Hoax Email - Aircraft Corrosion

There is an email going around, your Corrosion Blog editor has received it, called Aircraft Corrosion. The email is discussed on the extremely useful and entertaining "fact-checking" urban legends website snopes.com here. Public awareness of the dangers of corrosion is beneficial but spreading false tales is not. If you receive this email, I suggest that you do not forward it and reply to the sender letting them know that the email is a hoax, with the link to the snopes site (or this post).

The pictures are from a simulation of an actual crash in 2007. The failure was attributed to out-of-spec structural member that ultimately failed due to fatigue cracking. The pilot was able to eject safely and suffered a broken arm, dislocated shoulder, and cuts and bruises.

There I was just flying along, enjoying the flight...

And what's so cool is they actually pay me to do this!

Hmmm... What's that strange sound? Something feels different!

Hey, why am I looking up?

Whoa here. Controls aren't working.

Time for a mirror check. ?Hey, where's the rest of my F-15?

Uh oh, it's over there.? I think I've got a definite 'Aw, hell' going on here.

I gotta wonder, am I the first guy to ever experience 'cockpit-airframe separation anxiety?'

OK, enough is enough! I'm outta' here! But first, the canopy has to go...

OK, now it's my turn. I'm gonna be gone - soon as I find that frickin' lower handle.

Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

This 'incident' caused the USAF to ground its fleet of F-15's.

How about the guy who took these pictures? Just when it looks like it's going to be just another 'average day at the office'.. You never know!

What caused the mid air break up? The main "longeron" (stringer) behind the cockpit failed due to corrosion.

U.S. Probes Gulf Oil Fire Involving Paint Crew

Federal authorities are investigating the cause of a blaze that broke out Thursday (Sept. 2) while a 13-member painting and cleaning crew was working aboard an oil and natural-gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. Coast Guard helicopters planned this weekend to survey the site of Mariner Energy Inc.’s Vermilion Block 380 platform, about 100 miles off the Louisiana coast, to determine whether the platform was leaking oil.

From SSPC's PaintSquare News.

St. Louis Gateway Arch Showing Rust and Decay

Almost 45 years into its reign atop the St. Louis skyline, the 630-foot monument is suffering from growing rust and decay. And nobody knows how extensive. Corrosion, some of it feared aggressive, and severe discoloration of the stainless steel skin have long been present, according to engineering reports reviewed by the Post-Dispatch. ... The problems are increasingly evident, with streaks and spots marking the upper reaches of the Arch exterior.

From stltoday.com via LinkedIn.

For more about the Gateway Arch, see here and here.

Corrosion Concerns at U.S. Nuclear Reactors

In 2002, the plant, Davis-Besse, in Oak Harbor, Ohio, developed leaks in parts on the vessel head, allowing cooling water from inside the vessel, at 2,200 pounds per square inch of pressure, to leak out.

The cooling water contains boric acid, which is used to control the speed of the nuclear reaction, and the acid ate away a chunk of the steel the size of a football, leaving nothing but a thin stainless-steel liner to maintain the reactor’s integrity.

The company assumed it had solved the problem. But recently the new vessel head showed the same leakage pattern. Once again, the parts prone to leaking are nozzles through which the control rods for the reactor pass.

From the New York Times' Green blog.

Congress must work to preserve the United States' critical infrastructure

Our critical infrastructure -- from bridges to pipelines, water and sewer mains to energy generation, transmission and exploration equipment -- is in trouble. Much of this infrastructure has reached or exceeded its design life, yet we are expecting many more years of service from it. Regardless of whether it is publicly or privately owned, the common denominator in all of these infrastructure problems and, in many cases, imminent failure, is corrosion.

In a recent address, Congresswoman Betty Sutton, of the 13th District, said, "Corrosion is not a sexy topic [What? ed.]. It's not a topic that will dominate the cable news networks or garner the top headline of a major newspaper . . . until something bad happens. But it's real, and it's a major concern." No one wants to see another bridge collapse like the one in Minneapolis, whose failure was contributed to by corrosion.

From Cleveland Dealer, Letters to the Editor (Russell Schabel, Strongsville)

For more information about Congresswoman Betty Sutton's fight against corrosion, see this previous post and her site here.

