This book presents an amalgam of best practice from a range of international specialists, as well as highlighting new areas that require research and development.

This present volume not only describes and analyses the status of the new Standard (providing underpinning data) but primarily it seeks to provide new light and present new information on many of the areas where there is insufficient coverage in EN13445 or other Standards.

Pressure equipment took a major step forward in May 2002 with the emergence of the first edition of the new European Standard EN13445. The safe design and operation of pressure equipment and pressure systems is key to much of the infrastructure in any present-day industrial society.

All of the authors were invited by the editors to make their contributions based on their international standing in the field of pressure equipment technology. Each paper went through a rigorous refereeing process (similar to the "Proceedings" of the IMechE), ensuring that they were of the highest quality and contained results of current and seminal research.

"Pressure Systems Casebook" contains a collection of papers drawn from two IMechE seminars that will be of particular interest to students and engineers who want to broaden their knowledge and learn from experience and history.

The authors' backgrounds cover a range of perspectives, from representing industrial users of pressure systems to regulators, research, and engineering consultants.

Complete contents:

Lessons from failures of gas cylinders used for dispensing beveragesExperience from Health and Safety laboratory investigationsInsurance aspects of pressure systems failuresFailure investigation for commercial purposes - system failures leading to the collapse of storage vessels under partial vacuumReliable technical failure investigationFailure design procedures in the new European Pressure Vessel Standard EN 13445Causes of vibration fatigue in process pipework - a new methodology to assess the riskAvoiding vibration-induced fatigue failures in process pipeworkLessons learned from pressure system failures

Pressure systems contain stored energy and the threat of damaging failure is ever present. Failures of pressure systems still occur and are costly to those affected; yet the main causes, consequences, and methods of investigation are not widely known. Pre-existing defects are a major cause of failures and near-failures in pressure systems, yet many can be avoided by greater awareness of the circumstances in which they arise.