- Author
- Gross, J. L. | Yokel, F. Y. | Wright, R. N. | Fanney, A. H. | Smith, J. H. | Hicho, G. E. | Shives, T. R.
- Title
- Investigation Into the Ashland Oil Storage Tank Collapse on January 2, 1988.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- NBSIR 88-3792, June 1988, 204 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
- storage tanks | oil spills | oil storage | failure | steels
- Identifiers
- Ashland Petroleum Company Floreffe Terminal, West Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1988; reconstruction of the tank; brittle fracture; collapse; failure investigation; fracture analysis; welded steel tanks
- Abstract
- On January 2, 1988, a four million gallon capacity oil storage tank at the Ashland Petroleum Company Floreffe Terminal near West Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, collapsed as it was being filled to capacity for the first time since it was reconstructed at the site. The tank had been dismantled in Cleveland, Ohio, after more than 40 years of service and reconstructed at the Floreffe site in 1986. The National Bureau of Stndards (NBS) conducted an independent investigation of the physical causes of the Ashland Tank collapse. Data were obtained form NBS field observations, laboratory and analytical studies, from the investigation of the Pennsylvania Tank Collapse Task Force appointed by the governor of Pennsylvania, and from the Battelle Columbus Division investigation sponsored by the Ashland Petroleum Company.