Event
- Event ID
- 221
- Quality
- Description
- A leak developed on a CGH2 tube trailer on the pigtail of one of the tube. The pigtail was cracked, possibly due to vibration. This trailer was tested the day before this incident and was found to be leak free.
The trailer consisted of 10 tube, and each tube has a pigitail. Trailers are tested for leaks every fill. - Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Unignited Hydrogen Release
- Nature of the consequences
- Leak No Ignition (No additional details provided)
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Date
- Main component involved?
- Piping (Pigtail)
- How was it involved?
- Rupture
- Initiating cause
- Loss Of Tightness (Road Vibrations)
- Root causes
- Root CAUSE analysis
- The INITIATING CAUSE was the cracking of a pigtail, probably mechanical vibration from the road.
Different degradation modes could be excluded, because trailer components are tested for leak by every filling.
A possible ROOT CAUSE could be a shortcoming in the design, but also a non-further understood generic material failure.
Facility
- Application
- Hydrogen Transport And Distribution
- Sub-application
- CGH2 tube trailer
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- Hydrogen Transport (No additional details provided)
- All components affected
- Hose
- Location type
- Open
- Operational condition
- Pre-event occurrences
- The PHMSA report does not specify when the leak occurred. It is plausible to assume that it occurred when travelling or at the place of delivery.
- Description of the facility/unit/process/substances
- The trailer was a 10-tube trailer. Each tube had a capacity of almost 30 kg. Each tube had a pigtail attached to a main manifold.
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Environmental damage
- 0
- Currency
- US$
- Property loss (onsite)
- 115
- Property loss (offsite)
- 0
- Post-event summary
- The content of one tube was lost (approximately 30 kg). Material loss amounted to 115 US$.
- Emergency action
- The interstate highway was closed and nearby homes and businesses were evacuated.
Lesson Learnt
- Corrective Measures
- The trailer manufacturer investigated a changed of design, by adding additional support to the main manifold, to reduce the amount of vibration to the pigtail. If this improvement was eventually implemented, is not reported.
Event Nature
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Released amount
- 29.4 kg
- Presumed ignition source
- No ignition
References
- Reference & weblink
Incident I-1990060084 of the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration PHMSA: <br />
https://portal.phmsa.dot.gov/analytics/saw.dll?Portalpages&PortalPath=%… />
(accessed September 2024)
JRC assessment
- Sources categories
- PHMSA
