How Many Pipelines in North America Have Failed by Fatigue and Why?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Cosham ◽  
Phil Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Mechanical Damage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transportation Safety ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Gas Pipelines ◽  
Manufacturing Defects ◽  
Failure Data ◽  
Incident Reports

Pipelines are aging: more than half of all pipelines in Europe and the United States are over 40 years old. Historically, only a small number of pipeline failures have been attributed to fatigue; however, as pipelines age, this might change. Indeed, two of the most serious pipelines failures in recent years in the United States were partly attributed to fatigue. The issue with fatigue is not so much how it should be addressed, but if or when, and where, it will become more of a problem. Historical failure data provides a valuable insight into the number and cause of failures that have been attributed to fatigue, and an indication of what might happen in the future. Historical failure data for onshore gas and liquid pipelines in the United States of America and Canada has been reviewed in order to estimate the number and cause of failures that can be attributed to fatigue; specifically, the OPS 30-day Incident Reports, the listing of pipeline rupture events compiled by the National Energy Board, and the findings of failure investigations conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB). Failures that can (at least partly) be attributed to fatigue are not readily identifiable in the historical data, because fatigue is not listed as a secondary cause (as it is, strictly, only a growth mechanism). The narrative descriptions in historical data sets, as in the OPS 30-day Incident Reports, and the detail in the Pipeline Investigation Reports or Accident Briefs published by the NTSB, and the Pipeline Investigation Reports published by the TSB are essential for identifying the relevant failures and their causes. Failures in pipelines that can be attributed to fatigue are relatively rare, but fatigue failures have been reported in both onshore gas and liquid pipelines in both the United States and Canada, mostly originating from pre-existing mechanical damage or manufacturing defects. Corrosion-fatigue has been identified as a contributing factor in a minority of the failures. The number of failures in liquid pipelines is (as would be expected) higher than that in gas pipelines. The number of failures in onshore liquid pipelines in the United States that can be attributed to fatigue has increased, with over half of such failures having occurred in the last ten years. The increase is statistically significant. There has also been an increase, albeit smaller and not statistically significant, in the number in onshore gas pipelines. The increase in the number of failures is consistent with an ageing system.

Juárez, Maximilian, and the French Occupation of Mexico

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Hogan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
The United States ◽  
Working Poor ◽  
The Other ◽  
Reform Movement ◽  
Mexican History ◽  
Basic Facts ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Benito Juarez

A tumultuous period in Mexican history began with the Reform Movement of President Benito Juárez, followed by the French invasion and installation of Maximillian as emperor, the defeat of his troops by the liberal army, and the restoration of the Mexican Republic in 1877. Although most of the basic facts of these events are not in dispute, the narrowness of the lens used to examine them is. Some data have been systematically ignored by national historians, and there are also contradictory interpretations of the published historical data. One common reflection on this period is the depiction of Maximilian as liberal whom some argue contributed in a positive way to Mexico. However, some Mexican scholars dispute this. The other widely held belief is that Benito Juárez can be credited with the restoration of the republic and the betterment of the working poor and indigenous. Although criticism of Juárez is uncommon in official circles, where he is idolized, some Mexican scholars are more skeptical of these claims. The missing or generally ignored data concern the contribution of the United States to the defeat of the French and Austrian armies, which is not mentioned in any survey texts and is minimized in most articles. The fuller inclusion of these data coupled with a closer look at the contributions and failures of both the Maximilian and Juárez regimes provides a clearer picture of the epoch and generates new insights.

scholarly journals Helicopter Pilots Encountering Fog: An Analysis of 109 Accidents from 1992 to 2016

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 994
Author(s):  
Alex de Voogt ◽  
Hilary Kalagher ◽  
Andrew Diamond
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Meteorological Conditions ◽  
Transportation Safety ◽  
Online Database ◽  
Fatal Accident ◽  
Instrument Meteorological Conditions ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Helicopter Pilots

Helicopters have the ability to make maneuvers or precautionary off-airport landings to avoid flights into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) such as fog. Flight accidents in which fog was encountered as well as inadvertent and intentional flights into fog were examined to understand their occurrence. A 25-year period in the United States using the National Transportation Safety Board online database was used to collect 109 accident reports of which 73 (67%) were fatal. Pilots flying intentionally into IMC were more likely to be a part of a fatal accident than those who did so inadvertently. Those pilots who were reported as being under pressure when encountering fog conditions were also more likely to be in an accident. The findings confirm a high prevalence and an added danger to intentional flights into IMC. In addition, decision-making under pressure when encountering IMC conditions is now linked to a higher proportion of fatalities, emphasizing that helicopter pilots should be made aware of these specific decision-making circumstances in their operations.

scholarly journals Review of Regulatory Emphasis on Transportation Safety in the United States, 2002-2009: Public versus Private Modes

Risk Analysis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1085-1101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garrett C. Waycaster ◽  
Taiki Matsumura ◽  
Volodymyr Bilotkach ◽  
Raphael T. Haftka ◽  
Nam H. Kim
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transportation Safety ◽  
Public Versus Private

