On January 2, 1988, a four million gallon capacity oil storage tank at the Ashland Petroleum Company Floreffe Terminal near West Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, collapsed as it was being filled to capacity for the first time since it was reconstructed at the site. The tank had been dismantled in Cleveland, Ohio, after more than 40 years of service and reconstructed at the Floreffe site in 1986. The National Bureau of Standards (NBS) conducted an independent investigation of the physical causes of the Ashland Tank collapse. Data were obtained from NBS field observations, laboratory and analytical studies, from the investigation of the Pennsylvania Tank Collapse Task Force appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania, and from the Battelle Columbus Division investigation sponsored by the Ashland Petroleum Company. The cause of the failure was determined to be brittle fracture, initiating from a flaw existing prior to the reconstruction of the tank.
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