Fatigue cracking of high pressure oil tube

1-s2-0-s2213290213000321-gr1An article about a Case study of failure analysis published in « Case Studies in Engineering Failure Analysis« , July 2013.

A high pressure oil tube with nominal diameter 50.8 mm and nominal thickness 4 mm has prematurely failed with a longitudinal crack. The failure was detected after 11 months of operation. The tube is part of the hydraulic power unit of an off shore oil and gas platform. The maximum designed internal pressure was 20 MPa and the service temperature was 25 °C with no significant variation. In practice, the internal pressure varies from 16 to 20 MPa under operation, and shutdowns rarely occur.

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Investigation of Minor Leakage in a Fuel Oil Return Line

A small fuel oil return line of a stationary gas turbine engine failed by high cycle fatigue cracking. In the metallurgical root cause investigation, performed by the original equipment manufacturer’s laboratory, it was determined that insufficient support of the fuel line and the ensuing vibration led to dynamic alternating bending stresses, that had their maximum immediately adjacent to the connector weld of the flange…………. Read more

Fatigue cracking of high pressure oil tube

  • High pressure pipe failed by fatigue in the fusion line of longitudinal weld.
  • Fatigue was caused by vibration of the line due to clamp missing.
  • Crack initiated and propagated through the high concentration region of weld joint.
  • Change of specified material (UNS S31803) by AISI 304L contributed to the failure.
  • As recommendation, seamless tube of duplex stainless steel must be used.

More informations : Fatigue cracking of high pressure oil tube.