MnDOT Finds Corrosion on Gusset Plates on Mississippi River Bridge

The Minnesota Department of Transportation said it found corrosion in several gusset plates in the Mississippi River Bridge at Winona. Those are the same structural components that bridge's sudden close June 3, 2008. Officials are restricting weight limits until Tuesday's repairs.

From Associated Press

Under-designed and corroded gusset plates were determined to be a major cause of the I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis. More information about that failure at Wikipedia and the NTSB's report on the failure here (PDF, 4.2M).

Chinese Scientists Say Cigarette Butts Protect Steel From Corrosion

Researchers found that extracts of cigarette butt water could substantially protect N80 type steel from corroding when in hydrochloric acid at 90 degrees Celsius (194 degrees F). That type of steel is often used to make drill rods, which costs oil producers millions of dollars annually when they corrode.

From Cybercast News Service.

More information in the American Chemical Society's periodical Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research.

FAQ: The Science and History of Oil Spills

Interesting information about oil spills in a FAQ format at livescience.com.

Hoax Email - Dial Before You Dig

There is an email going around, your Corrosion Blog editor has received it three times now, called Dial Before You Dig. The email is now discussed on the extremely useful and entertaining "fact-checking" urban legends website snopes.com here. Public awareness of the dangers of third-party damage to pipelines is beneficial but spreading false tales is not. If you receive this email, I suggest that you do not forward it and reply to the sender letting them know that the email is a hoax, with the link to the snopes site (or this post).

The email contains a Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow named Dial_Before_You_Dig.pps.

Dial Before You Dig
This happened in America. It’s a good reason why you should dial before you dig…… The following pictures are a result of a worker on a farm using a post hole digger - he hit an underground, high-pressure gas main. He took out 2 homes, associated sheds and vehicles. They never found the man.

The remainder of the slideshow is pictures showing the devastation of a pipeline explosion. The pictures are from an actual pipeline explosion that happened in "America", but not as the result of a man with a post hole digger. The photographs are actually from a natural gas transmission failure near Appomattox, Virginia in September 2008 caused by external corrosion. There were some minor injuries but fortunately no one was killed.

Corrosion Results in Electrocution on Navy Ship

The Navy has ordered the inspection all electrical enclosures aboard every ship in its fleet after the Nov. 28 electrocution of a sailor aboard the Rentz, a San Diego-based frigate currently deployed in the Persian Gulf. The order — issued jointly by the Virginia-based Naval Sea Systems and the San Diego-based Naval Surface Forces commands — suggests that hidden corrosion on a hinge attached to an electrical enclosure may have played a role.

From The San Diego Union-Tribune. Also, see the Navy Times.

CP and the World's Tallest Building

Burj Khalifa (formerly known as Burj Dubai), the recently opened skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft).

The superstructure is supported by a large reinforced concrete mat, which is in turn supported by bored reinforced concrete piles. The design was based on extensive geotechnical and seismic studies. The mat is 3.7 meters thick, and was constructed in four separate pours totaling 12,500 cubic meters of concrete. The 1.5 meter diameter x 43 meter long piles represent the largest and longest piles conventionally available in the region. A high density, low permeability concrete was used in the foundations, as well as a cathodic protection system under the mat, to minimize any detrimental effects form corrosive chemicals in local ground water.

From the Burj Khalifa website.

Preventing corrosion on buses by treating wash water

To save expensive low-floor buses from corrosion, the Delhi Transport department is going to install reverse osmosis (RO) plants for washing the new buses with treated water. Delhi Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said the water used for cleaning the low-floor buses in DTC depots is hard and saline and it causes corrosion. Therefore, the Government has decided to install RO plants at depots. RO plants remove salts and other impurities and improve water quality. To cleaning one bus, approximately 25 gallons of water is needed. At present, the DTC uses re-cycled water for washing its fleet of 3,200 buses.

From the New Delhi Pioneer.

Bridge inspection prompts closure due to corrosion

Indiana Department of Transportation closed the Cline Avenue bridge in East Chicago due to corrosion found on a bridge inspection. Cline carries almost 36,000 vehicles a day at that spot. An inspection found the combination of the region's weather, air pollution and extensive use of road salt hastened the corrosion. In July 2008, an Indiana Associated Press review of structurally deficient bridges in the state named Cline Avenue over the Indiana Harbor canal -- the same spot were the worst corrosion has been found.


