Catastrophic piping failure

Catastrophic piping failure
Heard a story that happened in Texas in 1995. A propylene fractionator reboilers piping system installed in 1965 was brought off-line for routine maintenance. Part of the isolation procedure is to purge the vessels and piping with nitrogen (supplied form a truck) to remove traces of hydrocarbon deposit A day after purging, the 16-inch sch10 reboilers piping ruptured. The 3-inch branch connection distenitgrtrated into fragments. Some of the projectiles damage adjacent equipment.

They claimed that pipe was supplied to astm a53 (lab verified) and fabricated to b31.3. No swelling or bulging was noticed. however the fracture surface they say appeared fibrous.

Could this really happned? How? Received on Fri Jul 26 03:10:00 2002