Dr. Mahmod Samman - Houston Engineering Solutions, LLC
Historically, bulging in coke drum has been treated as a single failure mode caused by the same loading mechanism. A recent study of a database of one hundred and eighty four coke drums concluded that this assumption is incorrect. The research which examined drums of different metallurgies, ages, sizes, and wall thicknesses was able to identify nine distinct types of bulges and relate them to various loading mechanisms, design features, operating practices, and fabrication methods. This published study has changed the way we look at coke drum bulges. In this presentation, we review the findings and discuss how they can help us improve our design, fabrication, and operation of coke drums.
Dr. Mahmod Samman is the president of Houston Engineering Solutions. He has thirty years of industry experience mostly in damage assessment, repair, and life extension of coke drums. His state-of-the-art techniques in this field are utilized around the world. A licensed professional engineer in Texas, he has a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Duke University.