Robert Durham - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Robert Durham

2007 IEEE Petroleum and Chemical Industry Technical Conference, 2007

What do you do when a piece of equipment fails, a contract is breached, or a design is challenged... more What do you do when a piece of equipment fails, a contract is breached, or a design is challenged? Engineering training is focused on how to design or analyze a piece of equipment, but seldom involves skills necessary to resolve disputes or discrepancies. Occasionally things go awry. There are at least 10 issues that impact the decision to proceed with a failure case: Objective, Ethics, People, Time, Money, Technology, Quality, Safety, Environment, and Legal. The impact of these on a project is investigated in various contexts. A flowchart is proposed as a guide. A process of using them to evaluate the project is then developed. The first part is the technical issues: stop loss, gather data, determine origin, find cause, conduct analysis, research outside influence, and develop an opinion. The non-technical process is determining whether to recover or move on. Frequently, by following this analysis, problems can be mitigated before catastrophe. If there is a major event, the analysis provides a technique to evaluate the cost and make appropriate economic decisions.

Record of Conference Papers. Industry Applications Society. Forty-Ninth Annual Conference. 2002 Petroleum and Chemical Industry Technical Conference

Electrical engineering and physics are taught with very complex concepts involving intense mathem... more Electrical engineering and physics are taught with very complex concepts involving intense mathematical manipulation. When most engineers practice, very little of the intricate science is used. The majority of problems are solved with little more than algebra. Why is there such disparity between the theory and the applications? The paper reduces all electrical theory to two very fundamental equations. A single unified equation is presented for the circuit problem. The equation is then enhanced with volumetric, motive, and lever distances. The result is a single equation for electromagnetic fields. This one equation encompasses all the fields problems including Maxwell's suite of four equations. The mathematical manipulation is never more complex than vector algebra. The procedures and considerations are items of interest to any engineer who is involved with circuits, fields, or who reads technical journals.

Proceedings of SPE Mid-Continent Operations Symposium, 1999

In conducting analysis of systems that have failed as a result of lightning and transients, we ha... more In conducting analysis of systems that have failed as a result of lightning and transients, we have observed repeated incidences associated with corrugated flexible tubing. The nature and frequency of lightning strokes is considered. The failure process is investigated. Standards and articles provide adequate minimum design for installation.

Engineering survival and success depends on many skills in addition to technical excellence. The ... more Engineering survival and success depends on many skills in addition to technical excellence. The class looks at topics from professionalism to ethics, from presentation to people skills, from project management to international cultures. These issues are more important than ever in an engineering environment that is very dynamic and involves frequent transitions between employers and job functions. Numerous assessments of personality styles are addressed along with needs and motivation assessments. Because of the changing international face of upper level engineers, time is invested in understanding cultural nuances and remote management. Industrial interaction is promoted by bringing in specialty topics such as quality and legal. Since the topics are very diverse, a single text was not available. The authors developed a text that was totally on-line {1}.

IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 2007

Three IEEE standards that address submersible cable testing and specification were the first stan... more Three IEEE standards that address submersible cable testing and specification were the first standards sponsored by the Petroleum and Chemical Industry Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. The latest editions of these standards have been completely rewritten to reflect newer technology. This paper will cover the history of the standards as well as an overview of the technical aspects. Surprisingly, the latest revision of these three standards was the most difficult to gain approval. Because of issues that arose during balloting, the IEEE has changed its policy so that standards can now have dual metric/English units.

IEEE Industry Applications Magazine, 2003

Scattered distribution systems do not often have very large capacity. The combination of large in... more Scattered distribution systems do not often have very large capacity. The combination of large industrial requirements coupled with the geographic requirements of a utility system calls for a challenging design.

IEEE Industry Applications Magazine, 2005

ORROSION HAS BEEN AROUND FOR ALL OF RECORDED history. Cathodic protection is the electrical solut... more ORROSION HAS BEEN AROUND FOR ALL OF RECORDED history. Cathodic protection is the electrical solution to the corrosion problem. In this article, the history of cathodic protection (CP) is traced, and the design fundamentals are developed, including the three components of a corrosion system, the three elements of an electric circuit, and the three configurations causing potential difference. CP is the process of forcing a metal to be more negative (cathodic) than the natural state. Case studies investigate unintended side effects from CP. One is from a pipeline crossing a lake. Another is a pipeline in very rocky soil. Technical ramifications are involved when bonding of electrical grounding systems to metal protected by CP. Installation and maintenance requirements are identified. A compendium of applicable standards and recommended practices is presented. Corrosion is not exactly a new topic. It has been around since the beginning of time. Corrosion is simply the loss of material resulting from current leaving a metal, flowing through a medium, and returning to the metal at a different point, as shown in Figure 1 [1]. Corrosion takes many forms and has various names, such as oxidation, rust, chemical, and bacteria action. Regardless of the agent, all corrosion is the result of electrical current flow. Various methods are used to treat corrosion or to try to prevent it. Some of these include chemical treatment, coatings, and electrical current [2]. Proper impressed current can stop corrosive action on the protected surface; nevertheless, this may not be practical in some environments. The concept of CP has been around for quite some time. Marine vessels have used CP for almost 200 years The first recorded use of CP occurred in the early 1800s. In 1824,

Petroleum and Chemical Industry …, 2011

IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 2010

Lightning damages millions of dollars of electrical equipment each year. With the protective devi... more Lightning damages millions of dollars of electrical equipment each year. With the protective devices currently available, this should not happen. Unfortunately, in most cases, little consideration is given to the effects of grounding on the effectiveness of surge suppression. When the surge suppression device cannot be directly connected at the terminals of the equipment to be protected, the impedance of the connecting means must be examined. High ground resistance and lead inductance greatly diminish the effectiveness of surge suppression. This paper describes a circuit approach to lightning protection starting with a discussion of infinite ground, ground resistance, and lead inductance. These concepts are then applied to various types of pole-top grounding. Normally, the grounding terminal of transformer secondary windings connects to the common terminal of the lightning arresters. This is demonstrated to be a central cause for much of the ensuing damage. Usually, several surge suppression devices are connected to a single ground wire, and the transient voltages on that wire not only reduce the effectiveness of the devices but, because of their bilateral characteristics, can also actually cause damage. Multiple ground wires terminating on a primary low-resistance ground have proven very effective in minimizing equipment damage. The integrity of ground bonding for personnel safety is still preserved. The only alteration is how and where ground wires are connected. This solution greatly increases the efficacy of lightning protection, without sacrificing safety or code compliance.

IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 1997

Effective grounding is critical for protection of electrical equipment from transients. Grounding... more Effective grounding is critical for protection of electrical equipment from transients. Grounding for personnel safety requires very distinct considerations. The application of the grounds may be similar in some instances. However, the installation will be radically different in isolated areas. Furthermore, the grounding of controls and computers present even more unusual requirements than the grounding of power devices. Additional concerns are circulating currents and injection of spurious noise. This paper addresses grounding for transients, power, and personnel. Designs include installations in plants and for isolated and remote equipment. The methods have been effectively used for pipelines, production facilities, gas plants, and power plants. Ten case studies of diverse applications illustrate the pertinence of the techniques and procedures.