This Handbook is written for mechanical designers, engineers, manufacturers, and constructors who wish to take advantage of all that has been learned by mechanical and structural failures over the past 50 years in order to avoid similar failures in the future and to evaluate Fitness for Service. It also provides valuable lessons to litigators for resolving degrees of liabilities.
This Handbook is not intended to summarize well-known structural integrity considerations in design, manufacturing and construction, most of which are covered by Safety Codes and Standards. Rather, this Handbook is intended as a reminder of the lessons learned in the analyses of actual failures. These lessons serve as a check list of structural integrity issues for new design and Fitness for Service not commonly included in the technical literature in a practical applied manner.
The actual failures of equipment and structures provide the best indications of the likely failures of new equipment and Fitness for Service of used equipment. The lessons in this Handbook were learned from such failures and provide the best lessons for avoiding future failures. Hopefully, this Handbook will help prevent the repetition of repeated tragic mistakes from the past.