Catastrophic pipe failure during testing
 

Pictures of this pipe failure in China where shown at work yesterday. We build gas compressors and some times with pretty high pressure ratings. All our components are hydrotested and then a final air/nitrogen test is done on the unit. I'm not sure what pressure this was at when it failed but the damage is incredible:

http://weldingweb.com/showthread.php?p=518971

No mention of the size or flange rating but judging from the pictures I'm thinking 20-24" 600# rating and 1" wall thickness at least. Pretty amazing how the pipe has been folded near the floor.

Goes to show the amount of power behind high pressure loads.

You ever seen this video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_hci9vrvfw

Complete structural failure in the pipe itself.

Possibly more down to shoddy workmanship.

Or a combination of the two.

I used to do NDT on compressor parts years ago, we wanted to record the temperature in the hottest part of the machine. A thermocouple was installed with a compression type of fitting for holding it in place, at something like 200bar it blew out and exited through the roof, never saw the thermocouple again.