UNCOVERING THE HIDDEN STORY OF VALVE LEAKAGE

摘要

History shows us that valve failures can be catastrophic. Although it occurred in 2010, the effects of the Deepwater Horizon disaster can still be felt on the Gulf Coast and in the courts. From April to July of that year, engineers were scrambling to stop the hundreds of millions of gallons of crude being released into the Gulf of Mexico after the blowout preventer (BOP) on the rig failed to seal the pipe. Of course, major disasters are typically preceded by known, but uncorrected errors, and this was not the first time a company had trouble with isolation valves. As The Washington Post reported in June 2010, an operational integrity report written in 2001 covering the operations found that, "workers believe internal leak-through of isolation valves is a significant problem and under certain circumstances may pose a potential hazard to workers and equipment."