In 2022, an industrial 25 foot tall evaporator/heat exchanger with a steam jacket heating feature experienced a fracture at an upper steam jacket condensate drain. The resulting crack penetrated the steam jacket leading to a failure.
The unit was removed from service and subsequently investigated as to the root cause of the failure.
Once metallurgical aspects had been eliminated as a contributing cause of the failure mechanism, GES Tech Group, Inc., was subcontracted to evaluate design details related to differential thermal expansion and to verify the root cause of the failure.
