4 Pipe Failure Analysis and Damage Mechanisms
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Published:2013
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Failure theories provide techniques to calculate stresses, and damage mechanisms describe material failures due to those stresses. Code techniques provide safe, conservative rules for initial pipe design, but the analysis of pipe failures requires added understanding of failure theories, plastic deformation, fatigue cracks, and crack growth after initial fracture. What is the appropriate response to a cracked, ruptured, collapsed, or bent pipe, which was designed to meet Code design requirements? Obviously, Code-allowable stresses are exceeded, but an understanding of the damage and its cause are required to prevent further damage. To either repair a damaged system or return it to service, several questions need to be answered. Is the damage localized? What was the cause of damage? Can the cause be eliminated? If so, what are the costs, and can the system return to service without risk? If not, what are the risks, and can the system return to service at risk?