The photo shows a portion of the Cline Avenue Bridge that collapsed during construction, as the concrete deck was being placed on one span. See the Wikipedia page for the Cline Bridge here.

The bridge on Indiana 912 (Cline Avenue) is closed to all traffic between U.S. 41 (Calumet Avenue) in Hammond and Michigan Avenue in East Chicago.

From the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana.

Corrosion to blame for LA water pipeline ruptures

A panel of experts reported Tuesday that corrosion was to blame for an increase in water pipeline failures. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power released a report developed by experts from the University of Southern California, Cornell University and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory which blamed the breaks on corroded portions of the aging system. See the full report here (PDF, 215k).

The city has seen a spate of major water breaks this year, several highly publicized ruptures, including one in Valley Village that opened a sinkhole that engulfed a firetruck. DWP officials said the panel determined that the city's conservation program, which limits lawn watering to Mondays and Thursdays, was not to blame for the pipeline problems. Some experts had theorized that the watering restrictions overburdened the system on the allowed days and may have contributed to the breaks.

From Contra Costa Times and NACEtweet.

IFMA Names Tony Keane President and CEO

The International Facility Management Association, headquartered in Houston, announced the appointment of Anthony "Tony" J. Keane as IFMA’s new president and CEO effective Jan. 18, 2010. His appointment will coincide with the retirement of current IFMA president and CEO David J. Brady. Keane served for four years as executive director of NACE International. From IFMA's website. NACE's announcement of Keane's resignation here. Del Doyle, P.E., NACE Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives, will be the Interim Executive Director while the NACE Board of Directors conducts a global search for a permanent replacement. The Board Search Committee chaired by past president Dr. Louis D. Vincent is being organized, and the search will begin immediately.

Corrosion and Subway Trains

A report commissioned by the Metro Boston Transit Authority (MTBA) raises safety concerns about dozens of delayed maintenance projects at the MBTA that have been deemed critical to public safety. The report states that corrosion and damage on the tracks between the Alewife and Harvard Square stations could lead to a train derailment.

From boston.com.

Russian military plane crashes

Russian heavy-lift military cargo plane crashed on takeoff Sunday in Siberia, killing all 11 crew members on board, officials said. More from the Associated Press here. Earlier this year, the Russian air force announced that it had grounded its fleet of Mig-29 fighter jets and had to carry out costly repairs to make them safe to fly. The move followed a crash in December that occurred when a plane lost part of it tail section. Officials said the accident had been caused by corrosion.

More about aircraft corrosion here and here.

Corrosion and Bridges

Wikipedia has a list of bridge failures here, many of them caused by corrosion. One of the most well-known bridge failures is the Silver Bridge, between Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Kanauga, Ohio, that failed in 1967 and inspired the book Mothman Prophecies and the film of the same name. On Tuesday two tension rods and a crossbeam from a recently installed repair collapsed during the evening commute, causing the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge to be closed. The cause is not yet known. More information here.

EDIT: Bay Bridge re-opens.

Corrosion in the House that Ruth Built?

Will the new $1.5B Yankee Statium explode¹ due to corrosion problems? Read more here.

¹ No.

Corrosion of World Monuments

The World Monuments Fund announced the 2010 World Monuments Watch, a list of 93 sites in 43 countries termed “at risk.” The list includes nine sites in the U.S. and 15 dating from the 20th century. One of the sites is the Gothic Revival, an all-steel basilica of San Sebastian in Manila. After earthquakes in 1645, 1762, and 1863 destroyed the first three stone and brick churches erected on this site, the Spanish Insular government recommended a new church be built of steel. Since its completion in 1891, San Sebastian has continued to play a significant religious and social role as the community parish and through its involvement in outreach programs. The innovative steel construction remains unique and reflects the daringness of the design and the skill of local craftsmen. Persistent corrosion, leaks, and material loss threaten the Basilica, but its most pervasive threat remains invisible: the structural bracing within cavity walls is severely deteriorating, potentially rendering the stability and continued functionality of San Sebastian precarious.