Armed Guests

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
Military Presence ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Second World

In the years around the Second World War, policymakers in the United States and Western Europe faced unique security challenges occasioned by the development of new technologies and the emergence of transnational ideological conflict. In coming to terms with these challenges, they developed the historically novel practice in which a state might maintain a long-term, peacetime military presence on the territory of another sovereign state without the subjugation of the latter. Such basing arrangements between substantive equals were previously unthinkable: under the inherited understanding of sovereignty, in which there was a tight linkage between military presence and territorial authority, such military presences could be understood only in terms of occupation or annexation. These “sovereign basing” practices, as I call them, are now central to many aspects of contemporary security politics. This book applies concepts derived from pragmatist thought to a historical study of the relations between the United States and its wartime allies to explain the origin of this phenomenon. A pragmatist lens draws attention to how the actors involved creatively recombined inherited practices in response to changes in the material and social context of action and thereby transformed the practice of sovereignty. The tools offered by pragmatism provide needed analytical leverage over the emergence of novelty and offer valuable insight into the dynamics of stability and change. The practice of sovereign basing, bound up as it is now with the constitution of interests and understanding of how states exercise power, is likely a durable feature of international politics.

scholarly journals Presumptive Arrest in Partner Assault: Use of Discretion and Problems of Compliance in the New Zealand Police

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Cross ◽  
Greg Newbold
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arrest Rates ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
Incident Reports ◽  
Arrest Policies ◽  
Partner Assault

Since pro-arrest policies in domestic violence became popular in the United States in the 1980s, numerous western countries have followed suit. In most cases, research has shown that implementation of the policies has fallen short of expectations, with arrest rates that are surprisingly low. In New Zealand, pro–arrest strategies have been employed since 1987 and results have been similar. This article argues that one of the reasons for noncompliance in New Zealand (and probably elsewhere), is that the complexities of domestic violence situations make pro–arrest difficult to apply in practice. Moreover, in order to protect themselves from official criticism for deviating from policy, in this study frontline police sometimes filed incomplete or inaccurate incident reports. This made it hard to determine exactly how well the policy was being implemented and whether or not it was working.

Reduction Factors for Estimating the Probability of Failure of Mechanical Damage Due to External Interference

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Cosham ◽  
Jane Haswell ◽  
Neil Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Structural Reliability ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Mechanical Damage ◽  
Probability Of Failure ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
External Interference ◽  
Failure Data ◽  
Major Accident ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Reduction Factors

Quantified risk assessments (QRAs) are widely used in the UK to assess the significance of the risk posed by major accident hazard pipelines on the population and infrastructure in the vicinity of the pipeline. A QRA requires the calculation of the frequency of failures and the consequences of failures. One of the main causes of failures in onshore pipelines is mechanical damage due to external interference, such as a dent, a gouge, or a dent and gouge. In the published literature, two methods have been used to calculate the probability of failure due to external interference: • historical failure data and • limit state functions combined with historical data (i.e. structural reliability-based methods). Structural reliability-based methods are mathematically complicated, compared to using historical failure data, but have several advantages, e.g. extrapolation beyond the limited historical data, and the identification of trends that may not be apparent in the historical data. In view of this complexity, proposed supplements to the UK pipeline design codes IGE/TD/1 (natural gas) and PD 8010 (all substances) — on the application of QRAs to proposed developments in the vicinity of major accident hazard pipelines — include simple ‘reduction factors’ for use in ‘screening’ risk assessments. These ‘reduction factors’ are based on a comprehensive parametric study using a structural reliability-based model to calculate the probability of failure due to mechanical damage, defined as: gouges, and dents and gouges. The two ‘reduction factors’ are expressed in terms of the design factor and wall thickness of the pipeline. It is shown that, through appropriate normalisation, the effects of diameter, grade and toughness are secondary. Reasonably accurate, but conservative, estimates of the probability of failure can be obtained using these ‘reduction factors’. The proposed methodology is considerably simpler than a structural reliability-based analysis. The development and verification of these ‘reduction factors’ is described in this paper.

WHAT RECENT HHFT DERAILMENT FIRES TELL US

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
pp. 2078-2095
Author(s):  
Wade A. Narin van Court ◽  
Michael S. Hildebrand ◽  
Gregory G. Noll
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Crude Oil ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Transportation Safety ◽  
Crude Oils ◽  
Management Agency ◽  
News Reports ◽  
High Hazard ◽  
High Concentrations

