pipeline explosion at henderson, nv pipe crushing & rupture

Pipeline Explosion at Henderson, NVPipe Crushing & Rupture

Presented by:T. Kim Parnell, PhD, PE

Parnell Engineering & Consulting (PEC)www.parnell-eng.com

www.linkedin.com/in/[email protected]

Reference:“Analysis of the Dynamic Response of a Buried Pipeline due to a Surface Explosion,” Computational Aspects of Impact and Penetration, L. E. Schwer and R. F. Kulak, eds., Elme Press International, 1991 (with R. D. Caligiuri).

http://www.parnell-eng.com/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/parnellpec

mailto:[email protected]

[email protected] www.parnell-eng.com

www.linkedin.com/in/parnellpec

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• Introduction• Overview of Incident• Natural Gas Pipeline Details• Finite Element Analysis of Pipe Crushing• Summary

Outline of Presentation



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T. Kim Parnell, PhD,PE - Biography• T. Kim Parnell, Ph.D.,P.E. is Principal & Founder of Parnell Engineering & Consulting (PEC).

Kim holds Ph.D. and MSME degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, a BES from Georgia Tech, and is a registered Professional Mechanical Engineer in the State of California. Kim is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Fellow of ASME, and SAE Member. Kim was 2011 Chair of the IEEE Santa Clara Valley Section (IEEE-SCV) with over 12,000 members and Past-Chair of the IEEE Consultants' Network of Silicon Valley (IEEE-CNSV).

• Dr. Parnell served on the Mechanical Engineering faculty at Santa Clara University teaching materials, design, and manufacturing applications. He currently participates as a Lecturer in the Stanford Composites Design Program. He works extensively in Composite material issues including Damage, Delamination, and Failure. Dr. Parnell is active in areas such as alternative energy, finite element analysis, robust design, and the use of computer simulation to achieve better designs in shorter time. He frequently works in medical devices and is an expert in the areas of failure analysis and accident investigation, and uses this expertise to help develop more reliable product designs. He has extensive experience in the analysis and simulation of structures, heat transfer, and fluid flow using finite elements and other numerical procedures..

• Dr. Parnell was recently at MSC.Software Corporation as Senior Manager in the Product Management group. He was the MSC Product Manager for Fatigue and Wind Energy. Before starting PEC, Kim was at Exponent Failure Analysis Associates (Senior Manager), Rubicor Medical (R&D Director), SST Systems, ATT Bell Laboratories, Stanford University and General Motors. He also was appointed as a Visiting Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University, teaching graduate courses in Mechanics.

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The PEPCON Incident• Fire and massive explosions at the

PEPCON plant in Henderson, NV on May 4, 1988.

• PEPCON produced Ammonium Perchlorate (AP) – an oxidizer

• Combination of events: Large quantity of AP on site due to

Challenger disaster 16” natural gas line running under the plant

(with leaking stitch welds)

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PEPCON Explosions• Two large explosions equivalent to 200 Tons

and 500 Tons of TNT (3.0 and 3.5 on the Richter scale)

• Over $70M property damage; windows broken up to 30 miles away

• 16” Natural Gas Pipeline Ruptured 40 foot section Crushed more than 260 feet Long-term leakage prior to blast from poor stitch

welds

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Fire & Brimstone

• Rapid spread of fire; catastrophic explosion

• Most of event captured on video

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Massive Explosion & Shockwave• Stills from video shot from Black Mountain – over 10

miles away

See link to separate video of blast

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Aerial View - Before & AfterBefore After

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16” Natural Gas Pipeline• Ran near the plant property boundary • Ruptured 40 foot section• Crushed more than 260 feet• Long-term leakage prior to blast from poor stitch welds

• Big Question: Did the pipe rupture occur before or after the explosions??

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Pipeline Section Identification

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Ruptured Gas Pipe – Initial View

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Pipe After Some Digging

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Pipe After Complete Excavation

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Gas PipeRuptured & Crushed Sections

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Pipe – Crushed Sections

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Plant Buildings

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Production Equipment

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Transient Finite Element Analysis of Pipe Crush due to Blast

• To Address the Big Questions: Did the pipe rupture occur before or after the

explosions?? Was the natural gas pipeline leaking and

depressurized prior to the blast?

Pipe/Soil Model



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Pipe Crushing Due to BlastResponse Sequence #1



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Pipe Crushing Due to BlastResponse Comparison

Pressurized: Pi=300psi Unpressurized: Pi=0psi



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Pepcon Site: Aerial View Pre-Incident



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Pepcon Site: Aerial View Post-Incident



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Pepcon Site after Incident



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Pepcon Site after Incident



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Pipeline-Unstable Crack Growth• 16-inch underground natural gas line• 300 psi internal pressure• Poor quality welds (ERW pipe)• Fast fracture of a 40-ft. section after initial weld

defects grew through fatigue to critical size• Resulting fire & explosions demolished the plant



Natural Gas Pipeline



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• 16” Natural Gas Pipeline• 40’ Ruptured Section• Electric Resistance Weld

(ERW) showed stitching and lack of fusion




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• 16” Natural Gas Pipeline• 40’ Ruptured Section• Electric Resistance Weld

(ERW) showed stitching and lack of fusion




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• 16” Natural Gas Pipeline• Crushed Section




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• 16” Natural Gas Pipeline• 260’ Crushed Section




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• 16” Natural Gas Pipeline• End 260’ Crushed

Section

pipeline explosion at henderson, nv pipe crushing & rupture

Documents

kim parnell

stanford university

areas of failure analysis

mechanical engineering

senior member of ieee

pepcon plant

msc product manager

pepcon incidentfire