Anthony Sofronas - Unique Methods for Analyzing Failures and Catastrophic Events: A Practical Guide for Engineers

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 3
3. Chapter 4
4. Chapter 5
5. Chapter 6
6. Chapter 7
7. Chapter 8
8. Chapter 9
9. Chapter 10
10. Chapter 12

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11

Anthony Sofronas

This edition first published 2022

2022 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Sofronas, Anthony, author.

Title: Unique engineering methods for analyzing failures and catastrophic events: a practical guide for engineers / Anthony Sofronas.

Description: Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021055315 (print) | LCCN 2021055316 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119748250 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119748267 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119748274 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Failure analysis (Engineering) | Production engineering.

Classification: LCC TA169.5 .S64 2022 (print) | LCC TA169.5 (ebook) | DDC 620/.00452--dc23/eng/20211123

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021055315

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021055316

Cover image: Wiley

Cover design: Dimitris66/Getty Images, Image courtesy of Anthony Sofronas

To my Lord who made this all possible and to my wife Cruz and my family

Anthony Sofronas is an engineer, author, educator, and consultant. He has extensive practical experience in designing and troubleshooting machinery, structures, and pressure vessels. His 50 years in the industry have been with the General Electric Company, the Bendix Corporation and his most recent 25 years in industry with the Exxon Mobil Corporation. In this position, he had worldwide responsibilities with his team troubleshooting equipment failures. Since retirement, he has embarked on a career as an author, lecturer, and engineering consultant. He has authored over 120 technical articles and has written four engineering books based on his work. He has presented seminars in eight countries and consulted worldwide.

Dr. Sofronas graduated from the University of Detroit with a Doctor of Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, Masters of Engineering, Northrop Institute of Technology, Bachelors of Science in Mechanical Engineering and New York State University at Farmingdale with an Associate of Applied Science in Mechanical Power Technology.

He has been registered as a Professional Engineer in Texas and elected to the honor society Tau Beta Pi. He received the Society of Manufacturing Young Engineering award in 1980 for his research work, which was considered a pioneering analytical work, into the drilling process.

Technical specialists and investigators in all fields review case studies to observe ways to solve problems, especially failures. The immediate problem that needs to be solved may be far from that of the case study but the example provided might suggest a unique way to analyze a failure. A comprehensive solution may be more accurate, but reducing the complexity can make the failure cause understandable, faster to implement a repair, and easier to explain to management.

During my mechanical engineering career, I've worked on all types of failures, learning, and documenting something important from each one. Much of this knowledge was based on being curious. Many problems were solved without compensation. This is because someone asked a question and performing an analysis would provide an answer. Many of these types of solutions were used in some other form to analyze a failure and are presented in this book.

Most of these solutions were used in a working plant environment where there was always pressure for an immediately solution. Downtime was directly related to lost production and lost profits. Ensuring a safe start-up and operation was always a major consideration. Most examples include the basic calculation methods and equations needed to solve the problem. A summary at the end of each section highlights the key points presented and lessons learned. is a discussion on some of the equations used.

Some of the examples show the use of certain techniques. For example, they show how to calculate impact forces by describing the force of a bat hitting a baseball. This was later used to explain the force of a chunk of a product hitting an impeller and breaking bolts. Since there may be no data to support the analysis method, the ball/bat analogy and analysis can confirm the impeller analysis is reasonable.