Root Cause Failure Investigations

Serving the: Power Petroleum Chemical Pulp and Paper Aircraft Industries

SI conducts root cause failure investigations on a wide variety of equipment and structures. These investigations benefit from SI's many years of experience and expertise in the relevant disciplines of stress analysis, fracture mechanics, metallurgy and welding, load monitoring and testing, fatigue and corrosion, and nondestructive examination (NDE). We are also experienced in plant equipment and operating environments.

SI assembles teams of highly specialized experts from a wide assortment of disciplines to identify the underlying cause of material degradation or structural failure problem. More often than not, we also devise creative solutions to correct or mitigate the problem.

A typical investigation includes an on-site assessment, metallurgical examinations, a root cause analysis report, and mitigation development.

A typical final report will cover root-cause of the failure, assessment of other potential flaws, and recommended inspection/mitigation program.

Recent SI failure investigations have included:

• Collapse of High Voltage Transmission Towers
• Failure of Generator Retaining Ring
• Fatigue Failure of Nuclear Plant RCS Drain Line
• Catastrophic Turbine Rotor Failures
• Cracking in Wind Turbine Transmission Housings
• Boiler Main Steam Line Rupture
• Failure of Generator Hydrogen Cooling Fan

For more information on SI's capabilities or copies of failure investigation case studies, contact SI.