Credit: CSB On April 3, 2017, a catastrophic failure occurred at the Loy-Lange Box Company in St. Louis. A pressure vessel—the Semi-Closed Receiver (SCR), which stores hot condensate at 100 psig—violently ruptured. Propelled like a missile, it tore through the facility, launched through the roof at 120 mph, and crashed into a neighbouring building 520 feet away, killing four people …
Residual stresses are an often-overlooked but critical factor in the long-term reliability and safety of pressure equipment such as vessels, piping, and storage tanks. These stresses, which remain within a material after fabrication processes like welding, forming, or heat treatment, can significantly influence equipment’s structural integrity under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. In this article, we explore residual stresses, where they …