A large fire-tube boiler failed catastrophically after less than two years in service. Prior to the failure, sever vibrations due to combustion instabilities were observed by the operators.

A multidisciplinary team of MME engineers and technicians performed a comprehensive analysis of the boiler failure, inducing metallurgical analysis, design review, and mechanical simulation. It was concluded that the catastrophic failure resulted from long-term fatigue damage accumulated during the periods of burner instability.