At 12:28 p.m. on May 12, 1975, an 8-inch pipeline, which was closed in under pressure and which was owned by Dow Chemical U.S.A. and operated as the Bronco Pipe Line Company, ruptured near Devers, Texas. Natural gas liquids at 1,425-psig pressure erupted from a fracture near the top of the pipe. The liquids vaporized, mixed with air, and formed a cloud which drifted to the southwest over U.S. Highway 90. An automobile entered the vapor cloud and ignited the ethane-propane vapors. The resulting explosion and fire killed the four persons in the automobile, melted telephone and electric power lines, warped railroad tracks, burned and scorched adjacent woodlands, and interrupted rail and highway traffic. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the rupturing of the 8-inch pipe in an area of stress concentration caused by a gouge in the pipe; the pipe was gouged by a backhoe when valve assemblies were installed in the line. The failure was caused by a combination of reduction in wall thickness, residual bending and tensile stresses, and fatigue due to the cyclic loading of the pipe. The escaping LPG vapors were ignited by an automobile which entered the vapor-rich zone.


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    Title :

    Dow Chemical U.S.A., Natural Gas Liquids Explosion and Fire, Near Devers, Texas, May 12, 1975


    Publication date :

    1976


    Size :

    26 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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