ABSTRACT ID: 2017-145. In July 2016, TRC Environmental Corporation (TRC) and Hildebrand and Noll Associates, Inc. (HNA) were requested to develop planning guidance on train derailments involving large volumes/high concentrations of denatured ethanol for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA). As part of this project, as well as similar projects conducted by HNA for other clients, TRC and HNA assessed current firefighting strategies for the release of ethanol and/or crude oil from High Hazard Flammable Trains (HHFT) and developed the planning assumptions necessary to prepare for these types of incidents. For these projects, studies and in-depth analyses of 27 HHFT derailments resulting in tank cars breaches that occurred in the United States and Canada involving denatured ethanol1 (ethanol) and/or crude oil2 from 2006 through 2015 were performed. The analyses were primarily based on the information from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), and/or Transport Canada (TC) databases, with supplemental information from news reports in some cases. The objective of these analyses was to identify key planning assumptions that would be used in developing appropriate firefighting strategies by focusing on the number and types of cars derailed, approximate train speeds at the time of the derailment, number of cars breached, amount of product released, and whether or not the released product caught fire. Additionally, the studies included obtaining and reviewing information on the properties and characteristics of ethanol, crude oils, and other Class 3 flammable materials, as well as information for railroad tank cars. Insights and understandings gained from these studies were used to further develop the firefighting strategies for HHFT derailment fires.

scholarly journals Antimicrobial Resistance and Genomic Characterization of Salmonella Dublin Isolates in Cattle from the United States.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariela Srednik ◽  
Kristina Lantz ◽  
Jessica A Hicks ◽  
Brenda R Morningstar-Shaw ◽  
Tonya A Mackie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Systemic Disease ◽  
The United States ◽  
Multidrug Resistant ◽  
Severe Illness ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Antimicrobial Drugs ◽  
Salmonella Dublin ◽  
Genomic Characterization

Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Dublin is a host-adapted serotype in cattle, associated with enteritis and systemic disease. While rare in humans, it can cause severe illness, including bacteremia, with hospitalization and death. In the United States, S. Dublin has become one of the most multidrug-resistant serotypes . The objective of this study was to characterize S. Dublin isolates from sick cattle by analyzing phenotypic and genotypic antimicrobial resistance (AMR) profiles, the presence of plasmids, and phylogenetic relationships. S. Dublin isolates (n=140) were selected from submissions to the NVSL for Salmonella serotyping (2014 – 2017) from 21 states. Isolates were tested for susceptibility against 14 class-representative antimicrobial drugs. Resistance profiles were determined using the ABRicate with Resfinder and NCBI databases, AMRFinder and PointFinder. Plasmids were detected using ABRicate with PlasmidFinder. Phylogeny was determined using vSNP. We found 98% of the isolates were resistant to more than 4 antimicrobials . Only 1 isolate was pan-susceptible and had no predicted AMR genes. All S. Dublin isolates were susceptible to azithromycin and meropenem. They showed 96% resistance to sulfonamides, 97% to tetracyclines, 95% to aminoglycosides and 85% to beta-lactams . The most common AMR genes were: sulf2 and tetA (98.6%), aph(3'')-Ib and aph(6)-Id (96.4%), floR (94.3%), and blaCMY-2 (85.7%). All quinolone resistant isolates presented mutations in gyr A. Ten plasmid types were identified among all isolates with IncA/C2, IncX1, and IncFII(S) being the most frequent. The S. Dublin isolates show low genomic genetic diversity. This study provided antimicrobial susceptibility and genomic insight into S . Dublin clinical isolates from cattle in the U.S. Further sequence analysis integrating food and human origin S . Dublin isolates may provide valuable insight on increased virulence observed in humans.

Analysis of Tomato and Jalapeño and Serrano Pepper Imports into the United States from Mexico before and during a National Outbreakof Salmonella Serotype Saintpaul Infections in 2008

2010 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 1967-1974 ◽  
Author(s):  
KARL C. KLONTZ ◽  
JOSHUA C. KLONTZ ◽  
RAJAL K. MODY ◽  
ROBERT M. HOEKSTRA
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Epidemiologic Studies ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Infection Rates ◽  
Case Control Studies ◽  
Nuevo Leon ◽  
Sierra Madre Occidental ◽  
Nuevo León ◽  
Sierra Madre

Case-control studies conducted during a multistate outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Saintpaul infections in 2008 revealed associations between illness and the consumption of jalapeño peppers, Serrano peppers, and tomatoes. Traceback investigations of implicated jalapeño and Serrano peppers led to farms in Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, Mexico. We conducted a novel analysis of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration database of tomatoes and jalapeño and Serrano peppers imported from Mexico during the first half of 2008 to describe the temporal and spatial flow of these items into the United States. Shipments of all three produce items followed a south-to-northwest corridor; 87% of peppers and 97% of tomatoes produced in Mexican states located west of the Sierra Madre Occidental were transported to ports in California and Arizona, and 90% of peppers and 100% of tomatoes produced in states east of the Sierra Madre Occidental were transported to ports east of Arizona. We found a significant correlation between state-specific infection rates and quantity of imported Mexican jalapeño and Serrano peppers to U.S. states by the first-level consignee but not for imported Mexican tomatoes. We localized production regions of interest by finding that quantities of both peppers and tomatoes imported from the states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas were correlated with infection rates. In outbreaks possibly caused by agricultural commodities, analysis of import databases may foster a better understanding of growing seasons, harvest sites, shipment itineraries, and consignee destinations, thereby adding valuable insight into findings derived from epidemiologic studies.

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