pipe alloy composition, gas composition and flow rate, type of corrosion, protectiveness of the interior oxide film, and erosion-corrosion. The failed "T" joint was examined using different metallographic techniques, scanning electron microscopy, and microanalysis. A comparison between the failure site and a similar new "T" joint of the same chemical composition that had not been used before was performed. From these studies, it was concluded that the crack failure is due to a manufacturing defect. Moreover, CO2 corrosion and erosion-corrosion were enhanced by the materials defects.

Año de publicación:

2016

Keywords:

• Manufacturing defects
• "T" joints
• CORROSIÓN
• cracking
• Gas flow pipeline
• Failure analysis

Fuente:

scopus