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Power Plant Damage Due to Collapse of Underground Cooling Pipes

A major renovation of the pollution control equipment at a coal-fired power plant was midway through completion. Numerous pieces of heavy construction equipment were on-site, including pile drivers. A massive land cave-in suddenly occurred at the plant site, involving a several thousand square-foot area to a depth of up to 15 feet. Substantial damage occurred to existing and new plant structures and equipment. The cave-in was caused by the collapse of two 22-foot diameter underground cooling water pipes running from the plant to a nearby lake. APTECH conducted a detailed investigation of the power plant design and operation to determine their role in the accident. All plant operating logs just prior to the accident were reviewed in detail to determine if a cooling-water system upset occurred and caused the pipe collapse.

Satish Almaula		Plant failure and root cause analysis; process and design engineering analysis; process technology development and testing; plant engineering, operations, maintenance and safety management; plant and process control system management.

Michael Cronin, P.E.		Stress analysis, design evaluation, engineering mechanics

Kimble Clark, Ph.D.		Failure analysis, heat transfer & thermodynamics, process plant equipment failures & explosions, fuel science, combustion, industrial fires and explosions.

Geoffrey Egan, Ph.D.		Engineering mechanics, welding engineering, stress and fatigue analysis, risk analysis, nondestructive examination, project management.

Eric Sullivan, P.E.		Metallurgy, welding, failure analysis, fire and explosion investigations, equipment, piping.

Jeffrey Grover, P.E.		Mechanical engineering, failure analysis, civil engineering.