I have been next to a 12000hp centrifugal when it has surged at 300psig discharge pressure. Pipes do not fall, nor does anything go flying, unless both were on the ragged edge of failure anyway. What I heard was a high pitched squeal, a loud thump from the inlet filters and the roar of air being vented from the surge control dump valve. The compressor plant also shook, which is attention grabbing for sure. This was on a late 1950s era GEC 10 stage centrifugal with air/oil jetpipe relay control system built by Reavell Askania. A current microprocessor controlled surge protection system may well have avoided the surge condition, but in the 1950s there were no such things, so control was carried out by Dall tubes in the inlet pipe, and sampling fans creating pressure differentials across orifice plates. These signals were sent to the air/hydraulic controls via air pipes, so the system was probably not the last word in instantaneous control. It did work very well for what it was, and could be tuned very precisely if you knew how to set regulators. Proper settings were highly dependent on temperature and the associated air density. It took me awhile to get my head around how it worked, but when I understood it I gained even more respect for the millions of brilliant people who have come before us.
I replaced two planetary gear sets in that compressor. I think the surging over the decades had done them in.
