Failures, engineering anticipation

The selection of materials to be used in design dictates a basic understanding of the behavior of materials and the principles that govern such behavior. If proper design of suitable materials of construction is incorporated, the eqiiipment should deteriorate at a uniform and anticipated gradual rate, which will allow scheduled maintenance or replacement at regular inteivals. If localized forms of corrosion are characteristic of the combination of materials and environment, the materials engineer should still be able to predict the probable life of equipment, or devise an appropriate inspection schedule to preclude unexpected failures. The concepts of predictive, or at least preventive, maintenance are minimum requirements to proper materials selection. This approach to maintenance is certainly intended to minimize the possibility of unscheduled production shutdowns because of corrosion failures, with their attendant possible financial losses, hazard to personnel and equipment, and resultant environmental pollution. 

The implications of the terms predictable and unpredictable used in the context of corrosion require further consideration, since they are clearly dependent on the knowledge and expertise of the engineer, designer or corrosion designer who takes the decision on the metal or alloy to be used, or the procedure to be adopted, to control corrosion in a specific environmental situation. On this basis a corrosion failure (i.e. failure of the function of the metal due to corrosion within a period that is significantly less than the anticipated life of the structure) may be the result of one or more of the following possibilities ... 

Even with all this help the engineer must still scrutinize his plant and try to anticipate what type of losses can occur. This study usually begins by noting that nearly all losses are due to explosion, fire, and/or mechanical failure. Then the possibility of each type of loss is evaluated. 

Some covert failures are not anticipated because they are unusual. For example, one chemical plant used a series of large, liquid-filled reactors. A noble metal compound catalyst, which was in solution, was fed continuously into the reactors. Over a period of years some of noble metal came out of solution, and slowly formed a metal lining that was steadily growing in thickness on the inside walls of the reactors. The process and economic consequences of this problem had been analyzed and accepted. However, no one had considered the civil and structural engineering implications of this uncontrolled change the fact that the reactors were slowly getting heavier, and possibly overloading their foundations. 

Peres, R, L. Bouzaiene, J.-C. Bocquet, F. Billy, A. Lannoy and P. Haik (2007, February). Anticipating aging failure using feedback data and expert judgment. Reliability Engineering System Safety 92(2), 200-210. 

Petroski, Henry. Success Through Failure The Paradox of Design. 2006. Reprint. Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press, 2008. Examines failure as a motivator for engineering and defines success as anticipating and obviating failure. Chapters deal with bridges, buildings, and colossal failures. 

Coding testing and inspection quality SWFMEA allows software engineers to anticipate software problems based on input/output. This can improve codification. It is possible to take SWFMEA failure modes as a test case. For inspection a checklist is used. SWFMEA can augment the checklist and/or an inspection checklist can help in finding failure modes. 

It is applicable to the energy-barrier model, HRO theory, and resilience engineering. The Captain was getting stuck in outdated behaviors, which is a failure of ability to anticipate in resilience engineering. It can also be explained by mindfulness of HRO theory because it is a lack of preoccupation with failure. Lastly, it promoted high speed in ice field and therefore weakened the barrier of spot iceberg and avoid collision . 

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