Failure Analysis of the Pipe used in a Heat Exchanger generated by the acting of a Safety valve Nestor Ferreira Carvalho, Sergio Figueiredo Pereira, Willy Ank de Moraes

Abstract

In order to ensure the safety of people, environment and assets of companies, pressure vessels and boilers should be protected by safety valves, whose function is to prevent the machine is pressurized above the security design pressure. Choosing the best location for installation of these valves must consider, besides the usual items of design, the stresses generated when the opening of these valves. This paper analyzes the fracture of one of these valves, with the purpose of determining the root causes of failure and to introduce mitigation measures to improve valve functioning reliability. The analysis was conducted with the support of literature on fractography and fatigue.