Catastrophic failure of a carbon steel storage tank due to internal corrosion

• Failure of the tank had occurred under the action of the hoop stresses imposed by the weight of the liquid contents.
• Failure occurred due to a combination of general internal corrosion and more localised corrosion, probably associated with the action of a jet stirrer.
• An adequate scheme of wall thickness monitoring, in terms of reliability, scope and periodicity, during service would have identified the loss of wall thickness prior to failure.