CASE STUDIES ) BY STEVEN B, TODARO IN THE WRONG PLACE? client sent photos of a damaged compressor. The piston 1d had failed several threads inside the crosshead. The ‘compressor had experienced a prior failure of a variable vol- ume clearance pocket (VCP). Causal analysis on the first fa ure had focused on the new VVEP design. Since bod fallures were on the first stage, liquid slugging was now suspected, The process engineers insisted, as they had after the first failure, that it couldn't be liquids. The process control data showed no upsets in the upstream process prior to the rod failure. ‘When the rod broke inside the crosshead, the piston and rod were pushed to the head end of the cylinder where they remained. Figure | shows the piston and rod at the end of, the outward stroke and after removal of loose debris. The ‘crosshead jamb nut was not a traditional hex nut. Rather, it used eight small compression boles pressing on a thick bear- ing washer resting against the face of the crosshead, When the piston and rod came to rest against the outer head and. the crosshead retracted, the bearing washer was freed. It dropped into the crosshead guide but remained vertical. The washer was large enough that it covered the broken end of the piston rod ‘When the crosshead extended, the washer was between, the cavity in the crosshead and the end of the piston rod that, needed to re-occupy the cavity. The resulting impacts sheared the washer before the compressor stopped on high vibration (Figure 2). The damage to the compressor was extensive. The force of de bmpacss datnaged the piston anid VVEP and com promised the connecting rad and associated bearings. The location of the failure was curious. Piston rods are not supposed to break in the threads. Rod threads are rolled, rather than cut, to forge the grain structure and reduce stress risers. This has been codified in ISO 13707, which is based on ‘APL 618, and ISO 13631, based on API RP IP!“ The former includes the requirement for a polished thread relief area.This relief area is an undercut at the end of the threads and is the smallest cross section on the rod, The small diameter area should act like a fuse. This is where we normally expect to find {gross failures and it is where we want them to occur. Figure 3 shows the piston and rod pushed inward against the cross- head. The undercut is visible where the rod enters the jamb nut. Note also the gap between the jamb nut and the cross- head indicating the thickness of the washer that was sheared. ‘A failure at thie furs lacation chauld ganaraca vary lieda, if any, collateral damage. The piston and rod should be pushed to sgascompressionmagazine.com | OCTOBER 2016 the outer head (the fallure occurring in tension) where they remain, The crosshead will continue to reciprocate until the imbalance causes a vibration shutdown. The only interference nd of the 4 Figure |:The piston and rod are shown here at the outward stroke, after removal of loose debris. Figure 2: The damage to the compressor was extensive.The force of the impas ‘damaged the piston and\VVCP and campromiced the connecting rod and associated bearings.Figure 3:The piston and rod pushed inward against the crosshead should be from the yield elongation of the rod and the irregu- larties of the fracture surface. The normal end clearance be- ‘ween the piston face and the outer head may be enough to absorb the potential interference. Given the unusual location of the failure, a micrograph of the ‘cross section ofthe threads was requested. Rolling threads causes deformation of the microstructure following the thread root con- tour: Cut threads have a consistent grain structure with partial grains at the cut surface. cross section, polished to @ mirror surface and then etched with ania acid solution, wl display this grain structure under magnification, In this case, the consistent grain structure made it clear to all that the treads had been cut. ‘While the rod was not correct, the loading on the rod was around 50% of the machine rating. Stress calculations indicated that even the cut thread should have had near infinite fatigue life. This, coupled with the prior WCP failure, continued to [7] kesucesptsation without casing pressure drops [7] Frecofriice plates and choke tubes [iy Ca oie my vt tithe available space Proven effcency gains |Services, Inc. point us toward liquid slugging as the cause ofthe rod falure Weill examine additional factors that contibuted te this wreck ina following article. © ABOUT THE AUTHOR Steven B, Todaro is an independent com= pression consultant. He holds a BS Engi- neering degree from the University of Ilinois and a JD degree from Loyola New ‘Orleans. He has worked for Caterpillar; IRIDR, Cherco, Gemini, Weatherford, and Gardner Denver. His activities cover all phases of compression, from applications, business development, marketing, and en- gineering. as wel as packaging testing, commissioning. and trou- bleshooting. He can be reached at steven.b.todaro@gmail.com, REFERENCES ISO 13707:2000, “Petroleum and Natural Gas Industries — Reciprocating Compressors” (Geneva, Switzerland: Interna- tional Organization for Standardization [ISO], 2000). *API 618,"Reciprocating Compressors for Petroleum, Chemical, and Gas Industry Services,” 4° ed. (Washington, DC: American Petroleum Institute [API}, 1995), ISO. 13631:2002, “Petroleum and Natural Gas Industries — Packaged Reciprocating Gas Compressors (Geneva, Switzer- land: International Organization for Standardization [ISO], 2002). ‘API |1P(89), "Specification for Packaged Reci pressors for Oil and Gas Production Servic 740-435-0240 Servicesinc.com