Page 409 - Challenges in Corrosion Costs Causes Consequences and Control(2015)

CORROSION DAMAGE, DEFECTS, AND FAILURES 387

which are critical items of safety equipment. Malfunctions would tend to increase
vulnerability to explosions.
Many of Erika’s problems were simply patched up, rather than properly repaired.
In an inspection in 1997 in New Orleans, the US Coast guard ordered that no cargo
operations requiring inert gas systems should be conducted until permanent repairs
are done. Pinhole leaks remained in the fire main, contrary to Safety of Life at Sea con-
vention regulations. There was yet more evidence of corrosion, with the ship’s water-
tight doors not sealing properly and wasting on the door coamings. Erika switched
from Bureau Veritas to Registro Italiano Navale in 1998, which authorized her to
continue operations despite the French society’s order for a full inspection.
Another example of major losses because of corrosion that could have been pre-
vented and that was brought to public attention on numerous occasions since the
1960s is related to design, construction, and operating practices of bulk carriers. In
1991, 44 bulk carriers were either lost or critically damaged and more than 120 sea-
men lost their lives (40).
A highly visible case is the MV Kirki built in Spain in 1969 according to Danish
designs. In 1990, while operating off the coast of Australia, the entire bow section
became detached from the vessel. Luckily, no lives were lost; there was little pol-
lution; and the vessel was salvaged. All through this period, neither coatings nor
cathodic protection inside ballast tanks were used. The evidence for the failure is that
serious corrosion had greatly reduced the thickness of the plate and that this combined
with poor design to fatigue loading had led the failure. This case led to an Australian
government report entitled, Ships of Shame.The MV Kirki was not an isolated case.
There have been many others involving large catastrophic failures, although in many
of these cases there was little or no hard evidence on what actually caused the ships
to go to the bottom.

5.3.7.4.25 The Flixborough Explosion: SCC of a Chemical Reactor The explosion
in June 1974 at Flixborough was the largest ever peacetime explosion in the United
Kingdom. There were 25 fatalities, as well as the near complete destruction of the
NYPRO plant in North Lincolnshire by blast and then fire. This catastrophic explo-
sion has been traced to the failure of a bypass assembly introduced into a train of
six cyclohexane oxidation reactors after one of the reactors was removed owing to
the development of a leak. The leaking reactor, like the others, was constructed of
12.3-mm mild steel plate with 3 mm stainless steel bonded to it, and it developed
a vertical crack in the mild steel outer layer of the reactor from which cyclohexane
leaked, leading to the removal of the reactor. One of the factors contributing to the
crack was SCC, resulting from the presence of nitrates contained in the contaminated
river water being used to cool a leaking flange.
5.3.7.4.26 Swimming Pool Roof Collapse In 1985, 12 people were killed when the
concrete roof of a swimming pool collapsed after only 13 years of use. The roof was
supported by stainless steel rods in tension, which failed because of SCC. There have
been other incidents associated with the use of stainless steel in safety critical load
bearing applications in the environment created by modern indoor swimming pools