Dr. Mahmod Samman - Houston Engineering Solutions, LLC
Shell bulging is a common operating damage in coke drums that can result in cracking and loss of containment. The staggered seam design is a recently-patented fabrication methodology that was intended to reduce the magnitude of bulging and increase the economic life of coke drums. In this presentation, bulging in conventional and staggered-seam drums is analyzed and compared using pressure-based finite element simulations. The analysis includes a sensitivity study of weld-to-base strength ratio for the two most common staggered-seam configurations. The presentation concludes with an announcement regarding the licensing of this patented design.
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, numerous publications, and four issued and pending patents. He is a member of ASME and ASCE and a committee member of API 579/ASME FFS, API 934G and API 934J.