May 2017
Special Focus: Maintenance and Reliability
A deeper examination of thermal expansion issues in process equipment and piping
Piping and process equipment that operate at high temperatures experience thermal expansion. If free thermal expansion is restrained, mechanical stresses are created within the component.
The Author
John Tharakan is a Static Equipment SME at Suncor Energy Inc.’s Enterprise Technical Department. He has a post-graduate degree in mechanical engineering design and more than 30 yr of experience in the oil industry. Mr. Tharakan renders consulting services to various business units of Suncor on complex problems involving static equipment and piping. He also leads a Suncor-wide static equipment and piping excellence network that develops best practices and proactively drives mechanical integrity. He previously worked for Kuwait Oil Co. in Kuwait and for Kochi Refineries in India.
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