Premature Failures of Formed Tees in High Energy Piping Systems

Recorded on January 24, 2024 hosted by GlobalSpec As a result of significant changes in the market, particularly after de-regulation of the U.S. electric power industry, it has become increasingly obvious that in some key areas of the supply chain the oversight function once provided by the legacy OEMs has been substantially compromised, so that in important ways relative to suppliers, “no one is minding the store.” Recently, there have been a number of pressure part failures in both conventional and combined-cycle power plants involving formed tees meeting the requirements of ASME B16.9. These failures have occurred in tees operating in high temperature steam line systems where the material of construction has been Grades 22, 91, or 92. The potential significance of these failures to the safety of plant personnel and the reliability of the units affected is sufficiently great that a program of assessment has been developed to identify tees at risk of premature failure based on the tee design, the material of construction, and the operating conditions.