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Exploding Test Plugs & Pipe Pressures!!!!!

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Hello.

After hydrotesting a pipe spool, the crew decided to attach a compressor to the spool to blow air through to dry it out. The test plug was not removed prior to this and ended up in several pieces scattered throughout the yard.

My question is: given the masses and distances travelled by the plug pieces, can I calculate the pressure in the system before it blew?

I thought about calculating the kinetic engeries of the pieces and relating that back to the potential energy in the system before the "incident". Any insight into this problem would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Are you trying to check the velocity and try to device a gun.
I think you must be happy you didnt end up with a big accident by not removing the plug.

 
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If I was serious about investigating the incident for the purposes of a coronial enquiry I would use Algor's Mechanical Event simlation software.
 
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Dean, there are so many unknowns here, such as the friction forces holding the plug in place, the air friction acting on the plug after the "launch," the shape of the plug protruding into the pressurized chamber, etc., etc. Best bet would be to re-test several times and note the max pressure at each launch. Then again I bet no two would be the same, and assumptions from calculations would show significant error. Was the plug a cork? A threaded plug? What material? How big? If it involves failure of a metal, there could could be large failure variances based on pre-existing flaws in the metal.

This is an iteresting problem - I'm sorry if I answered it with too many more questions! -CB
 
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